Referrer domain in the new visit after 30mins - diffe...

[H_L]

Hi there,

May I have your help to confirm: which the adobe default referrer (or referring domain) value will be credited +1 to new visit starts on 10:33?

PS: "www.domain.com" has been set in internal URL filter as internal URL, document.referrer value will be replaced in each hit, even it's an internal URL.

I mainly confuse on S1 and S2, as the document.referrer is replaced by new value (which is internal domain), I have no idea whether in new visit start on 10:33:

S1 & S2 referrer will be Google OR S1 referrer = Google, S2 referrer = blank (typed/bookmarked)

So, please help to check if my understanding is correct:

S0: Referrer: Google, Visits: 1+1

S1: Referrer: Google, Visits: 1+1

S2: Referrer: Google, Visits: 1+1 

S3: Referrer: Google, Visit: 1, Referrer: Typed/Bookmarked, Visit: 1

S4: Referrer: Google, Visit: 1, Referrer: Typed/Bookmarked, Visit: 1

This topic is related to: this question , so I am considering if it is because different user behavior.

Thank you and have a safe day.

H

[yuhuisg · Accepted solution]

AA's definition of Visit does not take the referrer into account. It's primarily based on time (e.g. 30-minute gap between hits) or an excessive amount of hits in a short span of time. It doesn't even care if the visit crosses 12am. (I guess you're coming from a GA world, where traffic sources are a factor in identifying a visit/session.)

So, in your examples:

S0: Referrer: Google, Visits: 1+1

S1: Referrer: Google, Visit: 1, Referrer: Typed/Bookmarked, Visit: 1

S2: Referrer: Google, Visit: 1, Referrer: Typed/Bookmarked, Visit: 1

S3: Referrer: Google, Visit: 1, Referrer: Typed/Bookmarked, Visit: 1

S4: Referrer: Google, Visit: 1, Referrer: Typed/Bookmarked, Visit: 1

Here's a more interesting example:

S5:

10:00 Search  on google

10:01 Page A <-- document.referrer = www.google.com

10:02 Page B

10:10 Click from Facebook

10:11 Page C <-- document.referrer = www.facebook.com

10:12-10:44 keep the browser open and do nothing for 30 minutes

10:45 Refresh Page C <-- document.referrer = www.facebook.com

S5: Referrer: Google, Visit: 1, Referrer: Facebook, Visit: 1+1

This is because the first set of hits (10:00 - 10:12) had 2 referrals, but all of that is within 1 visit. So AA will count each referrer with 1 visit each, i.e. the same visit.

See this help page: Referrer | Adobe Analytics. At the top of the page, below the "Important" box, see this line:

Analysis Workspace reports the referrer for each individual page, excluding values that match internal URL filters.

[H_L]

@yuhuisg, thanks for the detail reply.

I haven't had too much exp. in GA, but almost all in AA (but I know GA will count all to Google session).

I had same consideration with yours, until I see the Visit from Google is 2-3 times than Google Clicks (as the link to another post mentioned at the bottom of OP), I doubt myself -_-!!.

BTW, as mentioned on beginning, we've implemented to set document.referrer in each hit, even it's an internal URL, that's why I said when check document.referrer, it was www.domain.com if click on page B.

To the interesting sample you mentioned, fully understood, and in Visit 1, I see in total it is 1 visit while breakdown it will be display both 1 in each of domains (Google, FB).

Thanks again & Have a good day.