Is Referral Traffic Stalling Your Brand’s Growth?

Search marketing expert Mordy Oberstein recently shared a thought-provoking perspective on the role of referral traffic in brand growth.

According to Oberstein, brands should gradually move away from relying on referral traffic as they mature. While referrals from other websites are often viewed as indicators of success, they don’t offer long-term reliability.

The main concern is that referral traffic depends heavily on third-party platforms and sources. This lack of control means that relying on it could limit a brand’s ability to shape its own direction and identity over time.

Instead, as a business develops, Oberstein suggests that it’s more beneficial to focus on owning the brand’s narrative. This involves investing in direct traffic, brand search, and other forms of engagement that originate from within the business’s own ecosystem.

While referral traffic might offer a short-term boost, building a brand that stands on its own ensures more stability and long-term growth.

Ultimately, the goal should be to reduce dependency on external sources and create a brand that can attract and retain its audience independently.

Referral Traffic Is Necessary But…

Mordy Oberstein, formerly with Wix, recently shared his thoughts in a Facebook post about the risks of relying too heavily on external sources for web traffic.

He pointed out that whether the traffic comes from another website or a search engine, depending on these channels creates a level of vulnerability when it comes to maintaining consistent website visits and overall performance.

Oberstein broke this vulnerability down into two parts. Firstly, you’re depending on another website to continue featuring your brand. Secondly, you’re trusting that Google will keep ranking that site well enough to drive traffic your way.

This two-layered dependency means that the stream of visitors can be interrupted at either stage. It’s a hidden weakness that may threaten the long-term stability of both web traffic and sales figures.

In his own words, Oberstein described it as a “double vulnerability”:

Relying on a third-party site to provide visibility
Relying on Google to send traffic to that third-party site

As he sees it, both layers present risks that brands should be aware of as they grow.

Oberstein believes that as a brand evolves, it should start to take more control of its own story and how it reaches audiences. In his view, the goal should be to reduce dependency on referral traffic and move towards channels the brand can fully own and manage.

He concluded by acknowledging that this is his personal opinion, and not everyone may agree — but he firmly believes that brands benefit from building their own foundations rather than leaning on others.

Becoming A Destination

I’ve always believed in promoting a website in a way that helps it become closely associated with a particular topic. When a site is seen as the go-to place for a subject, it naturally builds the kind of authority signals that Google tends to value.

To achieve this, I’ve used a range of creative tactics — from giving away branded hats and running annual product giveaways to organising both online and offline promotions. These efforts weren’t just about visibility; they were about building a genuine connection with people.

While many of my competitors focused on routine SEO tasks, I concentrated on turning visitors into loyal followers. To me, website promotion is all about putting your brand in front of people, wherever they are — whether that’s in the digital space or in the real world.

Brand Authority Is An Excuse, Not A Goal

Some professionals in the SEO industry often mention the term Brand Authority as a way to explain why certain websites rank highly. However, this concept can be quite misleading. Despite the name, Brand Authority isn’t truly about branding, nor is it about a site’s genuine authoritativeness. Instead, it’s frequently used as a vague excuse for why a particular site appears at the top of search results.

The idea of Brand Authority actually stems from the older PageRank system. Years ago, many large brand websites had incredibly high PageRank scores—some even reaching 9 or 10 out of 10. These high scores gave them the ability to rank for almost any keyword with ease. In fact, just receiving a backlink from one of these sites was often enough to secure a spot in the top ten search results.

However, around 2004, Google recognised that this overreliance on PageRank was delivering less relevant results. In response, it began reducing PageRank’s influence and started introducing new ranking signals. One of those was Navboost, a system designed to evaluate how users interact with a website—essentially, how they feel about it. This is similar to PageRank, which also aimed to gauge user value, but Navboost placed a stronger emphasis on engagement and satisfaction.

Understanding how users perceive a site is crucial because that’s ultimately what branding is all about. Marty Neumeier, a respected authority on branding and the author of The Brand Gap, explains branding not as something companies create themselves, but as something built by their customers. According to him:

“Instead of creating the brand first, the company creates customers (through products and social media), the customers build the brand (through purchases and advocacy), and the customer-built brand sustains the company (through ‘tribal’ loyalty)… Your brand isn’t what you say it is. It’s what they say it is.”

He goes on to add that brands evoke strong feelings and mental images. The most successful brands make themselves memorable through every customer interaction—from the first moment someone sees the brand’s name to the experience of buying and using the product.

It’s this emotional connection and loyalty—what Neumeier refers to as “tribal loyalty”—that Google is interested in measuring. So, when Google’s Danny Sullivan encourages site owners to make their websites stand out by thinking like a brand, he isn’t talking about vague “brand authority.” Instead, he’s referring to building trust, relevance, and a positive user experience that naturally fosters loyalty.

In short, true brand strength comes from what users genuinely feel and say about your business—not from metrics that once relied heavily on technical signals like PageRank.

Getting Back To Mordy Oberstein

In short, true brand strength comes from what users genuinely feel and say about your business—not from metrics that once relied heavily on technical signals like PageRank.