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alev1
alev1
Level 4
October 16, 2015
Solved

When does a search engine count as such?

  • October 16, 2015
  • 3 replies
  • 1485 views

When does a search engine count as such and not merely as a referring domain?

I'm asking this question because if I look at our referring domains report it says that we have (for example) 159 Unique Visitors for the item "virgilio.it" (Referrer Type filter selected as "all"). But if I switch the Referrer Type to "Search Engines" I get only 70 Unique Visitors for the same item. How is that possible?

(Same time period, no other segments applied...)

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    Best answer by Kaushalendra

    Hi Alessandro,

    In addition to Shekhar's response I would like to add the explanation here is that if you check for the second condition in the second article:

    • The referring URL contains a keyword query string parameter; in most instances the query string parameter is ?q=.

    Some of the Search Engines to enhance security strip off the query parameters from secure (HTTPS) pages and hence those referrers are not qualifies as Search Engines and are instead qualified as Other Sites.

     

    To verify whether this is the case here, breakdown the reports for which you have provided screenshots by Referrer Types and for ALL you will see Referrer Types as Search Engine as well as Other Sites. 

     

    Please let us know in case of any further query.

     

    ~Kaushal

    3 replies

    Kaushalendra
    Adobe Employee
    KaushalendraAdobe EmployeeAccepted solution
    Adobe Employee
    October 16, 2015

    Hi Alessandro,

    In addition to Shekhar's response I would like to add the explanation here is that if you check for the second condition in the second article:

    • The referring URL contains a keyword query string parameter; in most instances the query string parameter is ?q=.

    Some of the Search Engines to enhance security strip off the query parameters from secure (HTTPS) pages and hence those referrers are not qualifies as Search Engines and are instead qualified as Other Sites.

     

    To verify whether this is the case here, breakdown the reports for which you have provided screenshots by Referrer Types and for ALL you will see Referrer Types as Search Engine as well as Other Sites. 

     

    Please let us know in case of any further query.

     

    ~Kaushal

      WhoaShekhar
      WhoaShekhar
      Level 10
      October 16, 2015

      Hi There,

      Thanks for reaching out to Adobe Community.

      Please go through the below articles and see if these help:

      https://marketing.adobe.com/resources/help/en_US/reference/reports_search_engines.html

      https://helpx.adobe.com/analytics/kb/search-engines-in-other-websites.html

      Thanks!

        alev1
        alev1Author
        Level 4
        October 16, 2015

        Thanks for explaining. Indeed, in this case I became aware that the website is not only acting as a search engine but also as a mail provider and a news site. Seems some traffic were some links. 

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