# What does 'top referred topics' measure?

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-does-top-referred-topics-measure/99464>\
**Category:** Data & reporting\
**Created:** [October 14, 2018, 8:20am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-does-top-referred-topics-measure/99464 "2018-10-14T08:20:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 9

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**Author:** ![simonmic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/simonmic/32/367698_2.png) [@simonmic](https://meta.discourse.org/u/simonmic)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2024, 7:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-does-top-referred-topics-measure/99464/9 "2024-04-09T19:08:05Z")

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Let me rephrase that for myself, hopefully I have it right (?):

The Top Referred Topics report

- shows topics in the current forum
- which visitors have landed on after following a link to them from another site.
- The “Clicks” column shows how many times this has happened.
- Any such link on another site counts. It does not need to have been shared via the discourse Share button.
- Navigating to a topic within the current forum, or following a link within a post body in the current forum, or typing a topic’s url directly into your browser address bar, does not count.

(There are a lot of ways to intepret this stuff when you’re unfamiliar. I guess “Referred” and “Clicks” are standard(ish) jargon but I would have understood “Top Topics Visited From Outside” and “Visits” quicker.)

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