How Do You Get The Url Referer Via A Javascript Include

When working on a project that involves JavaScript coding, understanding how to access and utilize the URL referrer can be incredibly useful. Finding out where your visitors are coming from can provide valuable insights into user behavior and traffic sources. In this article, we will explore how you can get the URL referrer using a JavaScript include.

One way to retrieve the URL referrer is by accessing the document.referrer property. This property contains the URL of the document that linked to the current page. By leveraging this property, you can effectively retrieve the URL of the referring page.

To access the document.referrer property via a JavaScript include, you can create a script tag within the HTML document that references an external JavaScript file. Inside this external file, you can use the document.referrer property to capture the referrer URL.

Here is a simple example to demonstrate this:

// External JavaScript file (e.g., referrer.js)
var referrerUrl = document.referrer;
console.log('Referrer URL:', referrerUrl);

<!-- HTML document -->



  
  
  <title>Getting Referrer URL</title>

In this example, the JavaScript file "referrer.js" contains the code to retrieve and log the referrer URL using the document.referrer property. By including this script in your HTML document, you can capture the referrer URL of the page.

It's important to note that the document.referrer property may not always be populated. For security and privacy reasons, certain browsers may block the referrer information, especially when navigating from HTTPS to HTTP pages. In such cases, the referrer URL may not be available.

Additionally, be mindful of the cross-origin restrictions when accessing the referrer information. If the referrer URL belongs to a different domain than the current page, the browser may not provide access to this information due to security restrictions.

Overall, leveraging the document.referrer property via a JavaScript include can be a valuable tool for tracking and analyzing referral traffic on your website. By implementing this technique, you can gain valuable insights into user behavior and optimize your web content based on the traffic sources.