What is referral traffic?

[nancy07]

Referral traffic is Google's method of reporting visits that came to your site from sources outside of its search engine. When someone clicks on a hyperlink to go to a new page on a different website, Analytics tracks the click as a referral visit to the second site.

Referral traffic is used to describe visitors to your site that come from direct links on other websites rather than directly or from searches. For example, other sites that like what you have to say or sell may post a link recommending your site. You can also try to drive your own referral traffic by leaving links on other blogs or forums you have joined. Pay-per-click ads also count as referral traffic.