Direct Traffic??

[Former_Member]

So I've been keeping tabs on my shop stats, and understandably, I always get more views when I am more active in Teams, Treasuries, new listings, etc. What I've only recently discovered is that 95% of my traffic is not through Etsy or other websites, but is "direct traffic." I read the little question mark, and I understand what direct traffic is. But it doesn't make sense to me that my spikes in views always correlate with my activity on Etsy---that would only make sense if my traffic were from Etsy.

Anybody understand this more than I do?

[Former_Member]

Direct traffic is a catch all for "unknown source" which means they do not have any way to track the source that the view came from. This can include someone looking at an item through Twitter or on a Facebook shop. It also includes things like bookmarks and people who have favorites set outside Etsy. It can also include when someone types or pasts the url of your item into their browser. Some people browse from their phones as well and that does not always translate well. So, in a nutshell, it is a view that Etsy just cannot put their finger on the source of.

[Former_Member]

But then why do my views always spike in correlation with my activity on Etsy? Outside sources would not be affected by that...

[Former_Member]

I've noticed that as well. I think what you want to know is does Etsy somehow track how activate our accounts are and does that play a part in our exposure somewhere behind relevancy, recency, and other factors affecting our listings.

[Former_Member]

I've wondered the same thing! I also have no idea....:)

[Former_Member]

when you get the answer please post it ;^))

[SilverLilyJewelry]

I am thinking although you may think your etsy activity may not have an effect on outside sources but when you do post a new listing you end up promoting out of etsy as well which could possibly be bringing in Direct Views

[Former_Member]

I've noticed the same thing and was wondering the cause myself.....

[LBlackbournJewelry]

My direct traffic is from Twitter. My Facebook traffic is itemized.

[Former_Member]

Sorry, I misunderstood the question. Perhaps, it is just a glitch with Etsy that you are experiencing. If your views are directly related to posting a new item or renewing or something of the like then it stands to reason that Etsy is not tracking those views correctly. It could be due to a timeout issue with the Etsy servers or something in their code that does not recognize a specific link within the Etsy system. For example it is possible that if someone clicks on a view from someone favoriting an item in their feed it may not show up as "from feed" but as "direct traffic." Not saying that is the case but it is certainly a possibility.

[Former_Member]

When I am on the boards and I go to check out another shop, I do not open their shop directly. I right click on the shop name and open in another window. I wonder if that is read as 'direct traffic', instead of teams?

I will sometimes get messages from fellow Etsians saying how cute my shop it and that they love such and such a bag, etc. but have 0 hits from teams in my stats. This makes me think that if you open a different tab to view a shop, even from teams, that it may show as 'direct traffic'.

But, really, I have no idea, lol :)

[Former_Member]

Thanks for talking about direct traffic, I've always wondered what it meant! Good thread =^-^=

[Former_Member]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and ideas. I think some of your speculations about tabs and activity feeds are probably right. Anything else just seems strange to me.