Referrer Detector

I try my best to keep this page as up-to-date as possible, but sometimes it's not (like, when I finish a new version at 2:am and get too tired to update this accordingly). So it is recommended that you check RD WordPress Codex page too, just to be on the edge.

Referrer Detector is a plugin that displays a greetings to users who come from various internet sources (known as referrers). For example, you may want to welcome Diggers with a message that reminds them to digg your story, or you may want to ask Del.icio.us users to bookmark your post, and so on.

Not only about a cool greeting box, it greatly helps to more efficiently interacts with your readers and build a better relationship between you (your website) and them.

This plugin was inspired by Thaya Kareeson ‘s WP Greet Box plugin, a great plugin with the same purpose.

Installation:

Download the plugin
Extract into a folder
Upload the entire to wp-content/plugins/ directory of your WordPress installation
Enable it via Plugins panel
It should now work out of the box. If you want to tweak a bit, head to Settings->Referrer Detector

Features

A pure AJAXed admin interface with elements tidily divided into tabs. Entries can be added/modified/(de)activated/deleted without the need to reload the entire page, or even with just one click. Starting from 3.2, there are even bulk actions!
The greet box position can be set to before, after, or (starting from 3.2) both before and after the post. A custom tag can also be used in case you don’t want to show greetings on every post.
Users can also put a tag (<?php if (function_exists('referrer_detector')) referrer_detector(); ?>) into the template to show the greet box anywhere of choice.
Excluded URLs can be specified in order to hide the greet box from specific users (like ones from Google Reader).
A * wildcard character can be used in both referrers and excluded URLs. For example: google.* will apply for all localized Google domains.
Multiple URLs can be merged into one entry, seperated by commas. For example: del.icio.us,delicious.com.
Ability to include WordPress attributes like url, title, author, category etc. into the greetings.
A STAT panel to get data reporting about the visitor statistic.
Many installed-by-default entries (which can be restored anytime with one click). Upon installing, you will have these entries available:
1. 9 rules
2. Del.icio.us and Delicious.com
3. Digg
4. Gizmodo
5. Google Search
6. Lifehacker
7. Live Search
8. Reddit
9. StumbleUpon
10. TechCrunch
11. Technograti
12. TechRadar
13. Twitter
14. Yahoo Search
Compatible with caching plugins, since the core is written and run in JavaScript which is normally not cached.
[NEW in 4.0] Automatically detect user’s country and display the localized greetings (if any).
[NEW in 4.0] Ability to backup and restore entries, excluded URLs, and options, very convenient for transferring between sites.
Optimized OOP code allows extreme readability and easy modifications for other plugin developers.

For FAQ, screenshots, and other notes, please head to WordPress Codex.

We provide excellent training for all kind of certifications including ccnp, microsoft mcts and ccie.

