As part of the Analytics suite, the External Links tab shows you which external sites drive traffic to your Academia pages. It helps you see which sites and apps are sending people to your profile, so you can focus updates and sharing where they have the most impact.
How to see External Links
- In the top navigation, click Analytics.
- Select the External Links tab.
What you’ll see
- Page: The Academia.edu page that was visited, such as your profile or a specific paper page.
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Referring Site: The website or app that sent the visitor to Academia.edu. This might be a domain (for example,
twitter.com) or a technical source string (for example,android-app://...). - 30-day views: The number of views that page received from that referring site in the last 30 days.
- All-time views: The total number of views that page has received from that referring site since tracking began.
What you won't see
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Search terms from Google or Bing: You might see
google.comorbing.comlisted as a source, but External Links doesn’t show the exact search terms someone typed (or which search result they clicked). See how to view search terms for papers - Referrers with no identifiable URL: Some apps, browsers, and privacy settings don’t pass along referrer details. When that happens, External Links can’t show the specific page the visitor came from.
Turn this data into next steps
Look for sites that send you the most clicks. These are good places to keep your profile link up to date.
- If a university directory or lab page sends traffic, consider adding your latest paper links there.
- If social posts drive clicks, share new work on the platforms you use most.
- If a blog or newsletter links to you, it may be worth reaching out to share a new publication or updated bio.