Semalt Expert Unveils The Guide On How To Get Rid Of Spam In Google Analytics

23.05.2018

Semalt Expert Unveils The Guide On How To Get Rid Of Spam In Google Analytics

Referrer spam is considered to be the fake referral traf c as recorded in the Google Analytics report. It is fake because it is not created by actual people but by spam bots. A bot is a crawler program developed to generate repetitive activity. Therefore, those designed to create spam messages are called spam bots. They mostly use referral heads which have hidden URLs that redirect users to the site which Google bot then treats as a backlink which bene ts the spammer alone as it boosts their search rankings.

The Senior Customer Success Manager of Semalt, Artem Abgarian, explains how to combat these dangerous spamming attacks.

Good Bots Versus Bad Bots Good bots are constructive while the bad bots have destructive tendencies.

Good Bots. Their purpose is to go through as much information as they can, and report back with useable reports which help users. It makes them good bots. Googlebot is a good bot used to crawl through websites https://rankexperience.com/articles/article1325.html

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and crawl content Bad Bots. These are any bots with malicious intent.

Data Integrity. It does not matter the nature of a bot. If it possesses the capability to execute JavaScript, then it has the potential to create skewed reports in Google Analytics.

Botnet. These are a series of interconnected computers, all of which are infected. They are used by an attacker to gain illegal entry into a user's computer because they use the hundreds of the website addresses at their disposal.

Suspicious Referrals Already, we provide evidence of how referral spam and spambots harvest email addresses and skew analytic reports. Nevertheless, their nefarious intent can be more damaging, especially if the developer wishes to infect the website with malware, Trojans, or viruses. In other instances, they may make the computer part of a botnet. Experts advise to never click on suspicious websites as hackers use them to hide malware. If the computer becomes part of a botnet, hackers can use it to send spam or malware to the people on the contact list. It means that blocking the entire botnet series may limit other real users since the hacker forces them into a botnet network.

Vulnerable Websites Only the susceptible sites get attacked by spambots. For users to shield themselves from exploitation, they need to get rid of their websites.

Mostly, cheap shared hosting systems, and custom shopping carts are the most likely victims.

Getting Rid of Spam The following is a list of things users can do to get rid of spam: Look for all referral links with 100% or 0% bounce rates with more than ten sessions. Always con rm their identity on the internet. If they are spam referrals, use the custom advanced lter.

Block the referrer from spambots using the .htaccess le and adding code to block the address.

Block the IP address used by the Spambots by adding the IP address utilized by the hacker.

One can use a range of IP addresses which takes up less space than individual blocking.

Block the rogue user agents Use the Google Analytics lter feature https://rankexperience.com/articles/article1325.html

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Enable the computer's rewall which puts a lter between the user's computer and the internet.

If there is a threat from a new bot, always contact the administrator.

Use Google Chrome as the default browser as it detects malware faster than others.

Custom alerts in Google Analytics also help to determine when there is a spike in activity.

Acquire penetration testing whereby they analyze the website for any vulnerabilities.

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