What Is Referral Traffic and How Can It Boost My Business?

When it comes to online marketing, you have one simple goal: increase the amount of traffic to your website. There are a number of methods you can use to reach that goal, and most search engine marketing companies would probably suggest using all of them in tandem. Search engine optimization, PPC, social media marketing – they’ve all been proven to work. However, there is one tactic that is often overlooked. Let’s talk about referral traffic and how you can use it to boost your business.

What is referral traffic?
Referral traffic is made up of visitors who have reached your website through another website (as opposed to finding your site through a search engine, or by typing your URL in directly). The website through which they found your site is called the “referrer.” Having links to your site on other highly trafficked sites can be a major boon.

What’s so great about referral traffic?
The answer: everything — as long as the referrer is a trusted website. Referral traffic spreads awareness of your brand, creating the potential to convert new leads.

But there’s more to it than that. Referral traffic comes with some serious SEO benefits. When a link to your website or one of your site’s pages is posted on another (reputable) website, Google considers this link a positive ranking factor. The higher the referrer is ranked, the better it is for your ranking. Search engine marketing companies always keep this in mind when developing an SEO strategy.

How can I generate more referral traffic?

1. Submit to online directories. Find online directories that are relevant to your industry. Also focus on those that generate the most traffic themselves.
2. Have your company, product, or service reviewed. According to Search Engine Journal, 88% of consumers have read reviews in order to determine the quality of a local business. The benefits of being reviewed on a reputable review website are two-fold – firstly, (as long as the review is positive) you can acquire new business just through the review itself; secondly, having a link to your website from a review site could have all of the SEO benefits mentioned above.
3. Publish guest blog posts. In your blog post on a separate website, you can include links to your site, an author bio that refers to your business, and calls-to-action that also refer back to your company’s website. Make sure you focus on blogs that are reputable, highly trafficked, and relevant to your industry.

Smart search engine marketing companies know exactly how to increase referral traffic and generate new leads for your website, and ultimately your business. If you have any questions or additional advice, feel free to post in the comments section below.