As someone who manages a website, I empathize with the annoyance of dealing with spam on Google Analytics. It can distort your data, making it challenging to properly evaluate your website’s progress. In my experience, I have tested different approaches to sift out spam on Google Analytics and have discovered some useful techniques that I will discuss in this article.
Introduction to Google Analytics Spam
Google Analytics spam, also known as referrer spam or ghost spam, is a technique used by spammers to generate fake website traffic. This spam appears in your Google Analytics reports, making it challenging to distinguish between real and fake traffic sources.
When spam infiltrates your Google Analytics reports, it can impact various metrics such as sessions, bounce rate, and conversion rate. These distorted numbers can mislead your analysis and decision-making process. Therefore, it’s crucial to take steps to filter out this unwanted spam and ensure the accuracy of your data.
Identifying Spam in Google Analytics
Before we dive into the filtering techniques, it’s essential to be able to identify spam in your Google Analytics reports. One way to identify spam is by examining the source/medium data in your acquisition reports. Look for unusual sources or referral websites that you don’t recognize. Spam traffic often comes from domains that are unrelated to your website’s niche or industry.
Another method is to analyze the referral path. If you notice suspicious URLs with a high number of sessions but no engagement or conversions, it’s likely that they are spam. These spam URLs often contain strange patterns or random alphanumeric strings.
Filtering Spam in Google Analytics
Now that you can identify spam in your Google Analytics reports, let’s explore some effective techniques to filter it out:
1. Create a Spam Filter
One of the most straightforward ways to filter out spam is by creating a filter in Google Analytics. Go to the Admin section of your Analytics account, select the View you want to apply the filter to, and navigate to the Filters tab. Click on the “+ New Filter” button.
Give your filter a name, such as “Referrer Spam Filter.” Under the Filter Type, select “Custom” and choose “Campaign Source” from the Filter Field dropdown. In the Filter Pattern field, enter the spam source you want to exclude, for example, “spamdomain.com”. Save the filter, and it will block the specified spam source from appearing in your reports.
2. Exclude Known Spammers
Another effective method is to exclude known spammers by creating an exclusion list. You can find community-driven exclusion lists online that are regularly updated by experts in the industry. These lists contain known spam sources that you can add to your exclusion list in Google Analytics.
To create an exclusion list, go to the Admin section and select the View you want to apply the list to. Under the View column, click on “View Settings.” Scroll down to the “Bot Filtering” section and check the box that says “Exclude all hits from known bots and spiders.” This will help filter out traffic from known spam sources.
3. Implement Valid Hostname Filter
In some cases, spammers bypass the usual filters by sending direct hits to your Google Analytics tracking code. To tackle this, you can create a Valid Hostname filter to include only the traffic from your actual website domain.
In your Google Analytics Admin section, go to the View you want to apply the filter to and select “Filters.” Click on “+ Add Filter” and give it a name, such as “Valid Hostname Filter.” Under the Filter Type, select “Custom” and choose “Hostname” from the Filter Field dropdown. Enter your valid hostname, such as “yourwebsite.com”. Save the filter, and it will only include traffic from the specified hostname.
Conclusion
Filtering out spam in Google Analytics is essential to ensure accurate data analysis. By following the techniques mentioned above, you can effectively clean up your reports and focus on genuine website traffic. Remember to regularly monitor your reports and update your filters as new spam sources emerge.
While filtering out spam can be time-consuming, it is worth the effort to ensure the integrity of your data. By eliminating spam from your reports, you can make more informed decisions and gain a clearer understanding of your website’s performance.