Semalt Provides Tips On How To Handle Google Analytics Referrer Spam

23.05.2018

Semalt Provides Tips On How To Handle Google Analytics Referrer Spam

Generally, Google analytics referrer spam is spam that occurs when hackers try to send data to your Google Analytics account by using the Google analytics data collection API commonly referred to as the measurement protocol. In the real sense, this is not actual traf c to your website. They, however, are fake traf c requests sent to your site by a bot of some kind and like it or not, they will show up in your referrals.

Michael Brown, the Customer Success Manager of Semalt, states that it isn't the reason for despair. First of all, you need to know that your site is not being purposefully targeted. The hackers are just creating fake IDs and sending you fake traf c requests. It is nothing personal but can be quite annoying.

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23.05.2018

Google has come up with an initiative to help with the issue. All you have to do is go to your view settings at the administrator interface, scroll down to Bot ltering and check the option, 'Exclude all hits from known bots and spiders.' This is not a long term solution, however since fake referrals will pop up every single day.

Another solution you can try out is

lters with the intent of

excluding referrers. This involves you going to the admin section, and then going to Filters. Here you can set up a lter referred to as a referrer based exclusion lter. This is achieved by clicking Add lter, selecting the Custom type, and then typing the referrer domain names on the lter pattern section.

However, even if you can fully load your site with exclusion lters, the moment a new referrer domain shows up, you will have to generate new exclusions and delete their old ones. Also, you may be overwhelmed with the number of lters that you have to manage.

This begs the question, can I automate lters? The answer is yes, you can go that route. A good example of such a service is the Referrer Spam Blocker. It is a great service as it connects their platform to your Google Analytics account, then chooses the view you want your site to be protected against. They consequentially add exclusion lters to your views.

As much as this is an attractive solution, you cannot use it for most enterprise clients as they have strict rules on how their SaaS services can be accessed by third parties. As at the moment, this is a free service, but eventually, they are bound to fall victim to their success and implement a model for pricing, which may not be in the interests of your client.

Nonetheless, ltering will only get so far, and automated services tend not to be reliable in the long run. This leaves data collection keys. With this option, your data is ltered, and Google analytics will only retain traf cs that meets your custom dimensions. It is a unique method that will not get affected by spammers. Also, it is secure and reliable, without requiring any technical knowledge to set it up. This makes it the best option for your Google Analytics account.

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