Marketing & search · Website help · Attribution interpretation

Direct traffic is described as typed-in visits

A dashboard assumes everyone classified as direct manually entered the address, overstating the evidence about behaviour.

What to change

Treat the platform label as a classification with limitations. Review known unlabelled entry sources such as shared documents, messages and printed materials, then improve future link labelling where it serves a useful purpose. Do not retroactively allocate unknown visits based on intuition. The report should distinguish what the system observed from the analyst's hypothesis, especially when budget decisions depend on whether a campaign contributed to the apparent increase.

A worked example

Illustrative example

Illustrative test: A manager can identify which claims come from recorded labels and which remain uncertain.

How to check the result

The narrative does not equate unavailable source information with one known visitor behaviour.

A mistake to avoid

A plausible explanation is not the same as measured attribution.

Your action checklist

Use these checks to prepare a discussion with your team or supplier. Tick a check when you have recorded the decision or evidence, rather than when a feature has simply been promised.

Decisions to record

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Healthcare marketing planning with an editorial calendar, audience question and campaign brief.
Start with the audience question and a clear content brief.
Healthcare marketing enquiry journey connecting a service page, message and appointment calendar.
Connect the public promise to a supported next step.
Healthcare marketing measurement illustrated by a dashboard, comparison bars and inspection lens.
Check the evidence and definitions behind the report.

Further reading

These primary sources provide additional context for the project decisions above.

Related decisions

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