1. If my analytics say I’m getting referred from just “http://itch.io”, is that definitely the front page? Or do other sources on the site show up like that?

Based on what I’ve seen from analytics, I suspect it’s not strictly only from the front page. I’ve gotten views from more specific pages, like tag searches, but possibly http://itch.io might be an umbrella url.

1. I posted a “Major Update” over a week ago for https://unclealias.itch.io/bird-panic and it hasn’t shown up in searches for “last 7 days”. Do Major Updates bump your position in those searches?

After posting a Major Update, it has to be manually reviewed by an admin. If approved, it bumps up your game in a similar way to publishing a new game. Although this can take some time, I think it should be done within a week. Did you get some extra views this past week?

1. If you only do small updates, can you still declare one of them a major update?

There is a gray area on small updates vs major updates. The idea is, if you do routine bugfixes, or add a small new feature, it should be a small update. If you did big changes, that changed how the game looks/behaves in a big scale, to the point that a user that has seen the game before and didn’t play it but might change their mind now, then it should be a major update.

The reason major updates are approved manually, is to prevent abuse and “gaming the system”. Someone making daily major updates that add little to the game, just to be bumped on new searches, is one example where it’s misused.