For anyone else using Blogger (I have no idea if the other blog softwares do the same thing).
I mostly use SiteMeter to track visitors and the like to the blog, but I also keep an eye on the Stats page provided by Blogger. I know most of the figures aren’t the most accurate, but it also shows me highest read posts and the like so I’ll glance at it every so often.
But I’ve noticed something odd in the Traffic Sources section of the Stats. The large majority of the traffic sources are other blogs, either blogs where I’m on the blogroll, or where I’ve posted. Not a huge surprise. There are often a few from search engines as well, mostly with the search terms “kitty holster”, again, not a big surprise.
Whats odd is in the last month or so have been several websites listed that really shouldn’t be. They appear to be business sites (though they strike me more as spam/scammer sites), and the referring URL is nothing more than the site’s main page. If it was someone referring to my blog in a comment, or article the referring URL SHOULD be that article page, not the main page. I’m not going to post the websites because I highly suspect they’re spammer/scammer sites, but even if they’re nothing more than advertisers, thats an awfully odd way to get links…..oh yah, and none of these odd referring URLs are showing up on SiteMeter!
Am I the only one with this phenomenon?
I believe the way it was explained to me was that the referring site can be logged as the last page visited before yours… e.g. if I visit cheaperthandirt.com then use a favorites tag on my browser to visit your site, then cheaperthandirt.com MAY show up as the referring site on your log even though it has no link.
I guess that would make sense, though I have to wonder at the taste of people who are visiting those sites.
cool, thanks!