Simple Google Analytics Question

Hey all!

I'm hoping someone here can provide a solid answer about a Google Analytics question that's been bugging me for the past couple of months.

When checking out referral sources, one of the sources is:

(direct) ((none)) - or something that looks like that

I figured this was just type in traffic, or something along those lines, but after running some numbers, I've come to the conclusion that there has to be a deeper explanation of where this traffic is coming from. The numbers are too large (compared to other traffic sources) to ignore.

My first theory was that it was traffic that somehow wasn't tracked specifically, only enough to count as a visitor, so since they didn't know where it came from, they shove it into the above mentioned mysterious category. Am I close?

If anyone can provide more insight as to what (direct) ((none)) consists of, I would be more than appreciative!

Thanks!

Shamus

 

it generally is type in traffic. Understand Analytics is not 100% accurate. Your theory is correct, it can be the equivalent of the (not set) value you may find when looking at city or keyword data.

 

Any page views that do not have a referer set will fall into this category. Reasons no referer is set can range from type-in traffic, to bookmarks, to people using spyware cleaners that wipe referers from every request their browser makes.

 

Thanks for both of your answers...good stuff. I never thought about the spyware progs (that come standard on many retail machines) doing stuff like that, but makes perfect sense.

Thanks!

 

It is not just type in traffic but also bookmarks - if you have a well known "brand" your website can get lots of direct traffic.

 

good tips here.

 

thank for knowledge