Social Site Referrals Rank Lowest By Average Engaged Time, Pageviews

Internal site traffic not only accounts for the highest share of pageview referrals – according to a recent report shared by Chartbeat – but also the highest average pageviews per session.

• The report shows that for those referred internally, they're not only averaging 2.9 pageviews per session, but also over 70 seconds of time on-site.
• For social, those numbers are significantly lower, though: Just 1.4 pageviews per session (lowest of all referral sources) and 34.4 seconds per session (also lowest).
• Direct, external and search all showed higher results per session, from both a pageviews and engaged time standpoint.

One reason for social pageviews and time-on-site being down versus alternatives is because many times, social referrals will not be due to the site or publisher overall, but a specific page that appeals directly to the reader. Once they're done there, they're usually going right back to where they encountered the link (and many times, social sites are opening a referring link inside of the app still, which likely reduces the likelihood of further exploring in that environment).

Check out Chartbeat's full report here.