Is there a way to apply the same google analytics filter to multiple properties?
-
I manage WordPress multiple sites for my clients. Some of these clients are SEO customers. One issue I have with the analytics reports is the occurrence of spam and ghost spam. I know how to create filters to block however there are always more and more. Is there away to export the filter and import it to all the other properties i manage? Or do they just have to be done manually every time i need to block spam?
-
In addition to the include filter that Carlos has explained, I also use the spamreferrerblock plugin for Wordpress sites. The two together have vastly improved reporting accuracies for sites I monitor.
-
Hi Malleablebyte,
I do understand that it only covers the problem, however i do need the problem covered! I have to show this data to clients and it cannot be misleading as far as organic and social markers are concerned.
Thanks.
-
Hi Donald,
I think I should mention to you that the solution that you are applying to GA are not really solving the traffic spam problem. Rather, all that you are doing is hiding the spam data. After applying the solution, the spamming will continue to happen except that now you wouldn't see it anymore. It works great for (Google) ghost spam but there are many more types of web traffic spam that you will happily ignore thinking that all is fine now...
Thanks Carlos for mentioning MB (malleablebyte.org). We are a bunch of researchers trying to really solve the web traffic spam problem. Referral spam is merely a subset of web traffic spam. Web traffic spam is evolving and in some instances botnets are used to do web traffic spamming but these data doesn't really show up on your GA. They look like human visitors but are really bots either harvesting data from your site or making money with referral spamming.
Our hope is to bring awareness to this problem and help people avoid the false impression that the current techniques are adequately solving the problem. MB is our effort to collect data for research and experiment with possible solutions. MB is more advanced than mere filters, it includes machine learning and predictive algorithms that we hope can make a real difference.
-
To apply the filters to different properties in the same account:
- Go to the Admin tab > Select the account from the dropdown (first column)
- Select All filters
- Choose the filter you want to apply
- Go to Apply filters to views at the bottom of the Edit Filter page
- And move all the views from the properties you want to apply the filter
"Apply filters to views"
-
Thanks Carlos,
My filters would be on the same account. Can you direct me to instructions on how to pass those filters?
-
Thanks Carlos! The **ONE filter that only includes real hostnames **works like a charm. That spam traffic is really getting bad lately.
-
Hi Donald,
The only way to pass filters between properties is if they are on the same account, I'm afraid that is not possible to share filters, for historical data you can do it with segments though.
There are a couple of web services that will add the filters automatically for you.
They are good help, but there are 3 inconvenients:
- You need to grant access to your account, although I think they are trustful.
- Most likely you will have hits from the spam, by the time they add the spammer to the list, the same happens when you add filters manually after you spot the spammer.
- Lately spam has been hitting with fake direct visits and these won't be excluded with those filters
The best solution for ghost spam for now(the one I've been using for months), is instead of excluding fake traffic you should include real, this can be done using 1 of the main characteristics of ghost spam the hostname.
If you check your list of referral spam, you will notice that the use either a fake hostname or is not set. Based on this you can create ONE filter that only includes real hostnames, and all ghost spam no matter if it is referral, keyword, page or direct visit will be excluded.
You will still have to create it for all the accounts, but you won't have to create a filter every time, and most importantly you won't receive hits at all from ghost spam.
You can find a detailed guide on how to set up this filter in this article
Hope it helps,
Carlos
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
-
Google Analytics Numbers Are Weird
Hi, I'm having a strange problem from past one month. My website gets about 10k pageviews a month with an average bounce rate of 50%. Lately, I observed a strange thing. The avg time on page of visitors from selected countries is less than 1 second and the bounce rate is zero!! How is this possible? This is happening from past one month and it would be really helpful if you guys could tell me what exactly is happening?? Ive attached a screenshot for better understanding. website url : https://www.specbee.com/ fIAXXgF 3zQuBAN
Reporting & Analytics | | ganesh10 -
I have conflicting user flow and bounce rates Google Analytics
Has anyone come across this or know how to read this data. In my site content landing page report I have 141 sessions at 0.71% bounce rate = 1 session But then in user flow I have the same page with 123 sessions with a drop off of 117 sessions???
