Traffic sources

Traffic sources allow you to understand where your users are coming from.

They correspond to the channels used by the users of your platforms to arrive on them. A social network, a search engine, a newsletter... All channels can be measured.

Let's see how traffic sources work on Piano Analytics.

 

How traffic sources work

Piano Analytics distinguishes traffic sources into two categories:

• Organic sources
• Campaigns (marketing sources)

Organic Sources

Organic sources are the natural channels used by visitors to your platforms.

 

 

By default, Piano Analytics offers 6 organic sources:

Source	Definition	Example Values
Direct Access	The "Direct access" source is recorded when the user typed the site URL directly in the search bar (or via a bookmark), resumed their visit after 30 minutes of inactivity, or came from a local access (localhost).	Out of site, continuation of visit, local access
Webmails	The "Webmails" source is recorded when users arrive on the site via a webmail service (online email service).	Google, outlook.com, Orange, ...
Social media	The "Social media" source is recorded when users arrive on the site through a social network.	Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, ...
Search engines	The "Search engines" source is recorded when a user arrives on the site through search engine results, using specific keywords.	Google, Bing, Qwant, ...
Portal sites	The "Portal sites" source is recorded when the user arrives on the site through another site within the same Piano Analytics organization.	mysite1, mysiteB, ...
Referrer sites	The "Referrer sites" source refers to user traffic coming from sites not recognized by the source detection algorithm.	thismedia, thisEcommercesite, ...

 

The detection of Webmails, Social media, and Search engines is based on URL lists maintained by Piano Analytics. These lists can be viewed and modified in the dedicated interface (see "URL lists" interface).

You can add your own organic traffic sources via the traffic sources management interface.

 

To use organic traffic sources in Piano Analytics, you can use the following properties:

Property_key	Property Name	Scope	Example Value
src	Source	Visit	Social media
src_details	Source - Details	Visit	Facebook
src_type	Campaign / Natural	Visit	Organic

 

The "Search Engine" source will also allow you to use the property:

Property_key	Property Name	Scope	Example Value
src_se_category	Search Engine - Category	Visit	News, image, search, ...

The "Portal sites" source will also allow you to use the property:

Property_key	Property Name	Scope	Example Value
src_portal_site_id	Portal Site - ID	Visit	123456

 

 

 

Campaigns

Campaigns (marketing sources) are the channels, mostly paid, used by visitors to your platforms. As the name suggests, these are people coming from marketing campaigns generated by you via dedicated ad networks.

 

 

This is what will allow you to track, for example:

• Your newsletters
• Your Paid search (SEA) campaigns
• Your Paid social campaigns
• Your display campaigns
• ...

Campaign tracking is based on two essential pieces of information:

• Medium - Populated in the tracking link via an "at_medium=" or "utm_medium="
• Campaign - Populated in the tracking link via an "at_campaign=" or "utm_campaign="

Without one of these two pieces of information, the source will not be detected as a "campaign" and will be included in one of the organic sources presented above.

 

To utilize your campaigns in Piano Analytics, you can use the following properties:

Property_key	Property Name	Scope	Example Value
src	Source	Visit	Takes the value of the medium (src_medium)
src_details	Source - Details	Visit	Takes the value of the campaign name (src_campaign)
src_type	Campaign / Natural	Visit	Organic
src_medium	Campaign - Type	Visit	cpc, Emailing, ...
src_campaign	Campaign - Name	Visit	mycampaignA

 

 

You can also add custom properties to refine your campaign tracking. Creating an "src_cl" property in the data model will allow an "at_cl=" or "utm_cl=" tracking parameter to be reflected in Piano Analytics.

