Referral traffic describes the people who visit your domain from other sources, without searching for you through Google. When someone clicks a link from a social network or website and they end up on another site, tracking systems from Google recognize the visitor as a referral. Companies also use UTM codes to track precisely where these traffic sources come from.
Referral traffic comes from backlinks. When businesses get the right backlinks, they also deliver consistent sources of additional traffic to the website. Links are frequently passed from one social group to another.
The benefits of referral traffic
Referral traffic is an important metric to keep an eye on for inbound marketers. It sends potentially valuable visitors to the website from trusted domains while getting your content in front of new people. With UTM tracking, it’s also possible to discern which sites and social profiles are generating the most traffic for your website.
Referral traffic is also relevant for SEO. When someone visits a website from another site, they’re typically clicking a link or completing a specific social activity. The Google algorithm sees these links as positive ranking factors since they signal users’ confidence in the authority and relevance of the information.
Benefits of referral traffic include:
- Improved brand exposure and recognition
- Better SEO through consistent backlinks
- Development of networking opportunities and future leads
- Ability to tap into a new, diverse audience
Social media and referral traffic
Social media sites tend to be of the most useful sources of referral traffic. According to studies, to 89% of marketers see social media increasing exposure for their company. What’s more, efforts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and more aided in increasing traffic for 75% of organizations.
Each time you share a post on social media, you have the opportunity to build your follower relationships, improve your SEO and open up an opportunity to push referral traffic to your website. To take full advantage of referral traffic through social media, businesses need to engage with their audience and build relationships on each of their networks. Creating brand ambassadors means your customers will begin to share your content for you and expand your reach.
Tips for earning referral traffic on social media platforms
There are many ways that companies can increase their referral traffic using social media strategies. For instance:
- Time your posts to ensure that you’re sharing your posts when your followers are most active.
- Use a scheduling calendar like Sprout Social’s to maintain consistency in your sharing.
- Use social media plugins on your website to enable easy social sharing.
- Make your content as visual as possible. Social posts with images lead to up to 650% more engagement than those which only have text.