Reporting & Analytics | | Lucas_SOS0 -
Google Analytics View Filters
Using the same GA property, I would like to set up three filtered views: 1. Tracking across one subdomain and one primary domain (example: shop.example.com & example.com) 2. Track only primary domain (example.com) 3. Track only subdomain (shop.example.com) Can this be achieved by using view filters? If so, how do they need to be set? Also, according to this article: https://moz.com/blog/cross-domain-subdomain-tracking-in-google-analytics, with cross domain tracking, I need to ignore self-referrals, which can only be done at the property level. If set up to ignore example.com referrals, will this cause problems with filter 2 and 3?
Reporting & Analytics | | Evan340 -
Funnel Problem in Google Analytics - Please help
Hello, I did set up a several funnel steps in my analytics account to get the funnel visualization report. But it's look fishy, something's clearly wrong that it shows only 10 visitors at the first step but actually more than 5k visitors has visited first goal page and followed through the another all steps. Everyday we are receiving 5k to 10k goal conversions but it not showing in the entire funnel steps through first step to last step. Please see the attached screenshot URL for funnel setup (Admin) and funnel visualization report comparing last two months traffic. Total goal conversions received 3,605 in last two months but in funnel chart (report) it showing only 2% conversions in last step. Anybody can tell me what is the problem with that or analytics not tracking properly?si65Y
Reporting & Analytics | | flightcentre200 -
Conflicting numbers in Google Analytics
I am getting 2 completely different numbers in Google Analytics.According to the graph on my Dashboard organic traffic decreased ~40% comparing June 7 -> June 6.However, when I dig a bit deeper and look at the 2 dates specifically compared to each other I get a `3% increase in traffic.When I look at the traffic on just June 7, I get the number indicating the increase.Any ideas or someone getting similar conflicting numbers??
Reporting & Analytics | | theLotter0 -
Referral Traffic vs. Campaign Traffic in Google Analytics
I have two sites: a blog and an ecommerce site. The blog funnels people to the ecommerce site. In Analytics I'm seeing declines in referral traffic from the blog to the ecommerce site. During the same time I'm seeing an increase in campaign traffic to the ecommerce site, with most campaign traffic coming from the blog. I believe the increase in campaign traffic is largely a result of simply having installed more tracking links. This leads me to believe that the declines I'm seeing in referral traffic is simply a result of the increase in campaign traffic. In other words, what was once counted and reported as being referral traffic is now being counted and reported as campaign traffic. So my question is this: In Google Analytics is campaign traffic ALSO reported as referral traffic, or is campaign traffic reported separately and not duplicated in referral traffic reports? I'll provide a concrete example to make this more clear in case it isn't: Say site X sends 1000 visits each month to site Y. Say 50 of those visits come from a single link on X. If that link is changed so that campaign Z data info added (via the Google URL Builder), would you expect to then see 950 referral visits each month from site X to site Y plus 50 campaign visits to site Y via new campaign Z, or would you continue to see 1000 referral visits plus the new 50 campaign visits? Many thanks in advance to anyone that can shed some light on this.
Reporting & Analytics | | aaronprimal0 -
Conversion via Paypal not showing order value in google analytics
Hello All, I have an e commerce site, when goal conversion happens by CC(credit card) I can see order value in e commerce tab in Google analytics but when conversion happens through paypal I always see order value zero. I want see order value for Pay pal also.Please help me out. Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | Alick3000 -
Omniture vs Google Analytics
What's your opinion on analytics tools? Specifically Omniture vs Google Analytics. Is Omniture really that much more powerful than GA? Have you used GA Premium, the enterprise package? My main question - Can GA (free or premium) do everything that Omniture can? If GA Premium and Omniture were the same price, which would you choose? Is one harder to implement, pull reports, tweak, ect? Thanks in advance.
Reporting & Analytics | | akim260