Where are these "phantom visitors" and are they dangerous?
-
My Google Analytics always shows visitors on my site that do not show up with a location. They are always shown as being referred from "ads.google.com". Our service is exclusively domestic in the U.S., yet my user location map will show 1 domestic visitor, but 19 total visitors. PLease see attached linked image. Is there some sort of malware that is being exploited on my pages somewhere that these people are accessing? Is there some way of blocking them from my site? Should I? Aren't they skewing my Google Analytics results? Are they potentially dangerous? Thanks in advance for all replies.
-
Yep, I agree with Martijn Scheijbeler, I'm marking this question as "Answered" but not closing it so you can continue to discuss if needed
-
In Real-time reports, Google Analytics will not always be able to pinpoint the location (and in this case, it could be that the users aren't domestic, but that's hard to guess from just that screenshot). I would go into your Google Analytics account: Audience > Geo and look at the country/region reports in there to see where your traffic is coming from.
I wouldn't block any of these users from your site, in the end, the only thing they could hurt at massive volume is site speed. But I doubt that's an issue for you if you're at 19 visitors in real-time. Overall, there shouldn't be any dangers, and even if this data is not correct, you can always apply an Advanced Segment in Google Analytics to exclude these users if needed.
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
-
Is it possible to know if visitor arrived at the web page via organic search and if so, show some content?
Hello, Is it possible to know if visitors are arriving at a web page via organic search? Background: We have a section of job description pages to explain typical tasks. These have very high bounce rate (some 100%), and I think people are confusing them with actual jobs. For example "stage designer". Many of those keyword we have very high rankings. I am thinking of having a small notice at the top of those page to say something like "if you are stage designer job, check out our job section". Thanks
Search Behavior | | CreativeChoices0 -
Would it be worthwhile to update URLs to include "for sale"
My team is new to the world of SEO. We were both in other departments when our last "expert" left and we became the entire department. Needless to say, we have many questions. I have a site for an existing customer - she wants to know if it is a good idea to change her URLs. She went to a webinar that suggested she include "for sale" in URL, since that is the site's primary purpose These are the current inventory URLs: http://www.dealerskinssite.com/used-inventory http://www.dealerskinssite.com/new-inventory The change would give something like: http://www.dealerskinssite.com/used-cars-for-sale
Search Behavior | | DealerskinsSearch
http://www.dealerskinssite.com/new-cars-for-sale I did some searching and could not find a solid recommendation one way or another. If it is true that people typically search for "used cars for sale" rather than a "used inventory", then there might be benefit to including that as part of the URL... but that is as far as my knowledge got me. Please let me know your thoughts Steve0 -
Can you track "Add to home screen" for ios devices?
I was curious to know if there was a way to track in analytics users "adding to home screen" on ios devices. With the new ios map not receiving so much love and google maps "web app" process getting more attention, I feel knowing this stat would help us decide if we really need a native app or not. Our customers don't normally return within the year and when they do its about 2-3 (normally on a desk top), To us it does not completely justify the idea of making a native app with the world being so app heavy now a days. Any thoughts are always appreciated.
Search Behavior | | sknott0 -
Would like to test other words besides "subscribe"
I have a newsletter button on my website that states "subscribe now". I am wondering if there are better words than the word subscribe since people are so numb to that word now. Anyone ever measure or A/B test different words?
Search Behavior | | StreetwiseReports0 -
Google Rel="Next" & Rel="Prev"
Hello, I have a catalogue website and I am implementing the rel="next" and rel="prev" to the website. My question is that we do have a view all page also, which apparently Google likes over a 'page1'.. Should I add the canonical to this page? I already have it set to WEBSITEURL/sonos (which is going well) I don’t want to have to change this to [URL]sonos/view-all (which is my view all link) as the first page is getting ranked well I am then telling Google no, the view all page is the parent. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks Rick
Search Behavior | | Lantec0 -
"Near" perfect Keyword domain matches - Which would you choose?
Hi, I was wondering on your thoughts, or if any tests had been done on the best format of "near" perfect keyword domain matches. Suppose I am not really interested in branding, and I am principally after the bonus given to exact keyword matching, but all the exact match high level extensions have gone - whats the next best solution? Suppose I am after the term "car hire", and on my website I want to target many different location keywords such as - "Car Hire London" My main extensions are gone, but I have the options to go for:: Additional Word at the FRONT:
Search Behavior | | James77
Number - eg 4:
4carhire.co.uk -> gives me -> 4carhire.co.uk/london/
Geo association - eg uk:
ukcarhire.co.uk -> gives me -> ukcarhire.co.uk/london/
Info term - eg compare:
comparecarhire.co.uk -> gives me -> comparecarhire.co.uk/london/ Additional Word at the END: Number - eg 4:
carhire4.co.uk -> gives me -> carhire4.co.uk/london/
Geo association - eg uk:
carhireuk.co.uk -> gives me -> carhireuk.co.uk/london/
Info term - eg compare:
carhirecompare.co.uk -> gives me -> carhirecompare.co.uk/london/ Which of the domains would be best to benifit when a term like "Car Hire London" is typed in ?? If you were to choose a domain which would you go for and why?0 -
Does a .com stop a UK visitor?
Hi, If a E-commerce website based in the UK (and selling products only to the UK) have a .com domain will this stop UK visitors? I kind of getting the feeling some potential visitors might not visit because they feel the website is not UK based because they see the .com. Anyone else had any experience with this?
Search Behavior | | activitysuper1 -
"If a company has multiple practice areas, are there any advantages to having specialized local listings for each specific practice area?"
Hello Staff of SEOMoz! I just had a question regarding specialized local listings. Are there any advantages to having specialized local listings? (An example would be if we were a medical company, having a listing for family practice, one listing for women's health) If there are advantages, what are those advantages compared to having general medical listings? Thanks!
Search Behavior | | sixspokemedia0