The Importance Of Web Traffic Referrer Logs
Referrer logging is used to permit web servers and websites to identify where people are visiting them either for promotional or security measure purposes. You are able to find out which search engine they used to locate your website and whether your client has come from a ‘linked site’. It’s basically the URL of the previous webpage from which your link was followed.
By default, most hosting accounts don’t consist of referrer logs but might be subscribed for an additional monthly fee. If your web host does not give a graphic report of your log files, you can still view the referrer logs for your website by logging into the host server using free or low-cost FTP software, like these:
FTP Explorer: http://www.ftpx.com/ LogMeIn: http://secure.logmein.com/dmcq/103/support.asp SmartFTP: http://www.smartftp.com/ FTP Voyager: http://www.ftpvoyager.com/
The log file is accessible on your web server which could be downloaded into your computer later. You may use a log analysis tool, like those mentioned below, to build a graphic report from your log files to ensure that the files are easier to understand.
Abacre Advanced Log Analyzer http://www.abacre.com/ala/ Referrer Soft http://www.softplatz.com/software/referrer/ Log Analyzer http://www.loganalyzer.net
You can actually view the files utilizing Word, Word Perfect, txt or WordPad files even if you do not have the right tool. This information is very crucial to your company and marketing plans and isn’t advisable to neglect it.
In addition to identifying the search engine or linked site from exactly where your visitor arrived, referrer logs can also tell you what keywords or keyword phrases your client used for searching.
As referrer information can sometimes violate privacy, some browsers allow the user to disable the sending of referrer information. Proxy and Firewall software can also filter out referrer information, to avoid leaking the location of private web sites. This can result in other problems, as some servers block parts of their site to browsers that don’t send the correct referrer information, in an attempt to prevent deep linking or unauthorized use of bandwidth. Some proxy software gives the top-level address of the target site itself as the referrer, which prevents these problems and still not divulging the user’s last visited website.
Since the referrer can easily be spoofed or faked, however, it’s of limited use in this regard except on a casual basis.
Vince Chng is an ordinary guy that making an average $40k per month online. He specializes in driving a massive targeted traffic to any website. To learn more about the simple traffic generating strategies, download his limited FREE giveaway copy of “750 Tips on Traffic Tactics” eBook Package value at $97. www.WebTrafficTactics.net
