Referer.org

What is referer.org?

How are people finding your site? Referer.org allows you to see --- and show --- where your visitors are coming from. With just a simple fragment of Javascript on your pages, you can be tracking referrers in a couple of minutes.

What is a referrer?

Whenever you visit a web page, your browser tells the web server where it just came from. For example, if you click this link to go to google, the browser will send along the url for this referer.org page as the "referrering" page. This mechanism provides a means for webmasters to know how people are finding their site.

How does referer.org work?

With just a simple fragment of Javascript on your pages, you can be tracking your referrers in a couple of minutes. Referer.org automatically track, list and verifies the referrers to your web page(s). If you want to, you can fully customize your list in several ways.

Can I keep track of what's happening with my list of referrers?

Yes! You can always get a detailed list of your referrers using the Referer.org Live Report.

Is it possible to get a notification when I get a new referrer?

Yes! First locate your page in the Referer.org Live Report. Then import the url of the RSS feed () into Google Reader or any other RSS aggregator.

Can I customize the appearance of my list?

Yes. The default display for the referrer list is a plain XHTML-compliant unordered list without any colors. You can use stylesheets and/or JavaScript to design and format the list in any way!

Why does the examples below doesn't work on my page?

You might need to upgrade your Referer.org code. The Referer.org JavaScript code was updated 11/22/06. All you need to do is to copy the new code from the Referer.org home page and replace the old code in your page.

How can I format the referrer list?

Each section of the generated list has a unique class associated with it; if you're comfortable with cascading stylesheets you can use them to customize the referrer list. Look below for some examples.

These is the code that Referer.org generate.

How do I remove padding and margins from the list?

Use the following CSS:

How do I add more space around list items?

Use the following CSS:

Can I show the domain/URL/title of my referrers? 

Yes. Use this JavaScript code:
Note: Long URLs/titles will automatically be reduced to 70 characters. You can change this using the referer_titlelength-variable.

Can I remove or change the bullets in my referrer list?

Yes. Use the following CSS:
It is also possible to make circle or square bullets
Or you can use image bullets

Can I change the maximum length of each referrer title? 

Yes. The default maximum length is 70 characters. You can change the length to be less or more than 70 characters if you want to.
Use JavaScript
The length is also depending of the font you use.

If the list does not sit within a containing box, you can control the overall list width using CSS.

Can I make my list right aligned?

Yes. Use the following CSS:

Can I zebra stripe my list?

Yes. Use the following CSS:

Can I define where the linked documents will be opened?

Yes. Use this JavaScript code:

I only want to measure my referrers using the Live Report. Can I make the referrer list invisible?

Yes. Use this JavaScript code:

Is it possible to display the referrer list by date?

Yes. Use this JavaScript code:
Note 1: It can take several hours before this option takes effect. Be patient.
Note 2: Switch back to the default sort (by hit frequency) by removing the above line. Note 1 still applies.

Is it possible to reverse the order of the list (descending)?

Yes. Use this JavaScript code:
Note 1: It can take several hours before this option takes effect. Be patient.
Note 2: Switch back to the default order (ascending) by removing the above line. Note 1 still applies.

Do I have to link to Referer.org on my web page? 

Yes! Every page that use the our referrer system has to include a direct link to http://referer.org.

You can put the link anywhere you like on your page (at the bottom, if you want to) -- and you don't need to use the image provided in the Referer.org code. A plain text link will do fine. And the link can be anywhere on your page.

What happens if I don't put a link to Referer.org?

If you don't link directly to http://referer.org on your web page, your list of referrers will not be displayed. This also applies to links using a rel="nofollow" tag.

I don't get any list on my web page, what could be wrong? 

IMPORTANT: Use the Live Report to find out exactly whats wrong with your setup.

• Did you remove the link to Referer.org ()? If yes, please put the link back as soon as possible. Your list will be displayed within a week.
• We were unable to access your web page (). Please make sure that your web page is accessable by anyone. Your list will be displayed within a week.
• Are you using the rel="nofollow" attribute ()? Remove it and your list will be displayed within a week.
• We couldn't find any links to your web page. Try to find similar websites and ask them to link to your web page. Tell them that they will get a link in return.
• Your list should be visible within minutes. But sometimes it it can take 10-12 hours or more.

Put your referrer list on a good position on a popular page and it's likely that you will get more incoming links.

A web page referring to me is not displayed in the list, why?

• We don't know that the referring page exist. Someone has to follow the link to your web page. If you're in a hurry, you can click the link yourself!
• We haven't verified that the referring page has a correct link. This might take several hours.
• The referring page is search engine. We automatically remove all search engines from your list.
• Please check your Referer.org JavaScript settings. You might be blocking the domain of the referring page.
• The referring page has to link directly to your web page. A redirect script doesn't count as a direct link.
• The referring page has to link directly to your web page. A link created by a JavaScript/Flash/Java/etc doesn't count as a direct link.
• The referring url includes a '?'. The referer.org list will not include referrers with a '?' in the url (dynamic pages).
• The referring page use the rel="nofollow" attribute in the link.
• The referring page has an link that's only visible when viewing it without frames activated.
• The referring page is located at the same host. Only external referrers are displayed.
• A referring page that doesn't send you any visitors for a whole month will be removed from your list (some exceptions apply to this rule).

A web page removed the link to my page, but is still displayed in the referrer list, why?

• Be patient, the invalid referrer will automatically be removed from your list within a few days.
• If you're in a hurry you can block the referrer from your list.

What about spammy referrers I've seen in my weblogs?

The Referer.org system automatically rejects all fake and duplicate referrers. You can also block any page from your list:

The list of referrers I see in the Live Report is not the same I see at my web page using your script. Why?

The list that you see in the Live Report is the complete list of all your verified referrers. The list on your website is slightly modified:

• If you have several referring pages from the same domain, only one is included in your list.
• Pages that you block using <referer_block> are not included
• Only the top <referer_limit_rows> pages are included in the list.
• The list is not up-to-date. To minimize server load and to provide quick response times, we cache the list.

Do Referer.org support international encodings (like japanese)?

Yes!

How do I put the same referrer-list that I have on my homepage, on another page? 

1. Use the Referer.org Live Report to find the Page ID of your homepage.
2. Put the Page ID in the JavaScript code on another page. Use this code:
Note 1: A Page ID looks like this: 0f60597eb6fb1a5cab7bcbccaefa6fd9
Note 2: You can put any referrer-list on any page.

How is the referrer list sorted?

We track how many visitors you get from each referrer. The referrer that send you most visitors will be at the top of your list.

Is it possible to make the visitor counter visible?

Yes! Put the following code inside your JavaScript.
Note 1: You don't need to use brackets! You can remove them or change them for anything else.
Note 2: The word "COUNTER" will be replaced with the actual visitor counter.

How can I change anchor text used in the link to my expanded list?

Some Referer.org users have a link to an expanded list of their referrers. The text used in the link is editable. Put the following code inside your JavaScript:
If you want to remove the expanded list link, use

I've got a question that is not answered on this page.

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