diff --git a/docs/countries.md b/docs/countries.md index f653c8d8..3f674056 100644 --- a/docs/countries.md +++ b/docs/countries.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ --- -title: Locations +title: Top countries, regions and cities --- import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl'; @@ -8,8 +8,10 @@ Your "**Locations**" report shows where in the world your visitors are coming fr Click on any country to see the list of regions within that country where your visitors are coming from. Click on any region to see the list of cities within that region. You can also use the "**Countries**", "**Regions**" and "**Cities**" tabs on the top of the report. -To improve the accuracy, visitors that use VPN services and the Tor browser are grouped under the "**Anonymous VPN Service**" entry in the "**Countries**" tab. This eliminates noise that VPNs add to locations and makes it easy to view the percentage of visitors using VPNs. +## Visitors using VPNs and similar services +To improve the location accuracy, visitors using VPN services or the Tor browser are grouped under the "**Anonymous VPN Service**" entry in the "**Countries**" tab. This method reduces the noise caused by analytics tools recording VPN server locations instead of actual user locations, while also making it easier to view the percentage of visitors using VPNs. + You can use the "**Filter**" button on the top of your dashboard to segment the traffic by multiple countries, regions or cities at the same time. This allows you to group specific geographical regions and display only that traffic. Countries - multiple filters diff --git a/docs/custom-locations.md b/docs/custom-locations.md index b2f8aa0c..a52b98af 100644 --- a/docs/custom-locations.md +++ b/docs/custom-locations.md @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ This is especially helpful to redact and aggregate multiple pages whose URLs con Follow the steps below to learn how you can specify a custom location for your pages and aggregate page URLs that contain identifiers: ## 1. Add the `manual` script extension -To specify a custom location for your event, you must use [Plausible's manual script extension](script-extensions.md#plausiblemanualjs). +To specify a custom location for your event, you must use [Plausible's manual script extension](script-extensions.md). To do so, change your Plausible script snippet `src` attribute from `https://plausible.io/js/script.js` to `https://plausible.io/js/script.manual.js`. @@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ plausible('pageview', { u: "https://yourdomain.com/my-custom-location" + window. ``` :::note -The `+ window.location.search` is needed to persist query parameters from your actual URL. Plausible uses `ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term` query parameters for source acquisition. [Learn more here](manual-link-tagging.md). +The `+ window.location.search` is needed to persist query parameters from your actual URL. Plausible uses `ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term` query parameters for source acquisition. [Learn more here](top-referrers.md). ::: At this point, your entire setup should look like this: diff --git a/docs/custom-query-params.md b/docs/custom-query-params.md index 0af3204a..e1a32bbd 100644 --- a/docs/custom-query-params.md +++ b/docs/custom-query-params.md @@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ title: Tracking custom query parameters --- -Query parameters `ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term` are valid and supported by Plausible out of the box. The parameters themselves are stripped from the page paths so they are not shown in the "**Top Pages**" report but they are used for source attribution of marketing campaigns. You can check all the clicks on links with UTM tags in the "**Campaigns**" tab of the "**Top Sources**" report. Read more about [tagging links with query parameters here](manual-link-tagging.md). +Query parameters `ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term` are valid and supported by Plausible out of the box. The parameters themselves are stripped from the page paths so they are not shown in the "**Top Pages**" report but they are used for source attribution of marketing campaigns. You can check all the clicks on links with UTM tags in the "**Campaigns**" tab of the "**Top Sources**" report. Read more about [tagging links with query parameters here](top-referrers.md). Other than the source attribution query parameters listed above, Plausible strips all other query parameters for privacy purposes. This means that pages like `yoursite.com/blog/index.php?article=some_article&page=11` will be reported as `yoursite.com/blog/index.php` in the "**Top Pages**" report of your Plausible