How do I set a filter in Google Analytics?
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I want to filter out direct traffic from the service provider msn. For some reason they are crawling our traffic and its throwing off my data. So I want to exclude direct, but only from msn. Would I set my first filter for direct then msn or vice versa?
Thanks
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Hi there, did that work? We'd love to have an update, thanks!
Christy
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Aren't segments different than filters? I am not seeing the area you are talking about.
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I setup a filter like they showed, now I will wait to see if it works. Have you ever seen this much constant traffic week after week from Microsoft?
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Hi, An advanced segment is good but then that means you will have a sampled report unless you have GA premium. A filter will let you remove the problem going forward and you will have to use an avanced segment for historic data. There is a blog on how to do it: http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2013/09/05/filter-bots-google-analytics.
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Click near the header where it says "All visits" to open the advanced segments. You need to create a new segment. Under Advanced > Conditions, change the default condition to Exclude Service Provider exactly matches microsoft corp.
And that should do it!
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Advanced looks like the way to go but I have never done that before. What do I need to place in the field, extract, output boxes for this?
Thanks
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The service provider is showing up as microsoft corp, with the domain as msn.com.
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Is the service provider showing up as "msn" in the Audience > Technology > Network report? If so, you can try setting up an advanced segment for service provider excluding "msn", and see if that works for you.
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If it is showing as direct traffic you would have to filter out specific IP addresses. Direct traffic doesn't have a source to filter out.
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