website seo and web traffic?

[Jake]

Traffic data which search engines may get from 3rd parties some time after the fact is one of 100 ranking factors.
In a pure organic world, search engines would home that some of the visitors you are getting would voluntarily link to your site from theirs, as the ideal outcome from a visit.
Search engines are trying to move away from just counting back-links, paying more attention to authentic looking recommendations on social media, in articles, etc.