dashboard. @@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ At this point, your entire setup should look like this: ``` :::note -The `+ window.location.search` is needed to persist source acquisition query parameters from your actual URL. Plausible uses `ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term` query parameters for source acquisition. [Learn more here](manual-link-tagging.md). +The `+ window.location.search` is needed to persist source acquisition query parameters from your actual URL. Plausible uses `ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term` query parameters for source acquisition. ::: That's it! You're now tracking the complete URLs of the pages that include custom parameters. diff --git a/docs/devices.md b/docs/devices.md index c3ebbf6f..d25e44b5 100644 --- a/docs/devices.md +++ b/docs/devices.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ --- -title: Devices +title: Top devices, browsers and operating systems --- import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl'; diff --git a/docs/guided-tour.md b/docs/guided-tour.md index b8564211..37d0a383 100644 --- a/docs/guided-tour.md +++ b/docs/guided-tour.md @@ -68,12 +68,14 @@ You can sort any report by such performance metrics by clicking on any metric he ## Top Sources -See all the top referral sources of traffic ranked by the number of unique visitors. You can click on the "**Details**" button to see the full list which also includes additional metrics such as the bounce rate and visit duration of the individual referral. [Read more here](top-referrers.md). +See all the acquisition channels and sources of traffic ranked by the number of unique visitors. You can click on the "**Details**" button to see the full list which also includes additional metrics such as the bounce rate and visit duration of the individual referral. -You can click into the "**Campaign**" tabs of the Top Sources report to see your campaigns isolated from other traffic sources. These are visitors coming from UTM tagged links such as those in your emails, social media or in your paid advertising campaigns. Click on "**Medium**", "**Source**", "**Campaign**", "**Term**" and "**Content**" to explore these. You can learn more about [link tagging here](manual-link-tagging.md). +You can use the "**Campaigns**" dropdown section in the Top Sources report to view your campaigns separately from other traffic sources. These are visitors coming from UTM tagged links such as those in your emails, social media or in your paid advertising campaigns. Click on "**Medium**", "**Source**", "**Campaign**", "**Term**" and "**Content**" to explore these. Note that the referral sources including UTM and other query parameters are counted only when they start a new session on your site. +[Read more here](top-referrers.md). + ## Top Pages See all the most visited pages on your site ranked by the number of unique visitors. You can click on the "**details**" button to see the full list with additional metrics. The number of pageviews, bounce rate, and time on page for the individual pages are included too. diff --git a/docs/manual-link-tagging.md b/docs/manual-link-tagging.md index 0ed9eff6..d7fe6a3d 100644 --- a/docs/manual-link-tagging.md +++ b/docs/manual-link-tagging.md @@ -4,68 +4,4 @@ title: Paid campaigns, UTM tags and conversion attribution import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl'; -Whenever you post a link in social media, paid advertising or send it in an email newsletter, you can choose to add a special query parameter to the link. When for instance `?ref=` query parameter is present, Plausible Analytics will show it as the referral source. - -Tagging your links helps you minimize the amount of traffic that falls within the "**Direct / None**" category. It also helps you better track your marketing campaigns and see which campaigns are responsible for most conversions. - -`ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term` query parameters are all valid and supported. - -:::tip Referral sources are counted only when they start a new session -This is why you don't see all the referral sources of your own visits if you for instance click to test several different UTM tagged links at the same time. You would need to start a new session by using a different browser, a different IP address or a different device for the new source to be included in the report -::: - -## How to UTM tag links in your marketing campaigns - -Here's an example of what you can do when you want to send a newsletter to your subscribers. - -If you simply link to your site with `yourdomain.com`, anyone who clicks on it would fall within the "**Direct / None**" referral source. - -But if you link to `yourdomain.com?ref=Newsletter` anyone who clicks on that will show "**Newsletter**" as the referrer source. This will allow you to see how many people have clicked on your link in the newsletter. - -Here are examples of links with the different query parameters that are supported by Plausible Analytics: - -* `yourdomain.com?ref=Newsletter` -* `yourdomain.com?source=Newsletter` -* `yourdomain.com?utm_source=Newsletter` - -For any clicks on any of the above links, "**Newsletter**" would be listed as a referral source in your Plausible Analytics dashboard. - -You can also go a bit deeper and track your links in more detail using UTM tags: - -* `yourdomain.com?