Glenn Gabe

I've been digging Mastodon, but I noticed something strange when tracking visits from the growing social network. Mastodon is using rel noreferrer on outbound links, so visits will show up as Direct Traffic in GA!

I hope that changes. You can read more in my post on Search Engine Roundtable today: https://www.seroundtable.com/mastodon-rel-noferrer-tracking-34391.html?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-noreferrer&utm_id=34391

#google #analytics #social #seo #data #googleanalytics

Mastodon Is Using Rel Noreferrer On Outbound Links Causing Visits To Appear As Direct Traffic In Google Analytics

With all of the Twitter chaos over the past few weeks, many have been flocking to Mastodon. I signed up last week and many other SEOs have signed up as well. Although there’s a bit of a learning cur

Search Engine Roundtable
Nov 10, 2022 at 1:38pmWeb
Show threadJohn MuellerNov 10, 2022

@glenngabe What would you like it to be, is "origin" the right level? File an issue -- I would love to see more SEOs involved in shaping the platform :).

More on referrer policies, fwiw: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Referrer-Policy#integration_with_html

Referrer-Policy - HTTP | MDN

The HTTP Referrer-Policy response header controls how much referrer information (sent with the Referer header) should be included with requests. Aside from the HTTP header, you can set this policy in HTML.

MDN Web Docs
Show threadSimon Cox Nov 10, 2022
@johnmu @glenngabe I suspect there are very good reasons for the nofollow - perhaps we should understand them first.
Show threadSimon Cox Nov 10, 2022
@johnmu @glenngabe Gah - I meant ‘noreferrer’
Show threadGlenn GabeNov 10, 2022
@simoncox It's about noreferrer, not nofollow! :)
Show threadHilary Quinn Nov 10, 2022
@simoncox @johnmu @glenngabe I suspect privacy and I wonder also overhead? Non members see the referrer link and click in, en mass for large communities could cause an issue for hosting bandwidth? Just thinking the motivation.. 🧐
Show threadDave Smart Nov 10, 2022

@proximowebs @simoncox @johnmu @glenngabe I'm guessing it is basic security. links open in a _blank, noopener noreferrer prevents the site being opened from being able to hijack the site where the link was.

You only need noopener for that. I.E. 11 was the last browser that didn't understand noopener, so you needed noreferrer to protect them.

You don't need both. noreferrer does everything noopener does. & all major browsers auto use noopener on target blank now anyway.

Show threadHilary Quinn Nov 10, 2022
@dwsmart @simoncox @johnmu @glenngabe very interesting thanks for the info. Definitely sounds a plausible why!
Show threadGlenn GabeNov 10, 2022
@johnmu I think origin would be best there! I'll file an issue and see how it goes. :)
Show threadDanielle Rohe Nov 10, 2022
@johnmu @glenngabe marketers are going to have to get over tracking everything and everyone. Attribution is somewhat meaningless anyway. But Gen Z are leading the charge on these "dark social" platforms that are smaller and more hidden and going to impact direct traffic, too. https://hbr.org/2020/02/the-era-of-antisocial-social-media
The Era of Antisocial Social Media

When you look at who is — and more importantly, who is not — driving the growth and popularity of social platforms, a key demographic appears to be somewhat in retreat: young people. They’re craving privacy, safety, and a respite from the throngs of people on social platforms (throngs that now usually include their parents), and gravitating toward more intimate destinations. The author has dubbed these “digital campfires.” She outlines three kinds of campfires, including the characteristics of each, as well as how brands are successfully reaching these audiences.

Harvard Business Review
Show threadDanielle Rohe Nov 10, 2022
@johnmu @glenngabe Glenn, what are your thoughts on Discover traffic showing up as Direct?
Show threadJohn MuellerNov 10, 2022
@danielle_r @glenngabe It should be showing as Google Search, it has the generic Google referrer (or rather, should have it :-)).
Show threadDanielle Rohe Nov 10, 2022
@johnmu @glenngabe hmmm ... that's not what I've seen and I've checked numbers in the Discover portion of GSC against "direct" traffic for specific URLs on the same day. Wasn't seeing it getting folded into Google / organic in GA. Most of the articles I found (nothing from this year) also reported it seems to be getting bucketed in Direct
Show threadDanielle Rohe Mar 22, 2023
@johnmu @glenngabe hi John, again seeing a Discover spike that can't all be bucketed into Google organic traffic. Do the different ways it gets surfaced cause it to get set to a different or no referrer possibly?
Show threadGlenn GabeMar 23, 2023
@danielle_r @johnmu I've seen Discover show up several ways... so very hard to track outside of GSC. e.g. Direct, Googlequicksearchbox, Google Organic, etc.
Show threadDanielle Rohe Mar 23, 2023
@glenngabe @johnmu glad to know it isn't just me. Having an enterprise come down on you for why you can't explain the traffic referral is not fun lol.
Show threadDanielle Rohe Mar 23, 2023
@glenngabe @johnmu basically pointed them to an old article about how there is no specific referrer for Discover and reiterated it surfaces in many ways so that could affect it
Show threadJohn MuellerMar 23, 2023
@danielle_r @glenngabe Yeah, the best way to track this is in Search Console. Maybe connecting the SC BigQuery bulk data export with your analytics would be an option?
Show threadDanielle Rohe Mar 23, 2023
@johnmu @glenngabe thanks for your response. Unfortunately enterprise protocol/tooling not able to use BQ 😟
Show threadRev. Lunar 🜏Ⓐ🖤Nov 10, 2022
@glenngabe This was built to protect users and their privacy so I'd hope it doesn't change in the future to allow sites to track people.
Show threadGlenn GabeNov 10, 2022
@lunar Yep, I hear you! It would just be good to get a top-level view of how things are going traffic-wise (and to which pieces of content). I'm def. not into tracking people like crazy...
Show threadRairii Nov 10, 2022

@glenngabe you're... joking, right? tell me you're joking.

Lack of tracking here is a feature, not a bug.

Show threadMarcNov 10, 2022
@glenngabe confirmed, no referer being shown in logs, which is not good, makes visits look bot like and could contribute to triggering firewall rules
Show threadNinzusNov 10, 2022
@glenngabe that's actually a good thing mate, i usually use plugins to achieve the same effect that i get here natively
Show threadElephantidaeNov 17, 2022

@glenngabe I also think this is by design and is a key part of what makes M different.

I have heard, though, that "people never click links on Twitter." Is there any truth to that? Could it be that marketers (who have bosses) will just care about follows to the account and boosts and likes on posts?

Thanks so much for the article.