Social network Bluesky has introduced a significant change to its platform, making it easier for publishers to track referral traffic originating from posts on its site. According to Bluesky employee Emily Liu, the company is now sending referral traffic through its "go" subdomain, allowing publishers' analytics systems to determine when visitors to their site came from Bluesky.

This update is a crucial development for publishers, who have been struggling to quantify the impact of engagement on Bluesky. As Liu noted in a post on Bluesky, newsrooms were seeing engagement from likes and reposts in the app but had a harder time determining how that was translating into "actual website traffic." By sending referral traffic through the "go" subdomain, Bluesky is providing publishers with a clearer picture of how their content is performing on the platform.

The importance of this update cannot be overstated, particularly as Bluesky aims to become a source of real-time news, similar to its rival X. Publishers are a vital demographic for Bluesky to attract, and this change is likely to increase their engagement with the platform. Already, several news outlets have reported significant increases in Bluesky referral traffic, with some even finding that Bluesky surpassed referrals from other platforms, like Meta's Threads and Elon Musk's X.

For instance, The Boston Globe reported in November 2024 that it was seeing 3x more traffic from Bluesky, compared with Threads, and 4.5x higher conversions to paid subscriptions. Similarly, Guardian Australia editor Dave Early shared that Bluesky traffic to The Guardian's website was already 2x that of Threads, and Bluesky traffic to its posts was higher than X's referral traffic in 2024. The New York Times as well as other smaller publishers have also seen higher user engagement with Bluesky.

Bluesky COO Rose Wang attributed the increase in referrals to the platform's approach to link sharing. Unlike other platforms, Wang explained, Bluesky doesn't "de-promote" links, allowing publishers to reap the benefits of engagement on the site. This is in contrast to X, which changed the way links appeared in its app to encourage more people to post to X directly, instead of off-site. X owner Elon Musk confirmed that X's algorithm was designed to optimize the time spent on X, which is why links didn't get "as much attention."

Market intelligence provider Similarweb noted that Bluesky generated 38.6 million outgoing visits in November 2024, spread across a variety of news websites, while Threads generated 24.5 million referrals. However, the firm pointed out that 42% of Threads' traffic was directing users to its sister app, Instagram, not publishers' websites. This highlights the importance of Bluesky's update, as it provides publishers with a more accurate picture of their referral traffic.

TechCrunch reached out to Bluesky to determine when exactly it made the change to shift links through its "go" subdomain, but the company has not responded to our request for comment at this time. It's worth noting that Bluesky decided not to move forward with another solution to the referral problem that included an optional opt-out, opting instead for the "go" subdomain approach.

In conclusion, Bluesky's update is a significant development for publishers, providing them with a clearer understanding of how their content is performing on the platform. As the social network continues to grow and attract more publishers, this change is likely to have a lasting impact on the way newsrooms approach engagement and conversions on Bluesky.