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=NovemberNewsletter&utm_content=Link` - -For any clicks on the above link, "**Newsletter**" would be listed as a referral source in your Plausible Analytics dashboard, "**Email**" would be listed as the medium, "**NovemberNewsletter**" would be listed as the campaign and "**Link**" would be listed as the content. - -Read more about "[how to use UTM parameters to track your campaigns and understand the dark traffic](https://plausible.io/blog/utm-tracking-tags)". - -:::tip Prefer to completely stop tracking UTM tags and other query parameters on your site? -Please [follow these instructions](stop-tracking-utm-tags.md) -::: - -## Segment between organic traffic and paid marketing campaigns - -Note that UTM tags are case sensitive. In the "**Top Sources**" report of your Plausible dashboard, each source is consolidated into a single entry regardless of capitalization stemming from UTM tagging differences. - -For instance, clicks that you get from Facebook which are not tagged by UTMs are labeled with a referral source "**Facebook**" by Facebook itself. If you tag some links that you share on Facebook with the utm_source=facebook, clicks on those links will be consolidated alongside other Facebook clicks in the "**Facebook**" source in the “**All**” tab of the "**Top Sources**" report. This is in order to make it easier for you to keep track and get a combined overview of all the clicks from Facebook. - -Want to see the specific source data? Just click on any entry to see specific source breakdowns or explore the "**Campaigns**" tab of the "**Top Sources**" report. To isolate your UTM tagged clicks from the organic clicks, you can segment the traffic by using the "**UTM Medium**", "**UTM Source**", "**UTM Campaign**", "**UTM Content**" and "**UTM Term**" reports within the "**Campaigns**" tab. - -You can also use [the "**Filter**" button on the top of your dashboard](filters-segments.md) to filter the stats by multiple UTM tags at the same time for more powerful segmenting of traffic. It's also possible to filter out traffic from a specific UTM tag. - -:::tip Does your site use custom query parameters in URLs? -A page like `yoursite.com/blog/index.php?article=some_article&page=11` will be reported as `yoursite.com/blog/index.php` in the "**Top Pages**" report of your Plausible dashboard as we strip custom parameters. You can manually enable these custom parameters to be tracked. [See how here](custom-query-params.md). -::: - -## Custom events and conversion attribution - -Goals and custom events allow you to track actions that you want your visitors to take on your site. Actions such as registering for a trial account, purchasing a product or completing a checkout form of an ecommerce store. - -Conversion rate - -By [setting up goals and custom events](goal-conversions.md), you can track the number of conversions, conversion rate, referrer sources and entry pages that are driving conversions and the top pages that people convert on. You can also track [ecommerce revenue](ecommerce-revenue-tracking.md). And you can [set up funnels](funnel-analysis.md) to track the user journey too. - -Custom goal conversion rate - -Click on any specific referral source in your dashboard to see the number of conversions and the conversion rate (CR) of that referral source for any of your goals. You can also click on any goal in your dashboard to see the number of conversions and the conversion rate of that specific goal coming from any referral source or any landing page. This works even if your site operates [across multiple subdomains](subdomain-hostname-filter.md). - -Due to the privacy-first nature of our product and the fact that we don't use cookies and other long term identifiers, the conversion attribution in Plausible is based on last click attribution. The referral source of the visit on which the purchase was made will be credited for that conversion. +See more on [how Plausible records your paid campaigns, UTM-tagged links and conversion attribution](https://plausible.io/docs/top-referrers). diff --git a/docs/metrics-definitions.md b/docs/metrics-definitions.md index 8110cd3a..16260ceb 100644 --- a/docs/metrics-definitions.md +++ b/docs/metrics-definitions.md @@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ The total revenue of orders tracked. This is a part of the [revenue attribution ## UTM parameters -To minimize the amount of traffic that falls within the "Direct / None" category, you can add special query parameters (UTMs) to your links. UTMs help you better understand where your traffic is coming from. Plausible Analytics supports `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term`. Read more about [tagging your links](manual-link-tagging.md). +To minimize the amount of traffic that falls within the "Direct / None" category, you can add special query parameters (UTMs) to your links. UTMs help you better understand where your traffic is coming from. Plausible Analytics supports `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term`. Read more about [tagging your links](top-referrers.md). ## Unique Conversions diff --git a/docs/script-extensions.md b/docs/script-extensions.md index f12ddaef..ce93288e 100644 --- a/docs/script-extensions.md +++ b/docs/script-extensions.md @@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ It's especially helpful to redact and aggregate multiple pages whose URLs contai #### Track custom query parameters for complete page URLs -By default, Plausible strips all query parameters for privacy purposes [except](manual-link-tagging.md) `ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term`. +By default, Plausible strips all query parameters for privacy purposes [except for](top-referrers.md) `ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term`. This means that pages like `yoursite.com/blog/index.php?article=some_article&page=11` will be reported as `yoursite.com/blog/index.php` in the "**Top Pages**" report of your Plausible dashboard. diff --git a/docs/stop-tracking-utm-tags.md b/docs/stop-tracking-utm-tags.md index 401cd1a7..c315c882 100644 --- a/docs/stop-tracking-utm-tags.md +++ b/docs/stop-tracking-utm-tags.md @@ -2,11 +2,11 @@ title: Stop tracking UTM tags and other query parameters --- -By default, Plausible strips all query parameters for privacy purposes [except for](manual-link-tagging.md) `ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term`. If you prefer to stop tracking these parameters as well, please follow these instructions: +By default, Plausible strips all query parameters for privacy purposes [except for](top-referrers.md) `ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term`. If you prefer to stop tracking these parameters as well, please follow these instructions: ## 1. Add the `manual` script extension -You should use [our manual script extension](script-extensions.md#plausiblemanualjs). To do so, please change your Plausible script snippet `src` attribute from `https://plausible.io/js/script.js` to `https://plausible.io/js/script.manual.js`. +You should use [our manual script extension](script-extensions.md). To do so, please change your Plausible script snippet `src` attribute from `https://plausible.io/js/script.js` to `https://plausible.io/js/script.manual.js`. The new snippet will look like this (make sure to change the `data-domain` attribute to the domain you added to your Plausible account): @@ -53,4 +53,4 @@ At this point, your entire setup should look like this: ``` -That's it! You're now no longer tracking any UTM tags or other parameters. We will use the [referrer header](top-referrers.md#1-automatic-by-the-referer-header) to display the sources of the traffic instead. If the referring site doesn't send any referrer header, the traffic will fall within the "Direct / None" source. +That's it! You're now no longer tracking any UTM tags or other parameters. We will use the [referrer header](top-referrers.md) to display the sources of the traffic instead. If the referring site doesn't send any referrer header, the traffic will fall within the "**Direct / None**" source. diff --git a/docs/top-pages.md b/docs/top-pages.md index bfcee948..65377599 100644 --- a/docs/top-pages.md +++ b/docs/top-pages.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ --- -title: Top Pages +title: Top content, landing pages and exit pages --- import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl'; diff --git a/docs/top-referrers.md b/docs/top-referrers.md index 8a01e3ba..ff5a3c74 100644 --- a/docs/top-referrers.md +++ b/docs/top-referrers.md @@ -1,47 +1,118 @@ --- -title: Top Sources +title: Acquisition channels, referral sources and paid campaigns --- import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl'; -Your "**Top Sources**" report shows which referral sources are driving traffic to your website. Click the "**Details**" button to get extra insights such as the visit duration and bounce rate for the individual referral source. Click on