What is my referrer?
If the card above is empty, nothing is broken: you probably arrived directly, or the site you came from chose not to say. Since browsers moved to a stricter default, the referrer usually reveals only the origin, so a site learns you came from a search engine but not which query you typed.
The referrer your browser reports for this page is shown above. The referrer (spelled "referer" in the original HTTP header, a decades-old typo that stuck) is the address of the page you were on just before you followed a link here.
If you typed the address directly, opened a bookmark, or came from a site that suppresses it, the referrer is empty. If you clicked a link, it usually contains the previous page's URL, though modern browsers trim it to just the origin for privacy in many cases.
Referrer behaviour is controlled by the Referrer-Policy that sites set and browsers enforce. The trend is firmly toward sending less: full URLs leaked search terms and private paths, so browsers now default to sending only the origin, or nothing, when moving between sites.
How a website reads this
This is the exact call a page makes. Nothing else is involved, and nothing is sent anywhere: the value is read in your browser and displayed to you.
document.referrerThe URL of the page that linked here, or an empty string when you typed the address, used a bookmark, came from an app, or the referring page set a Referrer-Policy that withholds it. Empty is now the common case, not the exception.
- Needs your permission
- No, it is read silently
- Can it be faked
- Yes. Controlled by the linking page through Referrer-Policy, and by any client that sets the header by hand. It is the linking site's statement about you, not yours.
- Contribution to a fingerprint
- Not counted. Not part of the fingerprint estimate. It says where you came from this once, not what your browser is, so it does not help re-identify you on a later visit. How we estimate this.
What you should know
Why sites collect it
Sites use the referrer for analytics (which sites send them traffic), attribution (which campaign or partner drove a visit), and sometimes access control (only allowing embeds from approved origins).
Privacy implications
A full-URL referrer could leak sensitive context, the exact article, search query or account page you came from. Because of this, browsers have tightened defaults so that only the origin, or nothing, is shared across sites. It remains a signal worth minimising.
How to change or hide it
You can strengthen referrer privacy with a stricter browser setting or extension that strips the referrer, and privacy browsers already send minimal referrers by default. Opening links in a fresh tab from a typed address avoids sending one at all.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my referrer empty?
You likely typed the URL, used a bookmark, came from an HTTPS site to a page that blocks it, or the previous site set a no-referrer policy. All of these are normal.
Can the referrer leak private information?
It could if a full URL is sent, since URLs sometimes contain search terms or IDs. Modern browsers trim cross-site referrers to the origin to prevent that.
Sources
Browser behaviour changes and vendors cap these values differently, so the claims above that are not self-evident are checked against the specifications and vendor documentation below.
Last checked on . How these values are measured and estimated is set out on the methodology page.
Something wrong here? Tell us what your browser reports and it gets corrected.