 

Source Assignment

Each time a new visit starts, we look at two things:

• The referrer (URL preceding the first event of the visit)
• If the event contains marketing campaign information ("at_" or "UTM_" tracking)

1. If the event contains marketing campaign information, then the source is detected as a campaign and the traffic source detection stops there.
2. If the event does not contain marketing campaign information, organic source detection is applied. We check in the following order:

• If the referrer matches the definition of a direct access
• If not, if the referrer matches a URL considered to belong to a webmail
• If not, if the referrer matches a URL considered to belong to a social network
• If not, if the referrer matches a URL considered to belong to a search engine
• If not, if the referrer matches the definition of a portal site
• If not, it is a referring site

By default, organic source detection is only done on "page.display" type events. If the first event(s) of a visit are not "page.display", and there are no marketing tracking links, source detection is put on hold until the first page load.

 

 

 

Traffic sources definition

A traffic source is defined by three elements:

A parameter

A source can be based on two parameters:

• Criteria - This is the case with the marketing source or the "Portal sites" source for example. If such property takes such value, then I populate my source.
• A list of URLs - This is the case with the Search engines, Social media, or Webmails sources. If the visit's referrer belongs to a specific URL list, then I populate my source.

A source based on a list of URLs can also be refined with criteria. The opposite is not possible.

The URL sources can be modified by you via the dedicated interface. You can also create your own URL lists. More information in the dedicated section.

 

Conditions to be met for the traffic source to be taken into account

Set of criteria and/or URL lists that define the source. In the case of the Webmails source for example:

 

 

For a source to be considered as "Webmails", the referrer must be in the "Webmails" URL list and the event on which the referrer is based must be a page load ("page.display").

 

Properties populated, to be found in other tools in the suite to utilize the data

Set of properties that will be populated in the solution, and the expected values. In the case of the Webmails source for example:

 

 

When a source is detected as Webmail, three properties are populated and take specific values. This is what you will find in Data Query, Workspaces, Data Flow, or Data Sharing.

 

Consultation

The traffic sources management interface is accessible from Data Management, by clicking on "Traffic Sources" from the "Sources" menu:

 

 

To consult a traffic source, directly click on the block corresponding to that source. A panel will open.

In this panel, the information is divided into three distinct categories:

• General information: Source name, its description, its parameter (criteria or URL list), and the URL list if applicable.
• "Source populated if" - Conditions to be met for the traffic source to be taken into account.
• "Source populates properties" - Properties populated, to be found in other tools in the suite to utilize the data.

 

 

Creation

To create a traffic source, click on the "+" icon on the bottom right of the traffic sources interface. A panel will open.

 

 

You can fill in:

• A name: Name of the source as it will appear in the traffic sources interface, and value that the "src" Source property will take.
• A description: Allows other users to understand what the traffic source represents.
• The priority the source has: Allows you to prioritize the detection of the source over others. More information in "Changing the priority of traffic sources".
• The parameter on which the source is based: Criteria or URL list.
• The URL list to use: If the source has a "URL list" parameter.

 

 

You will then need to select the source detection criteria.

 

 

Knowing that:

• You can add up to 10 conditions in the source.
• If your source has a "URL List" parameter, one of these criteria is the list in question.
• It is possible to remove the "event is equal to page.display" condition but it is not recommended, as traffic sources would be taken into account on all existing events, even those not relevant.

 

Finally, you can configure how the source properties are populated.

 

 

For data consistency reasons, some of these values are automatically determined and cannot be modified.

• Source "src": Takes the name of the source as configured in the "General Information" section.
• Source - Details "src_details": Depends on the parameter on which the source is based:
  • Source based on a URL list - Takes the name corresponding to the URL as configured in the URL list.
  • Source based on criteria - Takes the value you want (can be a property value for a dynamic value).
• Source - Type "src_type": Takes the value "organic" or "campaign". We recommend "organic" in most cases.

Once you click on "Create", your source will appear in the list of sources.

 

Modification

To modify a traffic source, directly click on the block corresponding to that source. A panel will open.

The modification possibilities will depend on the source you want to modify.

