I’ve written more blog posts in the past 2 weeks than I have in the past year – well, not really, but it’s pretty close if you can believe that.
So it’s natural that I’ve spent time inside my Google Analytics account, which was obvious since I recently posted a graph that shows Google Chrome will overtake Mozilla Firefox.
If You Dig Deep Enough, You Might Find Something
While I was in my analytics account, I decided that I would check out one more thing – traffic referrals to my website. To my surprise, here is what I found.
I don’t get a ton of traffic here on my personal blog – no where close to the amount of traffic that StudioPress gets – but I found something very interesting, nonetheless.
Prior to the launch of Google Plus, the #1 referrer to my site was easily Google (the search engine). Even though Analytics considers that organic traffic, I place that in the generic “how people get to my site” group.
Let’s Throw Out Google Search Traffic and Focus on Social Media
As I had mentioned above, I’ve published 4 blog posts over the past two weeks, and treated them all the same in regards to sharing them on my social media outlets – Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.
In other words, when I published a post, I’d link to it through all of the aforementioned social media accounts just to see what would happen.
It’s quite obvious from the traffic numbers in the analytics chart above, that Google Plus was the #1 leading referral source to my blog, followed up by Twitter and Facebook.
Drawing Some (Very Basic) Conclusions From This Data
I don’t think that the results from this experiment are groundbreaking, nor do I think they would apply to all bloggers and websites.
But what I can say, is that it shows that Google Plus is going to definitely going to be a part of my daily social media routine. From sharing links to general comments and conversation with my tech friends online, I will certainly make my appearance there.
So how about you? Who sends the most traffic to your blog?
You can either talk about other websites, or preferably talk about social media sources.
Hey Brian,
I’ve found Google+ is already sending more traffic than Twitter to my new blog. In descending order (not including direct) my top traffic sources are Facebook, Google Search and Google Plus.
I’m not worried about Facebook in the long run but if I were LinkedIn, I’d be concerned. G+ is already more fun and easier to use. To top it off, I feel more connected to the people I’m sharing with on Google+ whereas LinkedIn just feels like a resume repository.
I agree with the resume repository thing – but I would say that a lot of “tech” people might make (more than) and official move to Google Plus over Facebook. I’m starting to think that Google+ might end affecting Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin together.
Agreed. I haven’t been using Facebook as much lately because I don’t think most of my friends would “get” what I’m sharing when it relates to internet marketing and real estate. The big advantage I see with G+ over Twitter is the ability to easily upload and share media.
Since Twitter is being integrated into iOS5 I could see my “top 2″ social networks in 5 years being Twitter and Google+. Facebook really missed out on an opportunity to join forces with Apple imo.
I think Google has a huge advantage over any startups that consider(ed) competing against Facebook and Twitter in that a) it has the ultimate mailing list b) it has development teams that are top of the line and c) it already has services like Gmail and Reader that can easily be integrated with Google+.
For me it’s been Direct > Google > Twitter > Facebook for historical data.
In the last 2 weeks, it’s been Facebook as the social media leader. I think your already existing following on Twitter is probably a direct result of your G+ stats rising. Your following is savvy enough to get on G+ and WANT to start using it day to day. And with you focusing on it a lot more, these are the results you get.
Which leads me to say: It’s not “fair” for you to be a cool kid!
I say this jokingly because you’re not the first to say you’re really enjoying the ROI on G+. However, this is coming from guys like you that have 5k+ followers or even Brogan at 200k+
You had the stage already, so guys like me aren’t seeing the kinds of percentages yet.
Anywho, great observation Brian!
Matt – this is precisely why I made the following comment:
And yes, those who follow me are typically moving over to Google+ themselves, which explains the rise in traffic sent from there.
Google + is inching its way up but Twitter and Facebook still bring more for me, albiet not by much. Here’s my top 5:
google (organic)
direct
diythemes.com
smartpassiveincome.com
yoast.com
…followed by Twitter, Facebook and G+.
I’ll bet that a combination of you spending more time on Google Plus as well as others will increase that referral source for you. I’ve been helped by a few people like Chris Brogan and Chris Garrett who’ve shared my posts on Google Plus, which adds to that %.
No doubt, I expect to see it pass Twitter and Facebook in the next few weeks. Side note; I love it, if Facebook didn’t bring me traffic I’d get rid of it entirely.
Heh, same here. But I can’t get rid of Facebook because my wife Shelly lives there, and that’s where people want to read how often I’m at Starbucks.