« Previous Post

PlayMod
13 May, 2009
Hello,
There is a bug with the new version and php 5. When i try to install the mod, there is a warning :
Call-time pass-by-reference has been deprecated in rd.class.php
Thanks for your help
phoenix.heart
13 May, 2009
PlayMod, I’ve made a quick fix that should be available in the next some minutes. Could you please check to see if things work?
PlayMod
13 May, 2009
I installed the new version without any problems, but the message doesn’t not seems to appear when i come from Google or Yahoo.
I’m currently at work, so i can’t check it right now. When i do, i’ll post here.
PlayMod
14 May, 2009
Well, i checked on my computer and a friend’s one. We don’t see anymore the referrer detector when we come from Google.
phoenix.heart
14 May, 2009
Hi Play Mod, I’ve sent you an email. Please read it.
PlayMod
14 May, 2009
Thank for your help. The latest hot fix solve my bug.
baron
22 May, 2009
Works great, thank you
Kevin
29 May, 2009
Is it possible to remove the “Referrer Detector” link that displays on the admin’s site? Your competitor doesn’t do this
phoenix.heart
29 May, 2009
Hi Kevin,
Which link are we talking about? Do you mean the “Support this plugin” tab? Because apart from Referrer Detector’s plugin option page, I don’t write links any elsewhere.
Kevin
30 May, 2009
How did this one get there?
http://imajr.com/powered-by-Referrer-Detector-link-1453952
phoenix.heart
30 May, 2009
Hi Kevin, the link is just one way to support the development. If you don’t feel like it, you can turned it off easily via the General Options tab (Support this plugin – display a *tiny* “Powered by Referrer Detector” link? option).
Kevin
31 May, 2009
Ah, I see thanks for clearing that up BTW, great plugin. I’m gonna do you one better and shoot you a donation before I remove the link. How about that?
Kevin
31 May, 2009
It would be helpful for commenters if you would add the Subscribe To Comments Plugin here
phoenix.heart
31 May, 2009
Hi Kevin, it’s very nice of you, but unfortunately I can’t accept Paypal donation, thank you Feel free to remove the link.
And thanks for your recommendation, I’ve added the plugin.
Hetz Ben Hamo
15 Jul, 2009
Hi, Great plugin!
Can I suggest an additional feature (if it’s there, I don’t see it): I’m looking for a way that if the user came from Google or Bing or anywhere else while searching for “abcdefg” and came to my blog, then he’ll get a message like “Thanks for coming while searching abcdefg”. In other words, I don’t really care where he came from, as long as he/she was coming with the word “abcdefg” or any other key words which I set.
Is it possible to set it today with the plugin?
Thanks and keep up the good work
Hetz
phoenix.heart
15 Jul, 2009
Hi Hetz,
The main purpose of RD is to welcome customers coming from specified sources, so currently it does not (yet) have such an ability to welcome searchers regardless of where they came from. I will think about it in the future release.
There is still a way to achieve the same result at this moment: you can try to create an all-in-one (generic) (Bing, Google, Yahoo, Ask, Chacha etc.) entry with {search-terms} tag in the welcome message.
Hope this helps!
Ian Blackford
24 Jul, 2009
How do I track shortened URL’s? I added an entry for: bit.ly and it doesn’t seem to be tracking?
Also when I put a full URL into TweetDeck and twitter it, that doens’t track as coming from twitter, how do you track clicks from twitter clients?
Hope you can help
Ian
phoenix.heart
24 Jul, 2009
Ian, it depends on the URL shortening service. If the service keep the referrer value (Twitter for example) when redirecting, RD will track it normally. This applies for TinyURL, but last time I checked, Bit.ly lacks of this support. It sucks imho, but still I can’t find away to work around.
kanni
25 Jul, 2009
the default sites work briliant for me, when i add my custom one (www.monstrs.de) the message just does not show up..
any suggestions?
Jackson
8 Aug, 2009
Please update this brilliant plugin to support the latest WP Version 2.8.3
phoenix.heart
9 Aug, 2009
Jackson, RD works fine in 2.8.3, just that I couldn’t find time to change the compatibility tag.
Matt
13 Aug, 2009
Great plugin, but are there any known conflicts with a plug-in like Featured Content Gallery? For some reason I can’t seem to get the two to play together nicely. If I switch on Referrer Detector, my sidebar Feature Gallery doesn’t load, the moment I switch it off, the Gallery works fine again.
Cheers for any suggestions,
-Matt
Noel M.
20 Aug, 2009
Hi, a friend who introduced me to StumbleUpon gave me some links to read to deepen my knowledge about the use of SU. I was referred here by one of the authors of the links I browsed through. I think this is a cool plugin because it will work not only for SU but for all referrors for that matter. Thanks.
Emjayoh
1 Sep, 2009
How can this plugin be modified so that I can display a different message to viewers based on location like Vancouver and San Francisco.
Is there another plugin that does this already?
phoenix.heart
1 Sep, 2009
Hi, I’m not sure if there is any plugin that does that for us. Currently RD supports per country messages, not per state.
fask
8 Sep, 2009
Hi, i got a problem with your plugin. When I’m trying to visit my site via google but It doesn’t appear the greetings except if I enter on a post of my site via google, it work.
How can it show the greetings in the index page? Anyway, the plugin is awesome!
phoenix.heart
8 Sep, 2009
Fask, there is a template tag available for this. In order to display the greetings on your home page, you need to add <?php if (function_exists('referrer_detector')) referrer_detector(); ?> into your template’s index.php page.
fask
8 Sep, 2009
Thanks, It’s works!
fask
9 Sep, 2009
phoenix.art I got 2 doubts:
1.- I’m trying to put in the Default welcome message some images with HTML code but It doesn’t appear. How can I do it?
2.- There is a way to see your greeting message when I enter on my website via direct link (I mean writting the adress url) without writting my site on google or another websearch?
If the answer is too long or if you want, you can write me to my email. Thanks for all.
Place For Bloggers
23 Sep, 2009
Hi,
This kind of plugins I like as it makes your blog more personal even if in automated way.
[Feature Request] Can we have a preview button to let us see how the message is showed to users before we activate it.
Cheers,
Place For Bloggers
Place For Bloggers
25 Sep, 2009
I’d like to support you and help you with translations and more. Tried to contact you directly but your contact page has a problem.
Feel free to contact me at my blog to work together
Cheers,
Place For Bloggers
Abel Braaksma
5 Oct, 2009
Great plugin, easy to configure, runs smoothly first time around, well done! But… there’s a little bug, not sure I should put this here or elsewhere. The problem is, disabling rule in the entry list is not possible (it disables, but browsers still see the referrer message). To actually get it disabled I changed the referrer-expression to something bogus, which worked.
Would be nice if you can change the behavior sometime such that “deactivate” means that it’s actually deactivated (and yes: I tried multiple saves, of course).
प्रवीण त्रिवेदी...प्राइमरी का मास्टर
10 Oct, 2009
very nice!!
Adi
15 Oct, 2009
I Installed the plugin and activated it. I cannot see any welcome messages when I come from google. I use the standard design from wordpress. any idea?
phoenix.heart
15 Oct, 2009
Adi, by default the plugin shows greetings on the post (single) only. If you want them to appear on other pages, consider using the custom tag.
Boni
18 Nov, 2009
Thank you man, this is cool plugin, and i have use your plugin on my blog. Thanks.
Jeff-TVQC
8 Dec, 2009
Hello!
i’l like to know if their is a way to have relate post auto-open when the surfer is arriving on my site from say..Google.
Mine still close unfortunately and have to click to open it.
kindest regards
jeff

