What is traffic? | Specht GmbH

In a nutshell: What is traffic?

Traffic describes the number of visitors to a website. It is an important ranking factor and at the same time a key performance indicator. A lot of attention is therefore paid to this topic in search engine optimization. With targeted measures, you can increase your traffic and avoid negative traffic sources.

Definition of traffic

In general, the term "traffic" can be used to describe the flow of data in networks on the internet. However, traffic is mostly used in relation to websites. Visitor access to a website is considered traffic in online marketing. It can therefore be rendered as "page views" in German.

In this context, page impressions (page views) and visits (page visits) are often used.

What are page impressions?

If a website visitor visits several different subpages, these are counted as page impressions. This is therefore a key figure for the popularity of a website. It is used to measure which pages of a website have been accessed how often.

What are page visits?

Visits to a website can be clearly differentiated:

Visits
unique visits

What is the difference? If a visitor visits a website several times, they can be identified by their IP address. These are unique visits because you can measure where they come from.

Why is traffic so important?

Traffic is an important key figure in online marketing. It provides information on whether your website is of interest to users. In addition, increasing and decreasing visitor numbers can be observed in order to recognize the effect of measures and take appropriate action.

Furthermore, the key figure of page impressions helps to find out where advertising is best placed in order to be effective.

In general, traffic is an important value for advertisers and publishers. Advertisers can use traffic to determine the reach a campaign can achieve and how successful various campaigns are.

Traffic is very valuable for publishers, as they can charge more money for the placement of advertising with many visits. Affiliate marketing, the use of Google Ads and many other systems for placing online advertising generate more revenue the more traffic there is on a website.

Traffic as a ranking factor

Another important reason why you should not ignore the traffic on your online presence: Traffic is considered an important ranking factor and can influence the placement of your website on search enginessuch as Google and others.

The more visitors find your website, click on it, and stay on it, the more relevant search engines will rank your website.High-quality traffic is an indication of quality and authority. This, in turn, pushes your website further up in the rankings and gives it a better position in the SERPs.

Traffic analysis

In order to determine the traffic and derive measures from it tools are required. Many website operators use Google Analytics. In addition to traffic, it also provides good insights into areas such as conversions, advertising, content and turnover.

However, there are other tools you can use to track and analyzeindividual traffic on your website.

But what exactly is actually analyzed when it comes to traffic? The following aspects play a role:

Number of visitors in a specified period
Traffic source, i.e. the path to the website (e.g. via online advertising)
Length of time users spend on your website
Share of new users
Peak times
History of the visit to your website (e.g. which subpages were accessed)

Beware of trash traffic

Traffic is generally a good thing. However, there are also visitors that you don't really want to see on your website. We're talking abouttrash traffic. This can be caused, for example, byusing the wrong keywords or incorrect programming.

Trash traffic includes all types of traffic that are of no use to website operators. Users only visit a website because of an error. This usually results in a high bounce rate, as users do not find what they are looking for. And a high b ounce rate in turn leads to a poorer ranking with search engines such as Google.

In addition to trash traffic, which should be avoided, there is another problematic aspect that you should keep in mind: Bot traffic. This is traffic that is artificially generated by computer programs. Your ads become ineffective, which can result in high losses. This is also known as ad fraud or click fraud.

In a free SEO strategy talk, we uncover untapped potential and develop a strategy to help you become more successful on Google.

Increase traffic with various measures

The following applies: the more traffic you can record on your website, the greater your success. It doesn't matter what goals you are pursuing. High traffic is crucial for achieving most business goals . However, this always goes hand in hand with a high dwell time.

Measures are therefore required to increase the number of users on your website and the length of time they spend there. Various search engine marketing measures are generally suitable for this. Both search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine advertising can lead to higher traffic.

Various traffic channels

First of all, users need to find out about your website. Various traffic channels are suitable for this. In online marketing, a rough distinction is made between organic andpaid traffic.

Organic traffic: Visitors come to your website via a search engine. If you do SEO and use relevant keywords, your website will be displayed in the SERPs for certain search queries and the chance of a click on the URL increases.
Paid traffic: This traffic is generated through advertising. This includes ads on social media, Google Ads, banner ads and all other paid advertising measures.

Google Analytics differentiates between where the traffic on your website comes from:

Social: Visitors find your website via social media, for example via Instagram or Facebook.
Direct: Users enter the URL of your website directly in the address bar.
Referral: Visitors reach your website via backlinks.
Organic search: Users reach your website via Google or other search engines.
Display and Paid Search: Paid advertisements are involved here.

Since there aremany sources of traffic, it is also worth taking various measures. A marketing mix such as omnichannel marketing is recommended. Combine content marketing with social media marketing and email marketing to reach your target audience as broadly as possible. This way, you can continue to increase your traffic.

The important role of traffic quality

High traffic is the basis for higher sales or the achievement of other company goals. However, this alone is not a decisive factor. Rather, it depends on the quality of the traffic . In other words: What do visitors actually do when they are on your website?

If users simply click through your subpages and no conversion takes place, this isof little use. Conversely, a high conversion rate means that your traffic quality is very high.

But how can you increase the quality of your traffic? The keywords you use play an important role. Your content should betailored precisely to your target audience and appeal to exactly the people you want to reach. This will not only generate high traffic, but above all high-quality traffic!

Conclusion: What is traffic?

Traffic describes the number of users on a website. Traffic can be increased through various search engine optimization and search engine advertising measures. The rule is: the more traffic, the better. Both publishers and advertisers benefit from high traffic. Therefore, appropriate measures are in great demand.