Glenn GabeNov 10, 2022

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
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 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 

@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.

Nov 10, 2022 at 4:58pmWeb
Show threadHilary Quinn Nov 10, 2022
@dwsmart @simoncox @johnmu @glenngabe very interesting thanks for the info. Definitely sounds a plausible why!