What does `incoming link count` in discourse database mean?

Community Building Data & reporting
3

I looked at the code and it seems like incoming_link_count is similar to the “topic_views” table except it doesn’t increment the incoming_link_count when the request format is json.

Here’s the relevant lines in topics_controller.rb

  def track_visit_to_topic
    topic_id =  @topic_view.topic.id
    ip = request.remote_ip
    user_id = (current_user.id if current_user)
    track_visit = should_track_visit_to_topic?

    if !request.format.json?
      hash = {
        referer: request.referer || flash[:referer],
        host: request.host,
        current_user: current_user,
        topic_id: @topic_view.topic.id,
        post_number: @topic_view.current_post_number,
        username: request['u'],
        ip_address: request.remote_ip
      }
      # defer this way so we do not capture the whole controller
      # in the closure
      TopicsController.defer_add_incoming_link(hash)
    end

    TopicsController.defer_track_visit(topic_id, ip, user_id, track_visit)
  end

I was hoping this column would tell me the number of times someone arrived at this topic from an external link (including external search engines) vs clicking internal links.