Interesting! I’m getting very little from G+ — the ones I’m getting I’m sure are from folks wondering if I’m a troll and worthy of circling. I have not been posting my stuff on G+ though. So in terms of SM, TW would be my big driver for sure. It’s interesting to me that 20% is organic though – my personal favorite search term was “girl doing handstand in dress”. Disclaimer: I was not wearing a dress – ha! The other REALLY interesting one is that 25% are direct – that to me is AMAZING because it’s only been 30 days since I ditched the ex’s last name (yep I’ve been divorced for 15 years). That’s my story – and I’m sticking to it. Thanks for the info Brian!
It’s good to stick with your story, because when you waver, you compromise your ability to gain traction.
I know this because the past year and a half I’ve wanted to create various blogs about X and Y topics, and have basically spun my wheels and went nowhere.
It was when I made the commitment to stick to writing what I know about – my business experiences and social media – that I began to regain that traction here on my site.
Thanks Brian. I love stories – and yes – we must always stick to them. I’m an irrigation expert who has found herself in sustainable ag. It’s not nearly as much fun though as making fun of myself learning how to ride a bike. Alas, I doubt that anyone will ever pay me for that, but it is cheaper than therapy.
I’d be willing to bet that there aren’t many irrigation blogs out there, and that you could monetize that niche (considering it’s your expert area) much easier than in some arbitrarily generic social media sense.
This is amazing how fast Google+ has grown. I have often thought that traffic sources might be relative to the site we connect with people most on. I rarely use Twitter because I have always felt like I was feeling my way around in the dark. It is just not visual enough for me to get it. Last time I checked I was getting more organic and Facebook referrals than anything.
I’ll be willing to bet like I mentioned to Jason that as you spend more time on Google Plus, your traffic from it will increase.
Don’t underestimate the power of a social network when it comes to traffic… if someone you follow gains more followers, and they share your post, you reap the benefits.
Have you seen this about Twitter traffic being under-reported in analytics?
Nope, I sure haven’t – but it makes sense.
More than anything, this post was more about Google+ kicking Facebook’s a$$ in traffic referrals. I think we both share the same “dislike” for Facebooger, and it pleases me to see that traffic from Google+ and Twitter (even more so now with your article) validating where I spend my time.
P.S. I know you’re having graphic envy again, so if you ever want a cool filter applied to any of the Copyblogger images, just holler.
One thing we’ve found in ours over time & cross-referencing with our URL shortener stats is that some of the twitter clients show up in the direct pile.
Yeah, it’s something on the surface you wouldn’t expect, but now that I read the article posted by Brian – I get it.
You’d think that Google (of all people) would be able to decipher what’s what, but cross-linking, etc it probably is difficult.
I think some of the twitter clients do something behind the scenes to query the shortened URL without loading the redirect & hand the redirect the client directly.
I’m glad you understand what you just said.
In English Ron. LOL
Hi Brian
Google Analytics can throw up a few surprises about where the traffic is coming from, but there is another figure that you should look at – bounce rate.
Lots of people from a particular source but the bounce rate is 80%.
Few people from another source but the bounce rate is 20%, they look at 3 other pages and spend an average of 2mins on your site.
Tons of info in that Google Analytics.
Keith, the bounce rate obsesses me because it’s how I can tell if I have not confused searchers but readers. I try to craft the keywords to bring the people who will want to take a serious look at what I’ve written, and by slyly adding some even more interesting internal links (like great resources on other sites), I get to see how long a reader actually spends on a page. I’ve been fooling around in G+ and love it. Still have to see if my blog has interest to the folks who fascinate me in my circles there. Whatever happens, I’ll be reading Google Analytics like tea leaves!
Brian,
That is interesting. I need to double check my Google Analytics, but that is cool to know how much traffic G+ is already generating huge amounts of traffic for you.
Andy
Report back what you find, I’d love to hear if you’re experiencing the same thing.
I am seeing the same results in my analytics and have added Google+ to everything I am doing on the social scale. G+ is the #1 referrer on a few sites I have and hope to see the decline of spambook as we know it.
Good to know that my results are consistent with what other folks are seeing… the question that I want to know, is this a “temporary” thing as Google+ is the taste of the month? Or is is something that will sustain?
Most of my traffic is Organic but, then again, I specifically target commonly used keyword searches with my titles and content. Second place would be Twitter. I don’t do much sharing on Facebook but I get some straggling traffic because I have my Twitter hooked up to my Facebook.
I haven’t yet truly adopted Google Plus but I might have to give it another go if it actually increases traffic and exposure more-so than Facebook does (which never did much for me
Maybe I’ll do a little experiment of my own and see how many traffic changes if I actually start using Google Plus.
Anyways, interesting thoughts, thanks for sharing.
Hey Eric, thanks for dropping by. I’d suggest doing some experimenting on Google Plus, if at the very least to validate or invalidate what I’m seeing.
