Blocking non-U.S. traffic to fight referral spam?
-
I've been thinking about ways to deal with referral spam in Google Analytics. From what I can tell, most if not all of this is coming from outside the U.S. I'd love any insight into the following questions related to this issue:
For U.S. based local businesses, I'm wondering if we should just block all traffic from outside of the U.S. -would there be negative SEO factors if we use this approach?
Would it be better to just create GA segments to filter out this traffic, rather than actually blocking it?
Has anyone found success in using filters or segments in this way?
Is anyone seeing referral spam from within the U.S.?
Edit: I just came across this suggestion, that setting 2 filters (for invalid hostname and screen resolution) can solve most of the issue. Any insight on this alternative vs. my ideas above?? https://www.distilled.net/resources/quick-fix-for-referral-spam-in-google-analytics/
-
Hi Toby, if you mean that if this traffic has an influence on search ranking, it doesn't, in fact, google doesn't use any data from Google Analytics as a ranking factor. Here is an explanation from Matt Cutts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgBw9tbAQhU
And if you think about it, it makes sense since even a lot of people uses GA not everyone does so it wouldn't be fair.
-
-
Hi Ira,
Including only traffic from USA will stop many of the spammers but many will continue hitting you, as you can see in the screenshot I attached. I recommend you to try the solution a filter based on your hostnames.
This solution requires a little more time to set up, but it has **3 huge advantages, **and you won't have to exclude all the world except USA.
- You will stop the spam before it hits you, adding a filter for the referral after you see it will stop it, but by the time you apply it you will have already hits of the spam.
- You will need only ONE filter to stop all ghost spam, instead of creating various sets of filters.
- Lately, some of the spammers(e.g. free-social-buttons) have been hitting GA accounts with fake direct visits along with the referral, the filter for the referral won’t stop the direct visit, on the other hand. The Valid hostname filter will stop ALL ghost spam in any form whether it shows as a referral, keyword or direct visit.
This is what I've been using on my accounts for the last moths and I haven't received a single hit of ghost spam. Combining the valid hostname filter with a Campaign Source filter you will control the spam. Here is a detailed guide and more information about these solutions.
-
http://www.ohow.co/what-is-referrer-spam-how-stop-it-guide/
Hope it helps,
-
-
I have often wondered, does Google count these referrals as true traffic?
-
I'll let people with more accounts chime in on the management. I'm using this on just a couple of accounts right now, and keep an eye on my refers to see if anything new pops up.
-
Thanks Keri. How often do you you update things? Given that my company manages dozens of GA accounts, this can get pretty time consuming.
Is there any real benefit to filtering the traffic out vs. just using segments to keep it out of reports? With segments, all that is needed is to keep a custom segment updated that can be shared across all GA accounts, so I'm thinking that would be a lot more efficient.
-
I block based on hostname, and that's worked for me. There's a good post at http://www.analyticsedge.com/2014/12/removing-referral-spam-google-analytics/ with several options.
Edited to add: always keep a profile that has NO filters or anything else, just in case you accidentally end up blocking valid data.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How to go about SEO when the content on all the pages is in a regional language (with its own script which is non-roman) but majority of searches are in the same language but roman script?
For example, the entire content is in an Indian language called Gujarati and the script is also Gujarati. However, when I did a keyword research, I found that majority of the searches are in Gujarati langugage by roman script e.g. "gujarati sahitya" meaning Gujarati literature. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Local SEO | | Tumul0 -
What's the best way to create keyword tracking lists for local SEO?
I have a question for the local SEO crowd: when it comes to creating keyword tracking lists, what are your best practices in reference to tracking from a set location? Do you typically create national keyword lists that include the location operator in each term or are you better creating a list of locally-tracked keywords around a business' location and dropping the location operator from the keyword? Or some combination of the two? To clarify, if I had an example business of a realtor in Chatham, MA, would I want to track -"realtor in chatham ma" (national)
Local SEO | | formandfunctionagency
-"realtor in chatham ma" (with the location set to Chatham, MA)
-"realtor" (with the location set to Chatham, MA) Or some combination of all of the above? Right now, I track waaaay too many keyword variants on my local campaigns! Hoping there's a better way from some more-seasoned Moz users. Thanks in advance!2 -
From traction to non existent! What happened to my Photography site and what can I do to fix it?
