Semalt: Awesome Tricks You Can Do To Exclude Referral Spam

23.05.2018

Semalt: Awesome Tricks You Can Do To Exclude Referral Spam

Internet users nd it frustrating while trying to gure out why the analytics data displays inaccurate bounce rates, drop in conversion rate or sudden spikes in traf c. Apart from execution challenges, referral spam (also known as ghost traf c or referrer) is the most lead cause of inaccurate data for Google Analytics users. Moreover, ghost spam is constantly increasing in both reach and volume, and it cannot be stopped by any means.

Users can, however, block referral spam from showing in data analytics and hence regain the required data integrity to report on performance, make informed marketing decisions and gather insights. The use of a "simple" lter is enough to get rid of almost all referral spam in a Google Analytics pro le.

In the article, Igor Gamanenko, the Semalt Customer Success Manager, explains the meaning of Referral Spam before tackling real solutions of eliminating this virus.

What is 'ghost tra c' or 'referral spam' Ghost traf c is recorded when a site's traf c is acquired from another web, often, a hyperlink that a visitor clicks.

Spammers and hackers attempt to track false traf c in a Google Analytics pro le to catch the attention of a user causing them to visit a website or a page with fake traf c, usually to install malware or sell a product. To accomplish https://rankexperience.com/articles/article1312.html

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this, fraudsters record a site's traf c as a ghost so that they can insert "referral" URL and domain for their target site or page into a Google Analytics pro le for a user to see. Moreover, spammers can also create false entries or implement fake events on other page-reliant dimensions, for instance, language. In these occasions, referral traf c is the most accurate term.

The working of referral spam There are several ways that spammers use to record fake traf c on a website. The simplest technique entails the use of Google Analytics property ID. It signi cant for users to understand that spammers do not target a speci c website. Usually, they have no idea of the victims or their locations. Therefore, analytics ID simpli es spammers' job to cheat the system. The fraudsters then create web servers for running analytics javascript on websites hosted within their own web environment. It involves creating an empty site containing the analytics code and insert a URL they wish the user to see. Moreover, some fraudsters can crawl and index the ID code from real websites for saving on the server space.

The referral spam lter Users commit some mistakes while trying to minimize or eliminate ghost traf c and referral spam. Many people use several tactics and methods in addressing the issue. However, it is possible to target the ghost spam in one hit by understanding that fake traf c appears on a site using a fake hostname or no hostname at all. Thus, any traf c that is not valid for a website can be excluded. In this regard, any hostname that does not match valid domain for some web properties where Google Analytics code is installed can be excluded by the use of a hostname lter.

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