When it comes to digital marketing, website traffic is your business’s fuel for growth. From paid to search and social to email, there are plenty of traffic sources, but which are the best? Today, we’re highlighting the best traffic sources for websites in 2024, which include organic, direct, email, and social.
What is website traffic?
Website traffic is the number of visitors a website receives in a given timeframe, like weekly, monthly, or annually. There are multiple website traffic sources, including organic, paid, referral, direct, social, and email.
Why is website traffic important?
Website traffic is important for:
- Building awareness for a brand and its products or services
- Analyzing user behavior
- Running conversion rate optimization (CRO) tests
- Investing in CRO services
- Evaluating a website’s target market by demographics and psychographics
- Generating revenue through affiliate marketing, advertisements, or product sales
For many companies, website traffic powers their business model and revenue generation.
4 best traffic sources for websites
In 2024, the best traffic sources for websites include the following:
1. Organic
Organic traffic comes from search engines and their organic search results.
Why is organic one of the best website traffic sources?
Organic ranks as the best website traffic source for a few reasons. Organic traffic:
- Attracts qualified traffic
- Operates 24/7 for websites
- Provides cost-effective traffic source
- Targets multiple traffic types, from transactional to informational to navigational
How should I measure organic traffic?
Webmasters measure organic traffic and its performance with metrics like:
- Unique users
- Exit rate
- Bounce rate
- Pageviews
- Conversion rate
How do I increase organic traffic?
You can start increasing your organic traffic with a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that:
- Targets keywords relevant to your target audience
- Targets keywords with higher monthly search volumes, like 500 searches per month
- Makes regular on-page updates to existing content
- Improves off-page and technical SEO ranking factors
2. Direct
Direct traffic is when users visit your site without visiting a search engine or another channel.
Why is direct one of the best website traffic sources?
Direct is one of the best website traffic sources for a few reasons, including the following:
- Indicates a higher intent to engage with your business
- Demonstrates brand awareness and even brand loyalty
- Provides a consistent traffic source
- Feeds traffic to other channels, like social media
- Lessens dependency on third-party sources, like Google or Facebook
How should I measure direct traffic?
Like organic traffic, you can measure direct traffic with metrics like:
- New vs. returning users
- Unique users
- Exit rate
- Pageviews
- Conversion rate
How do I increase direct traffic?
Some effective strategies for increasing direct traffic include the following:
- Launch partnerships with other brands or influencers, like for a giveaway
- Claim local listings, like Google Business Profile and Bing Places
- Create offline advertisements
- Build a thought leadership reputation with original, shareable content
3. Email
Email traffic, which comes from your or other’s email campaigns, is another top traffic source. For this reason, many businesses invest in email marketing services.
Why is email one of the best website traffic sources?
Email is one of the best website traffic sources for a few reasons, including the following:
- Creates a direct channel for speaking with engaged users
- Provides businesses an “owned” channel for website traffic
- Supports creating tailored messages for email subscribers
- Decreases dependency on other channels, like paid, social, and search
How should I measure email traffic?
You can measure email traffic, both before and after it arrives on your site, through metrics like:
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Time on page
- Spam complaint rate
- Conversion rate
How do I increase email traffic?
There are a few ways to increase email traffic, including:
- Create opt-in offers, like a free guide, on your website
- Build segmented email groups to increase email relevancy
- Optimize email send times based on interaction metrics
- Test subject lines to develop best practices for effective subject lines
4. Social
Social traffic, which includes Facebook, LinkedIn, and more, is another top traffic source.
Why is social one of the best website traffic sources?
Social is one of the best website traffic sources for a few reasons, including the following:
- Demonstrates brand engagement and interest
- Creates demand by reaching relevant users, even if they’re not active in the buying funnel
- Powers viral content
- Supports other strategies like SEO and PPC services
How should I measure social traffic?
You can measure social traffic with metrics like:
- New vs. returning users
- Pageviews
- Time on page
- Exit rate
How do I increase social traffic?
Some ideas for increasing social traffic include the following:
- Boosting social media posts
- Improving targeting with hashtags
- Posting original, shareable content
- Hosting interactive content, like polls or quizzes
- Partnering with social media influencers
- Investing in social media services
Bring the best website traffic sources to your site
Start bringing the best website traffic sources to your site by optimizing your SEO, improving your brand visibility, and growing your email list. If you’re looking for help with developing, launching, and managing a full digital marketing strategy, contact us today and learn how our experts can help!
$3bn+
revenue driven for clients
Add WebFX to your content marketing toolbox today
Get SEO Proposal$3bn+
revenue driven for clients
Add WebFX to your content marketing toolbox today
Get SEO Proposal