Question

You receive an intellgence alert notifying you that there has been an unexpected spike in your traffic. Which of the following could be possible reasons for this spike?

a. The tracking code has been altered and is reporting incorrectly
b. There is a new referral source that is directing a lot of new traffic to the site
c. There is unidentified referral traffic that is likely bot traffic
d. New pages or subdomains have been recently indexed in organic search
e. All of the above

Answer 1

Possible reasons for a spike in website traffic can include altered tracking code, new referral sources, unidentified referral traffic, and new pages/subdomains being indexed in organic search.

Step-by-step explanation:

A spike in website traffic can occur due to several reasons:

1. The tracking code has been altered and is reporting incorrectly: If the tracking code on your website has been modified, it might lead to inaccurate reporting of the traffic. This could result in an unexpected spike.
2. There is a new referral source: If a new referral source is directing a lot of new traffic to your site, it can lead to a sudden increase in traffic. For example, if a popular website starts linking to your pages, it can drive a significant amount of traffic.
3. There is unidentified referral traffic that is likely bot traffic: Sometimes, you might experience an unexpected spike due to unidentified referral traffic, which could be generated by bot traffic. Bots can artificially inflate website traffic numbers.
4. New pages or subdomains have been recently indexed in organic search: If new pages or subdomains have been indexed by search engines and are now appearing in organic search results, it can lead to an increase in traffic.

Therefore, all of the above options could be possible reasons for the spike in traffic.