any metric heading to sort and arrange your data in ascending or descending order. Click on any referral source to filter the dashboard by it. +The "**Top Sources**" report displays acquisition channels, referral sources and marketing campaigns that drive traffic to your website. This information helps you understand where your traffic originates, which referral sources are most effective and how specific marketing campaigns perform. -The Top Sources report also includes the "**Campaigns**" tab where you can see the traffic tagged with UTM tags such as `utm_source`, `utm_medium` and `utm_campaign`. You can use UTM tags to understand which marketing and promotional activities are driving traffic that converts best. +You can click on any individual entry within the "**Top Sources**" report to segment your audience by that source and view the best performing landing pages or highest converting goals. Click the "**Details**" button to access additional insights such as the visit duration and bounce rate for the individual entry. In the "**Details**" view, you can sort and arrange your data in ascending or descending order by clicking any metric heading. -Using [the "**Filter**" button on the top of your dashboard](filters-segments.md), you can filter the stats by multiple sources or multiple UTM tags at the same time for more powerful segmenting of traffic. It's also possible to filter out traffic from a specific referral source. +Using [the "**Filter**" button on the top of your dashboard](filters-segments.md), you can filter the stats by multiple channels, sources or UTM tags simultaneously for more powerful traffic segmentation. You can also exclude traffic from a specific channel, referral source or UTM tag. Top Referrers - multiple filters -Note that all referral sources are counted only when they start a new session on your site. This is why you don't see all your own referral sources if you click to test several different UTM tagged links at the same time. Only the first one would be included in the "**Top Sources**" report. You would need to start a new session by for instance waiting more than 30 minutes or using a different device, browser or IP address. +## Channels -The fact that the referral sources are counted only when they start a new session on your site prevents external domains such as a payment gateway that the user is being taken through to show up in the referrers list. No need for you to manually exclude referrers. +In the "**Channels**" tab within the "**Top Sources**" report, you can view a breakdown of your sources categorized into high-level groups such as "**Organic Social**", "**Paid Search**" and "**Email**". By clicking on any individual channel, you can see a detailed list of the specific sources within that channel that are driving traffic to your site. Below are the definitions and descriptions for each channel: -There are two distinct ways that Plausible Analytics collects the referrer source for a visitor: +| Channel | Definition | +| :---------------------------------- | :----------------------------- | +| Affiliates | `Medium` is "affiliate" | +| Audio | `Medium` is "audio" | +| Cross-network | `Medium` is "cross-network" | +| Direct | `Source` is "(direct)" **AND** `Medium` is "(not set)" or "(none)" | +| Display | `Medium` is "display", "banner", "expandable", "interstitial" or "cpm" | +| Email | `Source` is "gmail", "email", "e-mail", "e_mail" or "e mail" **OR** `Medium` is "email", "e-mail", "e_mail" or "e mail" | +| Mobile Push Notifications | `Source` is "firebase" **OR** `Medium` is "mobile", "notification" or ends with "push" | +| Organic Search | `Source` is a known search site **OR** `Medium` is organic | +| Organic Shopping | `Source` is a known shopping site **OR** `Campaign` matches regex `^(.*(([^a-df-z]|^)shop|shopping).*)$` | +| Organic Social | `Source` is a known social site **OR** `Medium` is "social", "social-network", "social-media", "sm", "social network" or "social media" | +| Organic Video | `Source` is a known video site **OR** `Medium` matches regex `^(.*video.*)$` | +| Paid Other | `Medium` matches regex ^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$ | +| Paid Search | `Source` is a known search site **AND** `Medium` matches regex `^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$` **OR** `Source` is Google and the link includes a "gclid" parameter **OR** `Source` is Bing and the link includes a "msclkid" parameter **OR** `Source` is "adwords" or includes a known search site which ends with "ad" or "ads" (as in "googleads") | +| Paid Shopping | `Source` is a known shopping site **OR** `Campaign` matches regex `^(.*(([^a-df-z]|^)shop|shopping).