I don’t focus so much on organic search by trying to land keywords, so there’s some difference in our approaches. Nonetheless, I bet if you spend some time working with Google+ and sharing, your traffic would grow even more.
I definitely will. I’ll be sure and do a writeup about my results and share
I just started on Google+ a few weeks ago and late last week I finally got my Google+ Icon on my site & plus button on my posts. I checked my Google Analtyics briefly but didn’t notice G+ in the top 10. I’ll have to look more thoroughly. Will be interesting to see how it ranks in a week or so above T & FB.
Thanks for bringing this to light. I didn’t even think about G+ & GA until I read your post.
Let me know what kind of results you find…
Also – was great to meet you at WC Chicago today – great conversation, and nice to get a chance to talk!
I’m actually pretty surprised by this. I guess I didn’t realize exactly how popular Google+ is. I would have assumed most of every ones traffic came from twitter.
Yes – it’s catching on much faster than most people think. It will be interesting to see if it actually maintains its steam.
I’m getting my social media traffic mainly from Facebook right now but almost nothing from Twitter. I’m concentrating mainly on SEO for organic traffic.
Honestly – it really depends on niches here… some folks experience more from Google, some from Facebook, and obviously others from Twitter. It seems like the real estate niche is quite heavy when it comes to Facebook.
Older post, but I have a quick question, if you don’t mind answering. Just out of curiosity, are you more active on Google+ -vs Facebook? This is extremely new to me, valuable as well and I simply love seeing newer sites such as Google+ going over Facebook like that. Fantastic share!
Cheers,
Emil
Yes, I am more active on Google+ over Facebook, but even more so active on Twitter than the other two combined.
Interesting, I will monitor mine as well. Google+ is definitely next Facebook.
For some reason, I hate Google + Brian. I seem to be seeing too much junk on my screen and decided to stop using Google Plus. Do you feel its worth it? Good for you that you are making good traffic from it.
This is surprises me – especially if you’re a Facebook fan. To me, Google+ is lightweight, minimal and very pleasing while Facebook is the social media site which screams “billboard” to me.
Hello
Google + been observing that sends more traffic to my web twiter. Most visitors come to my Web Myspace, Facebook and looking for google.
I think the social network faceebok is the most widely used worldwide and not have to worry at the moment but it is true that like other social networks should worry a little to improve their systems usuabilidad.
I used to use facebook a lot but not if it is true that since I use my visits are rising.
Sincerely,
Maricarmen
Not sure if someone has mentioned the fact that Twitter url shortened links & third party apps links dont come into google analytics correctly. Google counts them with the direct links.
Yes, in fact Brian Clark mentioned that in his comment, to which I agreed that the results might be off a bit.
It’s incredible that Google+ is already one of the highest sources of traffic! I wonder if it will hold up, or whether it’s just the fad of the moment.
I was surprised that organic search was so low, considering that’s what SEO seems to focus on, and where I get most of my traffic. Maybe it’s time to change strategies . . .
Wow! Google+ hasn’t been on my radar at all. AT ALL! I’ve been focusing on Twitter and Facebook and ignoring G+. This is really eye-opening.
I’d love to see a future post on your social media strategies Brian.
It’s amazing how quickly Google + increase. I have often thought that the traffic sources may be in place, we connect with people at most. I rarely use Twitter, because I always felt that I was feeling my way in the dark. It’s not just visual enough for me to get it. The last time I checked my references and get more organic than anything Facebook.
Yeah, Google+ is sending more traffic than Facebook and Twitter. Stumbleupon is also good traffic source.
Nice article. I agree with many comments that for every blogger – there are different sources of traffic.
My blog has been only 3 months and very niche specific – “buddhist meditation techniques” and I have not expected much from Google Organic Search because being a new domain, etc. So far, I have had 5,000 clicks per month and about 10,000 pageviews. The lower pageviews due to Social Networks:
1. Reddit.com – category meditation – 1 article got 1,300 clicks on 1st day and 30 to 40 per day since then. 40 – 60 clicks for regular article – not a focused niche.
2. StumbleUpon.com – category – Buddhism – 1 article got 725 clicks and about 40 clicks regular articles. Not a niche specific and people only read if it is something new or intriguing.
3. Direct Traffic
4. Google Organic Traffic – from 5 % to 20 % traffic increase.
My findings are that Social Networks such as Reddit.com and StumbleUpon.com are good for traffic, but their setup encourages high bounce rate to continue going back to the networks to read other articles or check out community Q&A – thus 1.2 page views and high bounce rate. Not so much deep engagement.
Google Organic search traffic – are my niche specific and they read 4.5 article per visit and low bounce back. I should focus more on that.
Google Keywords indicate that there 50,000 searches for my niche, definitely an opportunity to get more traffic to my website.
So, this are my top 4 traffic referrals.