PS: whats is this comment system?
phoenix.heart
8 Dec, 2009
Jeff, the feature (auto expand related posts section) is not available at the moment. I will think about it on next release of RD.
The comment form is powered by MCEComments and Subscribe to Comments plugins.
Jeff-TVQC
13 Dec, 2009
Thank for fast reply and ive installed MCEComments on my site :p
RCoA
17 Dec, 2009
Hi, are there any WP themes with which this plug-in might not be compatible? I enabled it on my blog and tested it by Googling my site from a browser that was not logged into my WP acct. I did not see a greeting. I had a similar experience with Thaya Kareeson’s plug-in — no greeting. I even disabled all of my plug-ins except for RD, and still no greeting. I even switched my theme temporarily and still no result. Not sure what to do next. Cheers!
phoenix.heart
17 Dec, 2009
Hello,
Please check if your theme calls wp_head() function in header.php. This is vital.
Pim Uijttewaal
7 Jan, 2010
Hello,
First of all, a great plugin!!
As for my question
Maybe I am not correctly interpreting this function, but users, who come from my original domain (uijttewaal.com) which is redirected (permanently) to wimuijttewaal.nl do not get this message. Although I set it to check for referr uijttewaal.com
PS: header.php has wp_head function. And the plugin is now disabled for the moment.
Can you explain if this should work? Or not? Thanks a lot

Pim
phoenix.heart
7 Jan, 2010
Hello Pim. At first thanks for your compliment.
For your problem I think that you’re doing a server redirection (either using .htaccess or PHP header()). As this happens on the server, browser can’t have an idea and will think that it comes from the redirected-to server – wimuijttewaal.nl in this case, which is correct anyway. Which means, my plugin will decide not to show a welcome message.
A workaround may be using client-side redirect (javascript, meta…) but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have special reasons to, as it may violate SEO.
Pim Uijttewaal
7 Jan, 2010
Hi Phan,
Thanks for your reply. This confirms my suspicion
Take good care,
Pim
Tyson J. Hayes
18 Jan, 2010
Just found your plugin and am testing it out in my test site, looking great so far!
One question I had, how does the related post derive the posts it should be linking to?
Thanks again for the plugin!
phoenix.heart
18 Jan, 2010
You’re welcome Tyson
For your question, the related posts are selected using post tags.
Allister
30 Jan, 2010
Hi. I frequent a web site that uses this plugin. Every time I arrive at the site from Google *Reader* I get the pop-up saying I should follow the site using RSS. I think the Google detection needs some tweaking.
phoenix.heart
30 Jan, 2010
Allister, please check if the Excluded URLs option fits what you need. You may want to play around with it to satisfy the needs.
Sam Vimes
7 Feb, 2010
Hi,
somehow this plugin doesn’t work on my blog. What can i do?
phoenix.heart
7 Feb, 2010
Hi Sam, first try to reset/save the options.
Then make sure your theme is calling wp_head(), and that there’s no plugin conflict.