How To Track Referrals In Google Analytics

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Google Analytics offers a robust capability to monitor your website’s traffic and gain insights into how users engage with your content. Tracking referral traffic is crucial as it indicates the origin of your visitors.

Step 1: Set Up Goals

Before you can track referrals in Google Analytics, you need to set up goals. Goals allow you to track specific actions that users take on your website, such as making a purchase or filling out a form.

Setting Up Goals

  1. Log in to Google Analytics and navigate to the Admin section.
  2. Click on the account you want to track referrals for.
  3. Select the property you want to track referrals for.
  4. Click on Goals in the left-hand navigation bar.
  5. Click on + New Goal to create a new goal.
  6. Choose a goal type, such as Destination or Event, depending on what you want to track.
  7. Configure the goal settings based on your needs.
  8. Save your changes and wait for data to start collecting.

Step 2: Set Up Referral Exclusions

Once you have set up goals, you can start tracking referrals in Google Analytics. However, it’s important to exclude certain types of traffic from your referral reports to ensure accuracy.

Setting Up Referral Exclusions

  1. Log in to Google Analytics and navigate to the Admin section.
  2. Click on the account you want to track referrals for.
  3. Select the property you want to track referrals for.
  4. Click on Property in the left-hand navigation bar.
  5. Scroll down to the Referral Exclusion List section and click on + New Referral Exclusion.
  6. Enter the domain or subdomain you want to exclude from your referral reports.
  7. Save your changes and wait for data to start collecting.

Step 3: Analyze Referral Traffic

Now that you have set up goals and excluded certain types of traffic, you can start analyzing your referral traffic in Google Analytics. This will help you understand where your visitors are coming from and how they are interacting with your content.

Analyzing Referral Traffic

  1. Log in to Google Analytics and navigate to the Reporting section.
  2. Click on Acquisition in the left-hand navigation bar.
  3. Select All Traffic in the Channels section.
  4. Look for the Referral traffic source in the table below.
  5. Click on the Referral traffic source to see a list of all the referrals that have sent traffic to your website.
  6. Use the filters and sorting options to further analyze your referral traffic.

Conclusion

Tracking referrals in Google Analytics is an important step in understanding how visitors are finding your website. By setting up goals, excluding certain types of traffic, and analyzing your referral reports, you can gain valuable insights into your marketing efforts and make informed decisions about how to optimize your content for maximum impact.