Referrer
The referrer is the address of the page a visitor came from, which the browser may send when someone follows a link to your site; analytics tools use it to tell where visits originate.
Worked example
Someone reads a thread on a forum and clicks your link. Their browser opens your page and, with the request, says which site the click came from. Your analytics records the forum’s hostname as the referrer, and the visit is counted under that site.
The same person, a day later, taps your link in a chat app on their phone. That app opens the link with no referrer. The visit counts as direct, though it came from a recommendation.
What the browser actually sends
Browsers today usually send only the site, not the full address of the page. Their default rule sends the site’s address for clicks from one site to another, and nothing when a secure (https) page links to an insecure (http) one (MDN: Referrer-Policy). Sites can also choose to send nothing at all.
So a referrer tells you “this came from the forum”, not “from this thread”. To tell two posts on the same site apart, you need tags on the link.
Why it’s often missing
- Links opened from apps, email clients and chats.
- Links copied and pasted into a browser.
- Sites that choose not to send one.
- An insecure (http) version of your own site.
Referrer or UTM tags?
Use both. The referrer arrives on its own, for free, whenever a browser sends it; it’s your only source for links other people post about you. UTM tags work for the links you share yourself, and survive when the referrer doesn’t. When a visit has both, the tags describe what you meant (“the launch email”), and most tools prefer them.
Why it matters when you’re starting out
The referrer is how you discover places you didn’t know were talking about you: a newsletter mention, a forum answer, a list of tools. Check the referring sites every week or two, and visit the ones you don’t recognise.
In Nordva Launch
Launch keeps the referring site’s hostname for every visit and every waitlist signup, never the full address. Visits are sorted into channels (search, social, AI assistants, email, referral, paid and direct) from the referrer and the tags together, with tags taking priority. With Stripe connected (read-only, every plan), paying customers can be grouped by the referring site of their first visit.