Website traffic services explained: referrers, countries and what to expect

Traffic services send visits to a web page, usually with a chosen referrer such as Google, Facebook or a news site. They have a narrow set of good uses, and they do not do what many people hope.

What they do

You enter a page URL and a quantity. The service sends visits over a period of time, and some let you choose the apparent source (referrer) and country. Your analytics tool shows the visits.

Good uses

• Testing that analytics and event tracking are set up correctly.
• Making a demo dashboard look alive for a presentation.
• Checking how a server handles a burst of visits.
• Seeing how a landing page loads under traffic.

What they cannot do

• Bring buyers. Visitors are not real customers and will not convert.
• Reliably improve search rankings. Search engines weigh real user behaviour and links.
• Replace real marketing, content and SEO.
• Increase ad earnings safely: artificial traffic on pages with ads can breach ad network policies and put accounts at risk.

Choosing options

Option	Typical use
Worldwide traffic	General analytics tests
Country targeted	Checking geography reports
Referrer targeted	Testing referral tracking

See current options and start with a small batch.