*)$` **AND** `Medium` matches regex `^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$` | +| Paid Social | `Source` is a known social site (including abbreviations IG and FB) **AND** `Medium` matches regex `^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$` **OR** `Source` includes a known social site which ends with "ad" or "ads" (as in "fb-ads" or "facebook_feed_ad" | +| Paid Video | `Source` is a known video site (including abbreviation YT) **AND** `Medium` matches regex `^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$` **OR** `Source` includes a known video site which ends with "ad" or "ads" (as in "yt-ads") | +| Referral | `Medium` is "referral", "app" or "link" | +| SMS | `Source` is "sms" **OR** `Medium` is "sms" | -## 1. Automatic by the `referer` header +We align our channel lists and definitions closely with Google Analytics to make your transition to Plausible as seamless as possible. However, we strive to stay more up-to-date with newer sites and platforms. For example, in Plausible, Temu is categorized as a shopping site, Perplexity as a search site and Discord as a social site, among others. -The `referer` header (the HTTP header is misspelled with one r for historical reasons) is the default and automated way of tracking referrer sources of web traffic. The `referer` header works well for the majority of cases but there are some limitations and fall-backs with using it for various historical and technical reasons. +Please note that channel groupings and definitions may evolve as the market changes. We will keep this list updated to reflect any adjustments. -Note that all the major browsers have stopped sending the detailed info on [referral sources](https://plausible.io/blog/referrer-policy). Chrome, Safari and Firefox now only send the full domain name of the referrer and not the actual URL. This affects all analytics services including Plausible. It means that if `thatblog.com/one-post/` sends you visitors, you will see `thatblog.com` in your referral sources list but won’t be able to see the exact post URL itself. +## Sources -### "Direct / None" traffic without a referrer source +In the "**Sources**" tab within the "**Top Sources**" report, you can see the full list of your referral sources such as "**Google**", "**Facebook**", "**LinkedIn**", "**Reddit**" and "**chatgpt.com**". -Not every request from a browser will have the referrer specified, and the `referer` header isn't always accurate. +Note that browsers only send the domain name of the referrer and not the actual URL. If `thatblog.com/one-post/` sends you visitors, you will see `thatblog.com` in your sources list but won’t see the exact post URL itself. [See more here](https://plausible.io/blog/referrer-policy). -This is why you see the "**Direct / None**" referrer source in the "**Top Sources**" report. This covers all the traffic where the referrer isn't passed. These could be clicks from email, clicks from documents, clicks from messengers and other mobile apps, bookmarks, people typing in the URL directly into the browser and more. You may also know it as "**dark traffic**". +### No need to manually exclude unwanted sources -By default, we attempt to uncover traffic originating from Android apps which is traditionally categorized as direct traffic in web analytics. The volume of "**android-app**" entries in your "**Top Sources**" report will vary based on your site and audience. For sites with significant mobile traffic, this recovers 10% or more previously unattributed traffic from apps like Gmail, Slack and Telegram. +With Plausible, there's no need for you to manually exclude unwanted referral sources like payment processors such as PayPal, Stripe or Paddle to keep your data clean. -Here’s a non-exhaustive list of other problems with the header: +Referral sources are counted only when they start a new session on your site. This prevents external domains such as payment gateways showing up in the list of sources when for instance visitors briefly leave your site to make a payment before returning back. The source that brought the visitor to your site in the first place will be the one attributed for that conversion. -* Whenever someone is moving from `http` to `https` or vice versa, the `referer` header is dropped. +### Consolidation of duplicate sources -* Facebook `referer` only includes the fact that the visitor came from Facebook. Facebook never sends the post or comment ID where someone clicked. +UTM tags are case-sensitive, which may lead to duplicated or miscategorized traffic sources all depending on how the different links are tagged. To mitigate this issue, the "**Sources**" tab in the "**Top Sources**" report consolidates each source into a single entry, disregarding capitalization or naming differences in UTM tags. -* Google does not include the search keywords in the referrer, so you can see that the visitor is coming