Impossible referers...what the heck???

[briandunning]

I've just checked the log for one of my pages for the last several days, and was surprised to see that most of the top referers are pages on another site that I own! The sites are not related and absolutely do not link to each other (they're even hosted at different ISP's), so I don't see how one could be referring to the other. I haven't personally visited either site during the reported period.

How is this possible, and what might it mean? Any clues?

[wkw]

Are all the referrals from a single page on the other site?

[briandunning]

No, various.
(Hey what's up Wayne)

[digitalpoint]

Do you have any images, JS or anything like that from displaying on the one site from the other?

So you have your raw http logs that show the line(s) with the referrer?

[JoeO]

Are you running the co-op? If so there is a possibility you might be displaying your own ads... I'm not sure, thats the best I can think of.

[briandunning]

1. No Javascript or images or anything - totally no connection between the sites.

2. No raw logs - just my own little PHP tracker thingie that writes $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] to a db.

3. No co-op has ever lived on the referring site, though it did formerly exist on the receiving site.

[digitalpoint]

Hmmm... that's odd. If you give an example of two URLs (referred from/to) it would be useful. :)

If you look at the stats, is it a 1:1 referral ratio (like everyone visiting site a shows up as a referral on site b)? If so, it would have to be something embedded on the page somehow.

[wkw]

(Hi Brian - nice ranking you have for those affiliate pages! :) )
I gotta believe it's a programming mistake somewhere that you're just not seeing.

I presume you're not logging the IPs of the referrals? might provide some additional clue.