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Getting traffic is one of the crucial aspects of website optimization. The more traffic you receive, the better it signifies the effectiveness of your optimization strategies. There are various types of website traffic, such as organic traffic and direct traffic. These two types are often the focus of SEO practitioners. Therefore, it's essential to understand the difference between direct traffic and organic traffic. By understanding this, you can determine which strategies need to be developed for website optimization. Here's the explanation!
Types of Website Traffic
Understanding the various types of website traffic is essential knowledge for an SEO specialist and plays a vital role in furthering website development. Traffic, as we know, is a crucial aspect of SEO, alongside achieving high rankings. Here are the different types:
1. Direct Traffic
Simply put, direct traffic refers to users who visit a website directly by typing its URL into their browser. It also includes users who click on website links from bookmarks/favorites or links within documents such as PDFs or Word files.
2. Organic Traffic
Organic traffic comes from users who discover a website through organic search results, not via advertisements. This traffic is generated when users enter search queries into search engines and find and visit your website as a result.
3. Paid Traffic
This type of traffic occurs when users visit a website by clicking on ads. This practice is often referred to as SEM (Search Engine Marketing). Every click generated by a user incurs a cost, known as pay per click (PPC).
4. Referral Traffic
Referral traffic consists of users who visit your website through links on other websites. When users click on links on other websites that direct them to your site, the resulting traffic is termed referral traffic.
5. Social Traffic
Social traffic is acquired when users click on website links through social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and others. Clicks made by users are counted as social traffic.
Differences Between Direct Traffic and Organic Traffic
Among the various types of website traffic, direct traffic and organic traffic are commonly discussed topics, especially concerning their differences. So, what sets direct traffic and organic traffic apart?
Organic Traffic:
Organic traffic is defined as visitors who come from search engines like Google and is a primary channel that needs enhancement in inbound marketing. In organic traffic, visitors search for specific keywords, and search engine results display your site as one of the relevant outcomes. Visitors then click on that link and enter your site.
Examples of organic traffic sources include unpaid methods such as search engine rankings, links on social media profiles, and email links, all of which can generate organic traffic to your site. If users click links from various intermediary platforms leading them to your website, it is counted as organic traffic. Organic traffic is closely tied to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), where the goal is to improve your website's ranking in search results for relevant keywords.
Direct Traffic:
Direct traffic refers to website visitors who manually enter the website URL or click links from bookmarks. For instance, if a user types www.yourwebsite.com in their browser, this URL will take them to your website's page, counted as direct traffic. Similarly, if a user bookmarks the page or adds it to their mobile device's reading list and revisits it later, it is also counted as direct traffic.
Typically, direct traffic originates from the following sources:
- Employees: Your employees frequently visit your site and may not filter their IP addresses from web analytics.
- Customers: If you provide a login page for customers, it can be a source of direct traffic.
- Broken Links or QR Codes: Visitors using broken links or QR codes to access your website fall into the direct traffic category.
Summary
In summary, the difference between direct traffic and organic traffic is as follows:
- Direct traffic comes from people who already know your website's address and access it directly.
- Organic traffic originates from organic search results on search engines, where visitors find your site through relevant search outcomes.
Understanding the distinction between direct traffic and organic traffic is crucial for website optimization. From here, you can formulate strategies needed to enhance awareness, driving traffic to your site.
