Ghost referrals are real, and
one may have encountered them without even realizing it. They may seem like
good and profitable traffic, but the reality is that there is no traffic at
all. Worse yet is that the traffic distorts the Google Analytics reports. There
is no concrete list of all spammy domains as they keep evolving. As they
continue to grow, they change their tactics, structure, and technology used. It
is the reason why there is no reliable solution to the menace.
The following guide provided by
Michael Brown, the Customer Success Manager of Semalt, should eliminate
a majority of these threats.
Removing
Spam Referrals from Google Analytics
There are different ways
through which user can accomplish the task:
·
Using Google Tag Manager
·
Google Analytics filters
·
Browser cookies
#1
Back Everything Up
Data contained in a system is
critical. If one is to deal with anything that has the potential to change its
structure such as malware, Trojans, or viruses. It is therefore important to
back it up first before anything else. There are many ways to back up Analytics
to ensure that the owner preserves all raw data.
#2
Using the Wrong Hostname Filter
Open Google Analytics, then
navigate to the Audience, and then select Network. Upon opening, select
Hostname to display all hostnames made available to the users wishing to visit
the site. It is not possible to run the Analytics script on another domain
other than yours. If the ghost referrer is visible, click on Admin, the right
column should present a select option for the right kind of view one wishes to
apply. Next, choose filters and opt for a new filter. Select custom filter type
and choose include. Next, file the regex that matches the identified hostname
with or without the www.
#3
Filtering Bad Referral Traffic
The first thing to do is to
filter traffic which happens away from the website's domain. However, if a
spambot makes its way to the site, first create a new filter by navigating to
filters, create a new custom filter. Select "referral" in the filter
field, and "long regex" in the filter pattern. Second, Analytics
offers a feature where users can filter out spiders and bots. Select
"Admin", click on "view", and under "view
settings", check the option titled "Botnet Filtering".
#4
Placing a Cookie to Filter Spam Referrals
The solutions raised so far are
not long-lasting due to the increasing number of spam bots daily. Here is one
principle that should work for the site:
·
Spam bots do not have browsers.
·
Place a cookie on the visitor's browser.
·
Read the cookie into Google Tag Manager and
include it in analytics.
·
Google Analytics will only consider visitors
with the cookie.
The site owner can set up
cookies on the visitor's browser using two ways. The first is to fire tag in
Tag manager or to manually add the cookie using the code snippet "after
</body> tag" at the foot of the browser. Google Analytics may not
find the Tag Manager' cookie which is why the latter is the best.
On the "Admin" tab,
select "custom definitions and dimensions." Create the cookie
dev-status. Now, read the value of the cookie by going to variables, and
clicking on new. When done with this, head to GTM, and under the custom setting
dimensions, insert the new index and variable dev-status just created. The
final step is to ensure that Google Analytics only recognizes traffic with a
cookie. Create a new filter with the parameters encompassing the cookie
definitions.
Hi. I’m Designer of Blog Magic. I’m CEO/Founder of ThemeXpose. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.
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