How to tell if a launch directory sends real traffic

Most launch directories say they send traffic. Few show it. You can check for yourself with the analytics you already have, and you should, before you pay for a listing or spend a launch day on one. Setting up the check takes about ten minutes; the answer takes a week.

The short answer

Look at three things: whether the directory publishes how it counts clicks, whether your own analytics show sessions from it that behave like real visitors, and whether its numbers and yours roughly agree. If a directory will not show its counting method, treat its traffic claims as marketing.

Step 1: read how the directory counts

A directory that counts clicks properly can explain it in a few sentences. Look for answers to these questions:

• Where is the click counted? A count taken on the server, as the visitor passes through a redirect, is harder to inflate than a script in the page.
• What is left out? Bots, the maker's own clicks and repeat clicks from the same person should not count.
• Are paid clicks separate? Clicks on sponsored slots are real, but they are not evidence that people chose your product from an organic list.

For comparison, What’s New Today publishes its method on How we verify: a click counts when it passes a server-side check on the way through /go/, bots, the maker's own clicks and same-day repeats are left out, and clicks on paid placements are reported separately and never ranked.

Step 2: tag your listing link

Referrer data is useful but incomplete, because some browsers and privacy settings strip it. Add UTM parameters to the website URL you submit so every visit can be attributed, even without a referrer:

https://example.com/?utm_source=directory-name&utm_medium=listing&utm_campaign=launch

Use the same utm_medium for every directory and change only utm_source. That keeps your reports comparable. If the directory rewrites or strips query strings, your UTM data will be missing, so test one live click before launch.

Step 3: look at what the visitors do

A burst of sessions is not traffic if nobody stays. In your analytics, filter to the directory's source and compare it with your average visitor on a few plain measures:

• Engaged sessions or time on page. Compare the engaged-session rate for the source with your average. Automated traffic tends to show almost none.
• Pages per session. People who are curious look at pricing or docs.
• Sign-ups or other conversions. Even one or two from a source is a better signal than hundreds of empty sessions.
• Geography and devices. A sudden spike from one data centre region on one browser version is a pattern to question.

Give it a full week after launch. A weekly board can keep sending visitors for days, and the second half of the week can look different from launch day.

Step 4: compare their number with yours

If the directory shows a click count for your listing, compare it with sessions in your analytics for the same days. They will not match exactly. Some people click and close the tab before your page loads, ad blockers can stop your analytics script, and directories filter repeats differently from your tool.

What you are looking for is the same order of magnitude. For example, if a directory reports 400 clicks and you see 12 sessions, either its count includes things it should not, or something on your side is broken. Both are worth finding out.

Some directories publish monthly totals across all listings. What’s New Today does this on Reports, with verified clicks per product frozen on publication and a JSON copy you can check. A public, unchanging record is harder to inflate than a figure shown only to the maker.

Warning signs

Be wary of a directory when:

• it quotes monthly visitors for the whole site but cannot tell you clicks to your listing;
• it sells "guaranteed traffic" packages;
• paid and organic listings look the same, so you cannot tell what you are comparing;
• traffic from it arrives in a single spike and never again;
• its analytics screenshot is the only evidence offered.

What good looks like

A useful directory sends a modest number of visitors who behave like your other visitors, keeps sending a few after launch week through category and search pages, and lets you see its count. Small and steady beats a big number you cannot check.

Once you know which places send people, put your effort there. Update those listings when you ship something new, and drop the rest. Our launch checklist shows where this fits in a launch week.