from Google search, but you can't see which keyword phrase they used to find you. To fix this, you can [integrate your account](google-search-console-integration.md) with Google Search Console so the keyword phrases people discover your site with show in your Plausible Analytics dashboard. After integrating with Search Console, you can click on "**Google**" to view these. +For instance, clicks you get from Facebook which are not tagged by UTMs are labeled with a referral source "**Facebook**" by Facebook itself. Suppose you tag some links that you share on Facebook with `utm_source=facebook`, `utm_source=fb` or `utm_source=facebook-ads`. In that case, clicks on those tagged links will be consolidated alongside organic clicks within the "**Facebook**" entry in the "**Sources**" tab of your "**Top Sources**" report providing a unified view of all Facebook clicks. -## 2. Manual by link tagging +You can still isolate your paid clicks from organic traffic or organic clicks from paid traffic by using the "**Channels**" tab or the "**Campaigns**" tab of the "**Top Sources**" report. -To minimize the amount of traffic that falls within the "**Direct / None**" category, you can add special query parameters such as UTM tags to your links. `ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term` query parameters are all valid and supported by Plausible Analytics. +### Keyword phrases from Google search -See "[Manual link tagging](manual-link-tagging.md)" section of the documentation for the full instructions. +Google does not include the search keywords in the referrer. This means that you can see that a visitor is coming from a Google search but you can't see which keyword phrase they used to visit your site. + +To fix this, you can integrate your Plausible account [with Google Search Console](google-search-console-integration.md) so that the keyword phrases people discover your site with show in your Plausible dashboard. After integrating with Search Console, you can click on the "**Google**" entry in the "**Top Sources**" report to view your keyword phrases. + +## Campaigns + +The "**Campaigns**" tab within the "**Top Sources**" report allows you to see the traffic arriving to your site from links tagged with UTM tags and other query parameters. + +### How to tag your paid campaign links + +Are you running paid marketing campaigns on Facebook, Google and other ad platforms? We recommend you tag your paid campaign links with UTM parameters. These are the query parameters that are valid and supported by Plausible: + +* `ref` +* `source` +* `utm_source` +* `utm_medium` +* `utm_campaign` +* `utm_content` +* `utm_term` + +Here's an example of how to tag your links: `yourdomain.com?utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=novemberoffer&utm_content=sustainability&utm_term=discount` + +To isolate your UTM-tagged clicks from other clicks, you can segment the traffic by using the "**UTM Medium**", "**UTM Source**" (here you can also see any traffic tagged with "ref" and "source" parameters), "**UTM Campaign**", "**UTM Content**" and "**UTM Term**" sections in the "**Campaigns**" tab of the "**Top Sources**" report. + +### gclid and msclkid marketing parameters + +If the UTM tag is not present within the link, Plausible also records clicks from "gclid" and "msclkid" which are special paid marketing parameters. You can view and filter these within the "**UTM Medium**" section of the "**Top Sources**" report. + +Please note that we strip the values from "gclid" and "msclkid" parameters because they are considered unique identifiers and are not GDPR-compliant without user consent. This means you can view and filter your dashboard by the audience coming from "gclid" or "msclkid" tagged links, but you will not see the unique identifier for each visitor. + +This is why we recommend using UTM tags when tagging your paid ad campaigns. When a UTM tag is present in the link, it takes priority over other parameters. And unlike the "gclid" and "msclkid" marketing parameters, we do not strip the values of UTM tags which provides you more powerful insights. + +### How to track conversion attribution + +Goals and custom events allow you to track actions that you want your visitors to take on your site. Actions such as registering for a trial account, purchasing a product or completing a checkout form of an ecommerce store. By [setting up goals and custom events](goal-conversions.md), you'll be able to follow the visitor journey from a paid ad click to a conversion on your site. + +Filter your dashboard by a specific goal to see the number of conversions, conversion rate (CR), referrer sources, marketing campaigns and entry pages that are driving conversions. You can also track [ecommerce revenue](ecommerce-revenue-tracking.md) and [set up