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foghorn
23-01-2003, 01:13/01:13AM
When I check the log for URLs coming to one of my web sites I notice that a big category is "no referrer". I'm checking the logs with WebTrends. I'm not sure what this is - these visitors with "no referrer". Does it mean that they have added my site to their browser favorites list and are coming in that way? Or, is it something else.
sanity
23-01-2003, 14:27/02:27PM
My understanding is no referrer means the person has typed your URL directly into their browser.
landmark
24-01-2003, 03:25/03:25AM
I always see a high percentage of no-referrer visits to the sites I run (up to 50% of total visitors). I have always assumed that this is because the web browser or ISP is not passing on the information that the logging system needs. I see this in the raw logs as well as in the tracking system I use (matrixstats).
quick
24-01-2003, 17:15/05:15PM
I notice also in my logs about direct entry. I do not understand who these people could be.

Somehow I suspect they are not customers or clients but are service people from my hosting company or spammers up to something.

If anybody as any other ideas please let me know.
ihelpyou
24-01-2003, 17:21/05:21PM
Welcome to the forums quick! :hi:

Many stats programs will show no referrals mainly because of 'bookmarks' people have in their browsers. Many also show no referrals because the visitor is using something that 'hides' the referral. Anonymous software is out there to hide where and who you are. The 50% figure is very common. I just thought everyone had this in their stats or a figure close to it.
chris
24-01-2003, 17:22/05:22PM
Think:

people who type the url in the address bar
bookmarks
people who have browsers that can be set not to pass the referrer
people behind corporate proxy servers set not to pass the referrer

and the soon add up!
ihelpyou
24-01-2003, 17:27/05:27PM
Absolutely. These forums have about double the number of visits as to the actual number of referrals I can see.
Alan Perkins
24-01-2003, 18:20/06:20PM
In addition to what everyone else has said, spiders/robots are another category of "browser" that don't send a referrer. Excessively high "no-referrer" figures may indicate that (rightly or wrongly) you haven't filtered spiders from the analysis.
div
25-01-2003, 05:46/05:46AM
Hi

I noticed that we had a great deal on NON-indentifible referrals - so I did a test from google, I notice that quite often it didn't show up as referral when clicking through from a google search result.

DiV
landmark
27-01-2003, 04:04/04:04AM
I suspect that Chris has hit the nail on the head with:
people behind corporate proxy servers set not to pass the referrer