What is Semalt?

[DimasoftTeam]

I have noticed Semalt appearing on my traffic stats for several clients. I have had a look online and there doesn't seem to be a great deal of information. Is this ssomethingto be worried about. Apart from anything else, it is affecting my data.

[BearGuru]

Recently I had to use them & I regret using them. Even if you do trial plan they will remove all backlinks they helped built and render somene alone.

I blog viaMusic latest portal

[Harrison78]

I noticed my traffic went up fast from unknown source, should I be worried?

[Krapulax777]

Glad I checked in here..Almost subscribed to their service. I wanted to have my website SEO done with them. But now I have to find something else. If anyone knows a good agency that is not too expensive, but also good, I would appreciate it.

[042box234]

I do not trust them if you do mistake to purchase their plan. Once you don’t have money to renew your package with them they will start removing all the backlinks they built for you one after the other till your website is empty and they will keep your bounce rate.

I have used them plenty of time and I regret using them. Even if you do trial plan and didn’t do main plan they will remove all what they built.

I blog viaNaija latest music

[Sernukers]

I have a new website (https://sernukers.com/) and there is only 1  article published. I saw some traffic from different countries for last few days. Yesterday I checked my email I find an email from semalt. Should I reply to them or ignore ??

[BBuck]

Here is more info on them:  http://www.slideshare.net/MyLocalBusinessOnline/how-to-block-semalt-crawler-and-clean-up-your-analytics

[BBuck]

Great. Let us know what happens.

[firecatsue]

On this page of the Semalt site, they offer a form to remove sites from their crawler list, promising removal within 30 minutes.

http://semalt.com/project_crawler.php

I just removed one of our sites as a test - because they're showing up as our #2 referrer. I don't recommend using the above link and know no more than the page says - just sharing info.

[BBuck]

I added code to block them from accessing the site. Is my assumption correct? That they essentially click on the site, then becuase they don't actually view the site, it causes the bounce rates to skyrocket? That's what the GA shows. So, won't google at some point, downgrade the site in the SERPS due to high bounce rates? Or am I not understanding that correctly?

[TerabitJoe]

Hello Buck,

How would you block them? You mean removing their data from GA? Or truly blocking their bots?

[BBuck]

I just noticed this in my GA. They are dramatically increasing my bounce rates!!! Blocking now!

[Chris661]

Also seeing hits from these guys. 9 so far today from Viet Nam, Brazil, India, Turkey and Colombia.

Very annoying. I sent a note to Alex@Semalt.com requesting they remove me from their crawlers. I guess the consensus is they are harmless from what I have read on the web, but it messes up your analytics.

[GPainter]

I wouldn't worry about them. In theory they track your serp placement but they do a bad job of it. I suspect the get a link and then people pay for a trail to see what its all about and thus they make money.

It shouldn't be affecting your traffic in anyway. Ignore it for now and they will go away.

In short- Semalt tracks serp placement If you're worried you can look here-

http://logorrhoea.net/2014/01/how-to-block-semalt-com-referrer-traffic-using-htaccess/