Website Statistics - Why some visitors have no refererer

[obvio]

Why is it that some visitors don't have a refererer? Can tools be downloaded and installed on web browsers to mask or hide the page that they enter your website from?

 

[armstrong]

Neither type-in visitors, nor those coming from bookmarks would have referrers.

 

[Kate]

There is no referer with type-in either.
Also the referer can be faked and some browsers can be set so as not to send the referer value. BTW the referer is set by the client/browser.

 

[obvio]

So, what if everyone started using browser plugins to mask their referer? Would this spell an end for statistic software?

 

[Epic]

So, what if everyone started using browser plugins to mask their referer? Would this spell an end for statistic software?

Not really...People would still like to see how many unique visitors they've gotten and such..

 

[Xyzer]

Neither type-in visitors, nor those coming from bookmarks would have referrers.

Thats what i was going to say.Its correct.

 

[obvio]

Right, but advanced stats software like awstats, analog, statcounter - those would all become useless.

 

[Xyzer]

Yeh well if people type in the address of the site they dont have a referrer, but it displays other things about them like their browser, ip etc. Doesnt matter too much, youll know if your getting hits from google.