Referrer links are not showing in the Acquisition Websites; Direct Entry is too high

When other websites link to your site using the rel="noreferrer" attribute in their links, browsers will not send any HTTP referrer information. As a result, Matomo cannot detect the source of the visit, and the visit will appear as a Direct Entry instead of being attributed to the referring website.

This behaviour may explain why you might see a higher number of Direct Entries than expected in your Acquisition reports. Depending on your configuration, you can either change the referrer policy on the linking pages or use campaign tracking as a workaround.

Change the Referrer Policy

If you have access to edit the source code of the page linking to your site, you can adjust its referrerpolicy attribute to allow referrer information to be sent. By default, some sites may restrict referrer data for privacy reasons. To ensure Matomo can track the referrer, you can change the referrerpolicy in the link tag.

Instead of using a restrictive policy such as:

<a href="http://example.com" referrerpolicy="same-origin">…</a>  

Consider using a more permissive policy like:

<a href="http://example.com" referrerpolicy="origin">…</a>  

Or:

<a href="http://example.com" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin">…</a>  

These settings allow Matomo to receive at least the domain of the referring page, improving the accuracy of your Acquisition > Websites report.

Use Campaign Tracking

If you do not have control over the linking page’s source code, you can still track visits accurately by using campaign tracking parameters.

Create a special link containing campaign parameters (such as mtm_campaign and mtm_source) and ask the external site owner (referrer) to use it when linking to your site. Optionally, you can include additional parameters like mtm_medium, mtm_kwd, and mtm_content to capture even more detailed information.

Campaign parameters ensure that Matomo can identify the visit’s source based on the URL itself, even when referrer information is missing.

Build a Campaign URL to share with referrers linking to your site

To track visits accurately when referrer information is missing, you can create and share a campaign URL with external websites.

1. Open the external site that links to your website.
2. Use your browser’s View Page Source feature to check if the link to your website contains the rel="noreferrer" attribute.
3. If noreferrer is present, open Matomo > Acquisition > Campaign URL Builder.
4. Construct a URL that includes campaign parameters (such as mtm_campaign, mtm_source, and mtm_kwd) to define the campaign name, and other relevant parameters. Read the complete guide on how to build campaign tracking URLs.
5. Provide the generated campaign URL to the external site owner (referrer) and ask them to update their link with the campaign URL.

When visitors click the updated link, Matomo will record the visit in the Acquisition > Campaigns report. The following details may be captured, depending on the parameters you include:

• Campaign Name (required)
• Campaign Source (optional)
• Campaign Keyword (optional)
• Campaign Medium (optional)
• Campaign Content (optional)
• Campaign Groups (optional)

Using campaign parameters ensures accurate attribution even when browsers block or omit standard referrer information. By tagging links with campaign information, you control how visits are classified in Matomo’s reports, allowing you to correctly track referral traffic across different websites and placements.

Learn more about analysing Matomo’s Campaign reports.