Search Engine referrals exploding, non-engine visits declining

[jp29997]

Just like the subject says over the last year my search engine referrals have more than doubled (thanks Webmaster World!) but my non-search engine visits have declined 30-40%. At this point my search engine referrals are approximately double my other visits. I would have thought that increasing search engine visits would have had at least a residual positive effect on "pure" visits, but now they don't appear to be connected, because I can't imagine theres anything I do within my site that would convert visitors from using bookmarks or just typing it in over to finding us via search engine.

I can't really think of any changes we've made in our other promtional efforts that would result in such a sharp decline, and I believe that this website is more effective for the user today than it was a year ago. Do I need to look harder at our side of the equation or am I witnessing a shift in user behavior favoring search engines over bookmarks and typing it in?

[freerunjeff]

TOOLBARS might account for some of it - and browser plugins

[Ledfish]

Is it possible that the actual number of bbokmarks and type ins are really about the same but because of the increased search engine traffic your percentages are declining?

For example, if previously you statistics were as follows:

1000 Visitors total = 50% search engine (500 Visitors) and 50% bookmarks, type in, direct hits (500 Visitors)

Assuming page rank increase etc. Current statistics are:

2000 Visitors = 75% search engine referrals (1500 Visitors) and 25% bookmarks, type in, direct hits (500 Visitors)

Above, you are still getting 500 Visitors that are bookmarks, type in, direct hits, etc. The percentage changed, but the actual number stayed the same.

All that has really changed is you are getting more traffic from search engines, of people who rely on search engines to point them to the websites the seek. I would consider those people to be classified as "found traffic" as the majority are not the kind that will bookmark or type in a web address.