Any inkling when IE8 will begin passing the basic referrer data again?

[rmissey]

Around March 10, we noticed a huge flip in source data for IE8 users. The vast majority of our organic traffic began falling under the "Bookmark/Direct" bucket. This went through about March 26, corrected for a week or so, and then flipped hard again around the start of April. Since then, we've lost visibility into what's actually coming in from Direct access and what's coming in organically.

I know that keyword data isn't going to show up again referral / analytics data (may it rest in pieces). Anyone know when we'll at least be able to see Google referrals again instead of IE8 just treating everything as Direct traffic?

Thanks!

[southflorida]

IE8 is 5 years old and isnt supported anymore. There are websites dedicated to the death of IE8. Just curious, why are you using it?

[southflorida]

I see now, its analytics data. So strange that so many people use it still, so much so it is a big chunk of your traffic. Very odd how people refuse to update their systems. I can see a holdout for bugs and stuff, but 5 years is a long time to wait for a better browser. I find it strange that Google would update their systems to track people still on a system that is so outdated. Good luck.

[networkliquidators]

I suggest implementing [browser-update.org...] on your site. However, I would closely monitor your conversion rates and adjustments of users of IE 11.

I have seen positive results with this script.

[aristotle]

The vast majority of our organic traffic began falling under the "Bookmark/Direct" bucket.

I don't understand this. If the data is only being skewed by IE8 users, how could it produce such a big effect on your overall stats?

[rmissey]

Thanks for the note on the script, I'll mention it to the web management team.

The data is being skewed because a large portion of our site visitors are using IE8. We heavily service industrial environments, where IE8 and Windows XP are common. IE8 is our 2nd most popular browser.

[Dymero]

I'm also seeing this. According to Matt via Rustybrick, the drop in referrals was supposed to be for only 2-3 weeks.

[seroundtable.com...]

From my stats it's been about two months now.