Search Traffic from Google Home App is Now ‘Direct Traffic’ in Analytics
January 19, 2017
Rajat Tyagi
Search traffic from Google Home App will now be coming under ‘Direct traffic’ in Google Analytics and not as organic traffic. Hence, clicks to website from this app are counted as direct and not organic.
Google Home App, previously known as the ‘Google Cast app’, provides a huge amount of search traffic to all mobile searches. But, from now onwards the all of the searches users do from Home app will be considered as Direct traffic in GA.
An unusual traffic calculation in Google Analytics has been notified. According to SEO professionals, some traffic that should have been counted in the ‘organic’ traffic section is originally coming under ‘direct’ traffic.
All About Search Traffic from Google Home App
Google is reading and showing clicks coming from Google Home app as direct traffic. The search result that is coming in SERP under the ‘Related to your activity’ section is being read by the Google Analytics as direct traffic.
Luckily, an SEO expert named Max Prin has shed some light on this confusing traffic evaluation. He has tweeted the same on January 11 2017, to create an awareness in the digital marketing and SEO industry. He has supported his comment with a screenshot of Google search and Google Analytics.
How Search Results Come in Google Home App
If you put your search query or phrase on Google Home App search bar, Google provide the exact or the most relevant results. Obviously, that those information will be coming from web pages that are indexed in Google.
Google Home companion app is very useful both for iPhones and Android phones. The discovery tab in this app helps to find the recent browsing history. It also assists the searchers with the exact source of the link from which the answer has been taken.
Why Search Traffic from Google Home App is now Direct Traffic and not Organic Traffic?
In SERP result under the ‘Related to your activity’ section, you will get ‘Visit Website’ button. Clicking on this button will help you to land to the original source page. This way of driving traffic is usually considered as an organic traffic. This is because the searcher was actually searching for a particular query with a set of keywords. The motive of the searcher was to get information from any possible site that provides the right answer. It is a matter of chance that the searcher has clicked on this link and has landed on your website. In a broader aspect, it seems to be an organic search.
But, it has been noticed that such kind of searches is categorized under direct traffic section in Google Analytics.
When a searcher enters the URL of the website directly into the address bar of the browser or in search engine, it is considered as direct traffic. But, the current picture is little different from this theory. All the traffic that is coming from Google Home app is being counted as direct traffic.
What is Website Traffic?
Website traffic is the amount of visitors that visited on your website from different search engines. This is calculated on the basis of number of pages of a website they visit, number of clicks they do and the amount of time they spent on the entire website.
Types of Web Traffic
There are 6 types Web Traffic-
- Organic
- Referral
- Direct
- Social
- Email
- Others
Based on the way visitors find the website and land on it, above web traffic division has been done.
What is Organic Traffic
Organic Traffic is that traffic which arrived on the website from search engines or which is un-paid. Organic traffic also signifies the visitors who have come to know about the website from a random search on any search engine like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Youtube or something similar. is when visitors land on the website by clicking on a link on a search result page of any search engine.
What is Google Referral Traffic
Google Referral Traffic is considered to those visitors who click on a link on another site and finally land on your site. This signifies that the other website is referring your link to the visitor. So, referral traffic is considered to be much more reliable.
What is Direct Traffic
Direct Traffic in Google Analytics represents the section of visitors who have arrived directly on the site by typing the URL of the website into the browser’s address bar or search engine tab, or from bookmark.
What is Social Traffic in Google Analytics
In Google Analytics, Social Traffic refers to the visitors who have redirected from any social media platforms to your website. When a visitor finds your link in any social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or any similar website, and clicks on the link to land on your website, it will be counted as social traffic.
What is email Traffic in Google Analytics
email traffic in Google Analytics are results when visitors land on the website by clicking on the link mentioned in an email, SMS or chat message, Google Analytics count it under email traffic. email traffic is the result of email marketing.
What is Other Traffic in Google Analytics
Other traffic in Google Analytics are those traffic which is different and unique, or sometimes cannot be recognized and categorized by the Analytics, so those visitors are counted under other traffic category.
Unique Facts of Search Engine Traffic
Some unique facts or you can say exceptions have been noticed in the case of search engine traffic evaluation:
- Traffic from Google Home app is counted as Direct traffic
- Google Voice search results considered as Direct traffic
- Sometimes Android Google app search results comes under Direct traffic
- Many a times, there is confusion regarding traffic from email marketing. It is sometimes counted as Email traffic and sometimes as Direct traffic.
Current Scenario of Direct Search Traffic from Google Home App
It is a matter of concern for SEO professionals who work on Google Analytics. If you see your direct traffic number is increasing than your organic traffic, then it will be clear that you are having more traffic from Google Home app and that search traffic flow is being counted as direct traffic.
However, we are still waiting for Google to officially announce this news because we don’t know whether it is a mistake or they are doing it deliberately.
If you have discovered any unusual traffic evaluation, please share with us in the comment box!