Google Analytics Traffic Sources Breakdown

[lcanning]

Hi,

I have a b2b electronics site that has the following traffic source breakdown according to Google Analytics:

Search: 54%
Referral: 21%
Direct: 25%

I have been asked whether there is an industry standard for what this breakdown should look like. I know this isn't black and white but any indication of the optimum percentages would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[realityhack]

There is absolutely no standard. The issue is not just your industry but also your business and advertising models.
Lots of direct traffic could indicate lots of repeat customers. If that is a key part of your business model great.
A company concentrating on promotion through social media, ads or reviews on third party sites, mentions in magazines, etc. should hope for a higher percentage of referral traffic.

I would try to dig a little deeper before worrying about the breakdown. Analytics is mostly about change over time, and tracking successful interactions on the site.
What traffic is converting?, where are the referrals from? Did the ratios change when you did a bunch of SEO or put out the word on a new product? Is your direct traffic dropping off perhaps indicating fewer repeat visitors?

When looking at analytics the process should be:
1. I have a business decison (example do I fire our SEO company, Should we keep the new homepage or go back)
2. Is there any information available though analytics that would inform my decision in a meaningful way (ex. search visit trend, A/B split conversion data)
3. What could be contaminating that data (ex. that big press release we put out, biased split code)
4. Look at analytics
5. Implement decision.

Until you have a decision to make looking at your analytics might as well be dropping acid and looking at a part of the carpet that you like.

[lcanning]

Thanks for the reply!

I thought that was probably the case, I will do a bit of digging.