funnels](funnel-analysis.md). This works even if your site operates [across multiple subdomains](subdomain-hostname-filter.md). + +Due to Plausible’s privacy-first approach, which avoids using cookies or long-term identifiers, conversion attribution relies on last-click attribution. This means the referral source of the visit that leads to the purchase is credited for the conversion. + +Custom goal conversion rate + +## How to reduce the volume of dark traffic + +Not all traffic to your website will have the referrer header specified in the browser. This "**dark traffic**" is why you see the "**Direct / None**" source in the "**Top Sources**" report. These are typically clicks from emails, documents, instant messengers, mobile apps or bookmarks. + +### We attempt to uncover some direct traffic + +By default, we attempt to uncover traffic originating from Android apps which is traditionally categorized as direct traffic in web analytics. The volume of these clicks in your "**Top Sources**" report will vary based on your site and audience. + +### Tag all the links that you control + +To further minimize the amount of traffic that falls within the "**Direct / None**" category, we recommend that you add query parameters such as UTM tags to your links whenever you post a link in social media, paid advertising, an email newsletter or anywhere else. Read more about [how to use UTM parameters to track your campaigns and understand the dark traffic](https://plausible.io/blog/utm-tracking-tags). diff --git a/docs/troubleshoot-integration.md b/docs/troubleshoot-integration.md index 439afd8e..da0d0ea6 100644 --- a/docs/troubleshoot-integration.md +++ b/docs/troubleshoot-integration.md @@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ Plausible is built to be privacy-first and compliant with various privacy regula ## I don't see my own referral source -All referral sources are counted only when they start a new session on your site. This is why you don't see all your own referral sources if you for instance click to test several different [UTM tagged links](manual-link-tagging.md) at the same time. Only the first one would be included in the "**Top Sources**" report. You would need to start a new session by for instance waiting more than 30 minutes or using a different device, browser or IP address to have the subsequent sources counted too. +All referral sources are counted only when they start a new session on your site. This is why you don't see all your own referral sources if you for instance click to test several different [UTM tagged links](top-referrers.md) at the same time. Only the first one appears in the "**Top Sources**" report. You would need to start a new session—such as by waiting 30 minutes or using a different device, browser, or IP address, to have the subsequent sources counted too. The fact that the referral sources are counted only when they start a new session on your site prevents external domains such as a payment gateway that the user is being taken through to show up in the referrers list. No need for you to manually exclude referrers. diff --git a/docs/your-plausible-experience.md b/docs/your-plausible-experience.md index c81daee0..1e5190bd 100644 --- a/docs/your-plausible-experience.md +++ b/docs/your-plausible-experience.md @@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ See full details on our [goal conversions and behavior analytics](goal-conversio To minimize the amount of traffic that falls within the "direct / none" referral source, you can add special query parameters to your links in social media, email newsletters and your paid advertising campaigns. -`ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term` query parameters are all valid and supported by Plausible Analytics. [Learn more here](manual-link-tagging.md). +`ref`, `source`, `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term` query parameters are all valid and supported by Plausible Analytics. [Learn more here](top-referrers.md). You'll then be able to follow the visitor journey from a paid ad click to a conversion on your site directly in your Plausible dashboard. All the UTM tagged clicks will be displayed in the Campaign tabs of your Top Sources report and all the conversions will be in the Goal Conversions section. You can then [filter your Plausible dashboard](filters-segments.md) by a specific goal to see conversion rate for all the individual sources of traffic, landing pages and so on. diff --git a/sidebars.js b/sidebars.js index 1c49c166..a0861936 100644 --- a/sidebars.js +++ b/sidebars.js @@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ module.exports = { 'guided-tour', 'compare-stats', 'filters-segments', - 'manual-link-tagging', 'google-search-console-integration', 'realtime-dashboard', 'top-referrers',