Aloha guys, To start as I always do with the (awesome) Moz community I wanted to say thanks for the insight! This has to be one of the best online communities and help resource with great positive and concise help that really makes a difference, so many thanks everyone! PS I also do my best to relay what I learn here to fellow business owners and point them to SEO boosting avenues to help support the community as much as possible. Anyways... **My Photo website ** **Current top wedding website (I do enjoy her work!!!) ** Attached below is a link to some stats/graphs! The Problem! After the recent Google update last month I've had a drop in my site visibility from 5.8% and some change to now .7% of search volume.. Painful for my photo & video business here on Kauai to say the least. A few images are attached, is there also any correlations you guys can see or think may help to get my site up to the first page? I know we deliver some of the very best work here on the island and deliver great service too, its a bummer that we cant do more for folks visiting here that dont even know we exist! The question! Do you guys have any ideas on what can be done to get my page to gaining organic traction and doing great again? My goal is to have our business rank for Kauai Wedding Videographer, Kauai Wedding Photographer, and Kauai Family Photographer! My moz dashboard is still saying we're on the way for that but that my search visibility is way way down. Any clarity or ideas are greatly appreciated you guys! I would love to relay this to the wedding community as well! Warmest aloha from Kauai everybody and have a great day! NjELT NjELT
Local SEO | | Trey30 -
If I kill off the franchisee websites and create a corp SEO monster...will my Company's SEO suffer? Pros and Cons?
Our 25 franchisees sell one product of our 7 within the Corporate porfolio. We getting ready to release a brand new corp website employing all the best possible SEO practices. Since the franchisee's barely maintain their 3-page website...we are thinking of killing them off. We will create some market pages on the Corp side and continue to use HubSpot to pass along leads to the individual franchisees. Corporate has robust Content Marketing strategy in place. Any suggestions? Cases studies?
Local SEO | | Joseph.Lusso0 -
Does having 3 city's in my Title Tag help or hurt me?
Hello!! I have a health insurance agency located in a small city. I need to reach more area's, and I'm wondering if adding a couple more cities to the Title Tag actually helps? Or should I go the other route and try achieving it with location landing pages? I've seen other websites do it, but I'm hesitant. Any advice welcome 🙂 The site is http://wilkersoninsuranceagency.com/ in Coppell, Tx It currently ranks 3rd on Google. Thank you in advance!! 🙂 xx
Local SEO | | MissThumann0 -
Community Discussion: Miriam's 2017 Local SEO Predictions ... And Yours?
I want to start this thread by thanking everyone in our community who has started and contributed to great threads this past year. You guys are an inspiration! I want to offer up a few predictions for the Local SEO industry in 2017 and ask you to contribute your own: Attribution will be big in 2017. Google will roll out a more thorough set of attributes in the GMB dashboard as we move forward through the new year. We'll see further rollout out of paid packs in service industries in which Google can play the middle man role. Free-packs won't be gone by the end of the year, but there will be fewer of them. Even SMB local businesses will have to start to tackle the ramifications of voice search. Local SEO will continue to merge with traditional, offline marketing. Local business websites will still matter, but Google will continue to do all it can to keep users within layers of its own local product, and some people will find this maze a bit bewildering. Reviews will finally be recognized as an integral facet of citations, rather than as something separate from them. Now, please, look into your own crystal ball and share your predictions with the community. What are your predictions for Local SEO in 2017? I'd love to know. And, while I'm at it, please let me wish each of you a busy and profitable new year in our exciting industry!
Local SEO | | MiriamEllis4 -
How should i Get Max Traffic To my website
Hello Dear Moz friends, I am New to This Forum, I just Want to ask How should I get maximum traffic to My website??
Local SEO | | falguniwpi
As i Have done All The things Correct, But i am Not getting Good traffic To my website, Posted on Forums, regular facebook posting, G+, But Still i am Not Getting good visitors to my website. Please Suggest me some Good Traffic Generation Sources, Thank you0 -
Facebook ad to drive traffic to weight loss newsletter landing page - tips
Hello, I'm making a facebook ad to go to this page. Criteria: Lives in Boise Idaho, likes weight loss, diet tips, etc. 35-55 yrs old, women What tips do you have? Thanks.
Local SEO | | BobGW0