For standard sources (offered by Piano Analytics), you can:

• Add criteria
• Modify the criterion corresponding to the event on which the detection is based

For custom sources (created by you), you can:

• Modify the source name
• Modify the description
• Modify the parameter (URL list or criteria)
• Modify the list if applicable
• Modify the criteria
• Modify the value of the "src_details" property 
• Modify the value of the "src_type" property

 

Changing the Priority 

It is possible to modify the priority order of sources to favor one source over another. Here is an example to illustrate this concept.

By default, the marketing source is positioned at the top of the traffic sources list. This means that, for each new visit, the system first checks if the source is marketing, by ensuring the presence of tracking parameters, such as at_ or utm_. If these parameters are detected, the detection stops there and the visit is attributed to the marketing source.

However, you may want to prioritize an organic channel like search engines. Let's say that for your analysis, sources coming from search engines are the most important and should be prioritized. To do this, you can adjust the order of sources by putting search engines at the top of the priority list.

In this custom configuration, for each new visit, the system will first check if the referrer belongs to a search engine. If this is the case, the visit will be directly attributed to that source. If the referrer does not indicate a search engine, the system will continue the checks and then analyze if it is a marketing campaign by looking for tracking parameters (at_ or utm_).

Thus, the new configuration modifies the sequence of source evaluation, first prioritizing search engines, followed by marketing campaigns, and finally other sources in the order you have configured.

In summary, customizing the order of sources allows you to finely adjust how visits are attributed, giving more importance to certain channels according to the specific needs of your analysis.

 

To change the priority order, it is possible to "drag and drop" the sources to the desired location:

[SCREEN]

 

 

Deactivation (or Deletion)

To delete a traffic source, click on the three dots "..." on the block corresponding to that source. A menu will appear.

 

 

The deletion possibilities will depend on the source you want to modify.

• For standard sources (offered by Piano Analytics), you can only deactivate the source. It will no longer be taken into account in the detection of traffic sources. Standard sources being important, you can reactivate them at any time by performing the reverse manipulation.
• For custom sources (created by you), you can delete the sources. They will completely disappear and will no longer be taken into account in the detection of traffic sources.

Traffic Sources and Site Groups

Traffic sources can be configured on a particular site group.

This allows you to create sources, modify existing sources or change the priority order only on the sites that need it, without impacting the sites for which the default detection works correctly.

To create a site group, you can click on the dropdown menu at the top right of the sources interface:

 

 

You can then give a name to your site group, add the sites that will compose it and select the predefined rules on which you want your site group to be based.

Indeed, a site group cannot be defined without sources. It therefore starts from the sources configured on the organization, on the standard model proposed by Piano Analytics or any other site group already configured.

 

Once your site groups are created, you can select them from the dropdown menu and manage your traffic sources as you wish on these scopes.

 

URL Lists

URL lists are the repositories used by sources based on the "URL Lists" parameter. These lists can be standard (offered and regularly updated by Piano Analytics) or custom (created and populated by you).

A list is a set of URLs (or patterns) associated with text values to qualify them. 

 

 

By default, Piano Analytics offers three URL lists:

• Social media: List used for the detection of social networks, used by the "Social media" source.
• Webmails: List used for the detection of webmails, used by the "Webmails" source.
• Search engines: List used for the detection of search engines, used by the "Search engine" source.

These lists are accessible from the "URL Lists" interface accessible from Data Management: 

 

 

You can create custom lists by clicking on the "+" button at the bottom right of the interface.

 

To open a list for consultation or modification, you can click on it. A panel will open.

This panel contains:

• The name of the list
• The elements contained in the list

It is possible to add elements to the list by:

• Clicking on "+" and adding the elements one by one
• Clicking on the arrow and importing several elements at once via a CSV file

Lists can contain up to 1000 elements.

It is possible to make elements disappear by:

• Deactivating them (standard elements) - They will no longer be taken into account by the linked source, but can be reactivated at any time.
• Deleting them (custom elements) - They will no longer be taken into account by the linked source, and will disappear permanently.