Google Traffic vs Referral Traffic

Google Traffic is from people who type a keyword into Google and come across your site. The goal is to be on page one for a number of different keywords. That way when people enter your keywords into Google, they will be more likely to click on your link verses someone elses. Being the first link for a keyword is even better.

Referral traffic is traffic you get from posting your link on Twitter or Facebook or from someone’s blog or website. These people come to your blog from a link, they didn’t search for you on Google.

I get both types of links on my blog. It is easy to check if you have Google Analytics installed. If you don’t you should go ahead and install it. You can put it on WordPress and Blogger blogs. It is a great way to track your stats. It gives you some great information. I also use Jetpack on WordPress but I like how much more Google Analytics tracks and tells you. I use the Jetpack for everyday stats but if I am wondering about different traffic sources I head on over to Google Analytics.  I use the Google Analyticator plugin for WordPress as well.

I like to see where my traffic is coming from. I like to see if posting my link on a certain site leads to more traffic or not. I can also tell how long people from different sources stay on my blog. If I see they have a high bounce rate I will think that is not as good of a traffic source than if they stay on my site longer with a lower bounce rate.

I also like to see what keywords people are searching to get to my blog and what other places they are coming from. Sometimes you might find some odd phrases and wonder how that person found your blog that way. This is why publishing new content often is a good idea. Every time you do you have added new ways for people to find your blog.

I think both Google traffic and referral traffic are great ways to drive traffic to your site. You need Google because being on page one is important and can really help your traffic. You also need referral traffic because you want your blog link to be out there and be good enough that others want to click on it. You also need backlinks which can help with your Page Rank and your spot in Google.

The easiest way to grow these forms of traffic is to make sure you are including good keywords into your post. You want them to come across as natural so that people enjoy reading your blog. To grow referral links you need to be posting on social media as well as other blogs and forums. You can also drive people to your blog from places like Pinterest and Yahoo Answers.