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ebeckerman
Level 2
August 15, 2024
Solved

Referring Domain Confusion

  • August 15, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 1551 views

How exactly does referring domain work? If a third-party website doesn't have a link to the site I'm tracking, how would there be a lot of traffic capturing the 3rd party site as the referring domain?

Example with random fictional data:

Let's say we're looking at one month of data for my website, 'examplesite.com'.

Freeform table view:

Marketing Channel: Referring Domain | 10,000 visits

Marketing Channel Detail: thirdpartysite.com | 5,000 visits

 

How is 'thirdpartysite.com' contributing significant data if there are no links to my site, 'examplesite.com'?

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Best answer by bjoern__koth

Hi @ebeckerman 

The referring domain can obviously only be set from Adobe Analytics if the information is present in the s.referrer property.

 

So, there must either be direct links from that domain OR redirects through that domain bringing traffic to your website.

 

which third party domain are we talking about? 

 

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/analytics/implementation/vars/page-vars/referrer#

 

2 replies

bjoern__koth
Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
bjoern__kothCommunity Advisor and Adobe ChampionAccepted solution
Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
August 15, 2024

Hi @ebeckerman 

The referring domain can obviously only be set from Adobe Analytics if the information is present in the s.referrer property.

 

So, there must either be direct links from that domain OR redirects through that domain bringing traffic to your website.

 

which third party domain are we talking about? 

 

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/analytics/implementation/vars/page-vars/referrer#

 

Cheers from Switzerland!
    Krishna_Musku
    Community Advisor
    Krishna_MuskuCommunity Advisor
    Community Advisor
    August 16, 2024

    @ebeckerman That thirdpartsite.com has link/links directing to your site, for which the thirdpartysite.com has showed in the marketing channel detail for referring domain.

      Krishna_Musku
      Community Advisor
      Krishna_MuskuCommunity Advisor
      Community Advisor
      August 16, 2024

      If you don't have links directing to your site from thirdpartysite, then there might be some redirects happening.

        E
        ebeckermanAuthor
        Level 2
        August 16, 2024

        This is super helpful, thank you! One follow-up Q - if we have no connection to the thirdpartysite, is there any way for us to figure out where a link might live?

        We did try to replicate the traffic by going to the thirdpartysite and looking for a way to get back to our site, but we were  unsuccessful. 

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