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

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-does-incoming-link-count-in-discourse-database-mean/122515>\
**Category:** Data & reporting\
**Tags:** sql-query\
**Created:** [10 ביולי,‏ 2019,‏ 4:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-does-incoming-link-count-in-discourse-database-mean/122515 "2019-07-10T04:13:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GregAtkinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@GregAtkinson](https://meta.discourse.org/u/GregAtkinson)\
**Post date:** [23 בספטמבר,‏ 2022,‏ 11:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-does-incoming-link-count-in-discourse-database-mean/122515/3 "2022-09-23T23:25:36Z")

</div>

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

```plaintext
  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.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-does-incoming-link-count-in-discourse-database-mean/122515)._