Outrageously & Suspiciously High CTA Clicks

Marketing & Content Hub Reporting & Analytics
1

Hello,

Our blog usually gets 150 CTA clicks a month.

For the last two months, we have been getting around 500 clicks.

Something isn’t adding up because some of the blog posts have more CTA clicks than blog views.

I asked around, and apparently no one on the marketing team is doing a campaign that would affect this.

Any ideas where it could be from?

2

Hi @AHall80,

The situation you’re describing, where your blog is receiving more CTA clicks than views, is indeed unusual. Here are a few potential explanations, with the help of generative AI:

1. Bot Traffic

  • Automated Clicks: One common cause of inflated click numbers without corresponding page views is bot traffic. Bots could be clicking on your CTAs without registering as page views, especially if they are targeting specific elements on your page.
  • Referral Spam: Sometimes, referral spam or other types of malicious bots can artificially inflate metrics by generating fake clicks.

2. Tracking or Reporting Errors

  • Duplicate Tracking: There might be an issue with how clicks are being tracked. For example, if a user clicks on a CTA multiple times or if the tracking code is firing multiple times, this could lead to inflated click numbers.
  • Misconfigured Analytics: Ensure that your analytics setup is correctly configured. Any errors in the setup could cause discrepancies between page views and CTA clicks.

3. External Sources

  • Direct Links to CTA Pages: If your CTA links are being shared directly on social media, in emails, or other external platforms, users could be clicking on them without visiting the blog posts themselves.
  • Search Engine Indexing: Sometimes, search engines might crawl your site and trigger CTA links, which can lead to clicks being recorded without corresponding page views.

4. JavaScript or Code Issues

  • JavaScript Issues: If there’s a bug or issue in your site’s JavaScript, it could cause the CTA click events to be triggered more often than intended.
  • Page Load Issues: If pages are partially loading or there’s a delay in loading certain elements, it could cause users to click on CTAs multiple times, leading to inflated numbers.

5. User Behavior Anomalies

  • Rapid Click Behavior: Some users might be rapidly clicking on CTAs, especially if they are confused by the interface or experience slow loading times. This could result in more clicks than usual.
  • Multiple CTAs on One Page: If there are multiple CTAs on a single page, and users are interacting with more than one, it might lead to higher click counts.

As far as next steps go, here’s what I’d recommend:

  • Investigate bot traffic: Check your analytics to see if there’s been an increase in bot traffic or unusual referral sources.
  • Review analytics configuration: Make sure that your tracking is set up correctly and that there are no errors in how clicks and page views are recorded.
  • Examine external sources: Look at where the traffic to your CTA links is coming from. If you see direct traffic or referrals from unusual sources, that might explain the discrepancy.
  • Check for JavaScript or code issues: Review your site’s code to ensure there are no bugs causing abnormal behavior.

Hope this helps!

3

Hi @AHall80,

Can you confirm whether those CTA clicks occurred on a single day or over different days/weeks?

One possible explanation is a website crawler. It probably crawled through your website and clicked the CTA on every blog post it found.

Best regards,

Abraham Ernesto