Source register · Updated July 2026
Traffic Sources Research and Official Platform Documentation
This source register brings together 52 primary sources, studies and platform documents covering SEO, social media, app stores, marketplaces, advertising and email marketing. Every reference connects directly to the relevant Traffic Compendium chapters.
How to evaluate the evidence
Official platform documentation is authoritative for setup, rules and current features. Studies and industry analysis add context about reach, competition and market mechanics. Check the linked version before running a campaign because platforms change interfaces, terms and algorithms.
52 documented references
All 52 sources by topic
SEO, AI search and indexing
Google Search Central, Search Console, Bing, IndexNow and research about visibility in AI answer engines.
- S2
Google Search Central: SEO Starter Guide
developers.google.com
- S3
Google Search Central: Build and submit a sitemap
developers.google.com
- S4
Google Search Central: Ask Google to recrawl URLs
developers.google.com
- S5
Google Search Console
search.google.com
- S27
OpenAI: Introducing ChatGPT Search
openai.com
- S28
Google Search Central: AI features and your website
developers.google.com
- S29
Search Engine Land: Sources cited by AI search engines
searchengineland.com
- S40
IndexNow
indexnow.org
- S41
Video, social media and communities
Documentation and analysis covering YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, Product Hunt, Pinterest and LinkedIn.
- S7
YouTube: The future of YouTube 2026
blog.youtube
- S8
YouTube: Recommendation system
blog.youtube
- S9
TikTok Newsroom: How TikTok recommends videos
newsroom.tiktok.com
- S10
- S11
Reddit Investor Relations: Q4/FY 2025 results
investor.redditinc.com
- S12
Reddit Rules
redditinc.com
- S20
itch.io: Game jams
itch.io
- S23
Product Hunt Launch Guide
producthunt.com
- S24
Hacker News: Show HN Guidelines
news.ycombinator.com
- S25
Pinterest Business: Audience
business.pinterest.com
- S26
LinkedIn: About Us
news.linkedin.com
App stores, games and publishing
Official information from the Apple App Store, Google Play, Steam, itch.io and Amazon KDP.
- S13
Apple Ads: Ads on the App Store
ads.apple.com
- S14
Apple Developer: Creating Your Product Page
developer.apple.com
- S15
Google Play Console: Get discovered on Google Play search
support.google.com
- S16
Google Play Console: Store listing experiments
play.google.com
- S17
Steamworks: Visibility on Steam
partner.steamgames.com
- S18
Steamworks: Steam Next Fest
partner.steamgames.com
- S19
SteamDB: Steam game releases by year
steamdb.info
- S21
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
kdp.amazon.com
- S22
Amazon KDP: Categories
kdp.amazon.com
Reviews, marketplaces and developer platforms
Sources for software reviews, GitHub, browser extensions, WordPress plugins and digital-product marketplaces.
- S30
- S31
Capterra: Find the right software
capterra.com
- S32
AlternativeTo: Software alternatives
alternativeto.net
- S33
GitHub: About
github.com
- S34
Chrome Web Store: Publish an extension
developer.chrome.com
- S43
Gumroad
gumroad.com
- S44
Gumroad Help Center
help.gumroad.com
- S45
Payhip
payhip.com
- S46
Lemon Squeezy
lemonsqueezy.com
- S47
Ko-fi Shop
ko-fi.com
- S48
Creative Market
creativemarket.com
- S49
Envato Market / ThemeForest
themeforest.net
- S50
Mozilla Extension Workshop: Publish
extensionworkshop.com
- S51
Microsoft Edge Add-ons: Publish an extension
learn.microsoft.com
- S52
WordPress Plugin Developer Handbook
developer.wordpress.org
Advertising, email and market research
Benchmarks, campaign guidance and supporting data about search ads, social ads, email and global web traffic.
- S1
Semrush: Most visited websites worldwide
semrush.com
- S6
Ahrefs: Search traffic study
ahrefs.com
- S35
WordStream: PPC benchmarks
wordstream.com
- S36
Google Ads Help: Create a Search campaign
support.google.com
- S37
TikTok for Business: How TikTok Ads work
ads.tiktok.com
- S38
Meta: Ads Manager
facebook.com
- S39
Mailchimp: Email marketing benchmarks
mailchimp.com
- S42
TrafficChaser: Traffic channel library
trafficchaser.com