Understanding where your form submissions originate from is key to optimizing your marketing efforts and content strategy. Formora’s analytics help you identify your top referrers – the external web pages that users were on right before they submitted your form.

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What is Referrer Tracking?

A “referrer” (or “referer” as it’s technically spelled in the HTTP header) is the URL of the webpage that linked to your form. When a user clicks a link on website-A.com that leads to your Formora form and submits it, website-A.com is considered the referrer for that submission.

Why is it Important?

  • Identify Effective Channels: Discover which websites, blogs, or social platforms are successfully driving traffic to your forms.
  • Measure Backlink Performance: See if links to your forms from other sites are generating views and submissions.
  • Evaluate Partnerships: If you have partner websites linking to your forms, track their impact.
  • Optimize Content Strategy: Understand which types of referring content lead to higher engagement.

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How Referrer Data is Collected and Processed

  • HTTP Referer Header: The submitted_from_url field for each response is captured. This information is typically passed by the user’s browser via the Referer HTTP header.
  • Hostname Extraction: Formora parses the submitted_from_url to extract the hostname (e.g., www.example.com becomes example.com).
  • Aggregation: Submissions are then grouped by these extracted hostnames to count how many submissions came from each unique referring domain within the selected date range.
  • Direct/Unknown: If the submitted_from_url is missing, invalid, or cannot be parsed into a valid hostname (e.g., local file paths), it may be grouped under a “Direct/Unknown” category if such logic is explicitly handled, or simply omitted from the top referrers list if only valid hostnames are shown.
  • Limitations:
    • Not Always Present: The Referer header isn’t always sent (e.g., direct URL typing, bookmarks, links from desktop apps, HTTPS to HTTP transitions).
    • Privacy Settings: Some browsers or privacy tools may restrict referrer information.

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Accessing Referrer Data in Formora Analytics

Referrer information is displayed in the “Top Referrers” card on your Formora analytics dashboard.

Top Referrers card within Formora Analytics

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Display and Metrics

  • List View: The card displays a list of the top 10 referrers by hostname, sorted by the number of submissions in descending order.
  • Metrics Shown:
    • Referrer Hostname: The hostname of the website that referred the submission (e.g., google.com, yourblog.com). This is a clickable link that opens the referrer’s URL in a new tab.
    • Submissions Count: The number of successful submissions originating from users who came from that specific hostname within the selected date range.

List displaying top referrer hostnames and their submission counts for the selected date range.

Currently, the card focuses on the count of submissions per referrer. It does not display views by referrer or conversion rate by referrer directly on this card.

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Interpreting and Using Referrer Data

  • Identify Top Performing Sources: Which websites send you the most submissions? This highlights your most effective referral channels for the chosen period.
  • Assess Link Quality (Indirectly): While conversion rate per referrer isn’t directly shown, a high number of submissions from a particular referrer suggests it’s a valuable source. Conversely, if you expect a referrer to perform well but it doesn’t appear in the top 10 or has few submissions, it might indicate low-quality traffic or a problem with the link/context.
  • Discover New Opportunities: You might find unexpected websites linking to you that could be potential partners or content collaboration opportunities.
  • Distinguish Referrer Types:
    • Search Engines: (e.g., google.com, bing.com) Indicates organic search traffic driving submissions.
    • Social Media: (e.g., t.co for X/Twitter, facebook.com) Shows which social platforms effectively lead to submissions.
    • Your Own Website: If you link to your Formora forms from other pages on your own domain(s), these will appear, helping understand internal navigation paths leading to submissions.
    • Other External Websites: Blogs, forums, partner sites, etc.

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For More Granular Tracking: UTM Parameters

While referrer data provides valuable insights into general traffic sources leading to submissions, it has limitations in precision, especially for distinguishing specific campaigns, ad creatives, or links from the same domain, and for tracking views from these sources.

For more detailed and reliable tracking of marketing campaigns (e.g., email marketing, paid ads, specific social media posts), including their impact on both views and submissions, UTM Source Tracking is the recommended approach. UTM parameters allow you to manually tag your links with specific source, medium, and campaign information, providing much clearer attribution in your analytics.

Referrer analysis is a great starting point for understanding which domains drive submissions. Combine it with UTM tracking for a comprehensive view of your marketing effectiveness. Next, delve into UTM Source Tracking.