Understand traffic sources and referrers

Acquisition reports explain how a recorded visit reached the site using the evidence available in the request.

Referrer

The referrer is the page or hostname supplied by the browser. It may identify a search engine, partner, publication, social network, or another page on your own site.

Referrers can be missing because of browser policy, application behavior, copied links, redirects, or privacy controls.

Source

Source is a normalized label used to group related traffic. For example, multiple Google referrer URLs can appear under a common source label.

Use the raw referrer when you need the supplied hostname and the source when you need a cleaner comparison.

Campaigns

UTM parameters provide explicit campaign context:

• utm_source
• utm_medium
• utm_campaign
• utm_content
• utm_term

Use a consistent naming policy. newsletter, Newsletter, and email-newsletter create separate values unless normalized before publishing.

The UTM builder can create a tagged URL, and the UTM checker can review it before launch.

Direct and unknown traffic

Direct does not always mean someone typed the address. It means the recorded visit did not include a usable source signal.

Do not silently convert missing evidence into a confident acquisition claim. Keep the recorded traffic state visible and apply attribution models separately when revenue is connected.

A practical review

For a campaign window:

1. Check total visitors and sessions.
2. Compare source and campaign rows.
3. Open the landing pages receiving that traffic.
4. Review goal or funnel conversion.
5. Add revenue only if payment events are connected.

Compare traffic quality before revenue

A source with more sessions is not automatically a better source. Compare a meaningful goal as well as visits.

For example, suppose a newsletter brings 200 measured sessions and 12 sessions complete a signup goal. A partner link brings 500 sessions and 10 complete the same goal. The illustrative signup rates are 6% and 2%, respectively. The partner supplied more reach; the newsletter supplied more signups from fewer sessions.

Keep the same time window and goal definition. Inspect the landing pages and device mix before deciding whether the difference comes from the source, audience or destination.

This review works without Stripe. When payment events are available, UTM revenue attribution adds purchases and refunds to the comparison.

Next steps

Read UTM revenue attribution for payment-aware campaigns or content and landing pages for the next step in the visit.