Also called “direct access,” direct traffic is a term to designate when a user arrives directly on a website, without clicking a link on another site.

Direct traffic usually comes from four sources:
• Users who know your site’s URL and type it directly in their browser.
• Users who have bookmarked your website or saved it as a “favorite.”
• Users who arrive via a link shared by another person (in an email, for example).
• Users who follow a link on an HTTPS page to an HTTP page.

Depending on the platform used to analyze this data, sometimes continuing visits – when the referrer page is also on your site – are also considered direct traffic.

Direct traffic is regarded as a valuable metric to keep tabs on, as it is often linked to the portion of your audience most loyal to your content. For this reason, direct traffic tends to have notably higher conversion rates, and it is often the object of optimization strategies.