Referrer logging is applied to allow web servers and websites to identify exactly where people are visiting them either for marketing or security measure purposes. You are able to find out which search engine they used to find your site 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 do not include referrer logs but may be subscribed for an additional monthly fee. If your web host doesn’t offer a graphic report of your log files, you can still view the referrer logs for your website by logging into the host server making use of free or low-cost FTP program, 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 pc later. You can use a log analysis tool, like those mentioned below, to build a graphic report from your log files so that the files are simpler 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 using Word, Word Perfect, txt or WordPad files even if you do not have the appropriate 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 website from exactly where your visitor arrived, referrer logs can also tell you what keywords or keyword phrases your client utilized for searching.
As referrer information can occasionally violate privacy, some browsers permit the user to disable the sending of referrer info. Proxy and Firewall software program can also filter out referrer info, to avoid leaking the location of private websites. This can result in other problems, as some servers block parts of their website 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 program gives the top-level address of the target site itself as the referrer, which prevents these challenges and still not divulging the user’s last visited site.
Since the referrer can easily be spoofed or faked, nevertheless, 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
