Stop spam from ruining your google analytics data

Stop spam from ruining your google analytics data

We’ve all been there. You notice your analytics stats look super high this week but are dismayed when you find out the traffic hits you got were just from semalt or another russian spambot.

What is Referrer Spam?

We all want our websites to be noticed. It makes us happy when other websites link to our articles. Referral spammers take advantage of this desire by sending fake referer URL with automated scripts to thousands of websites.

This URL then appears in your Google analytics or any other stats service you are using as referrers. Considering the fact that they affect millions of websites, it is likely that many users may want to explore these sites when they see them in their referral reports.

Referall spammers send fake referer URL’s with automated scripts to thousands of websites. This URL then appears on your Google Analytics dashboard, or possibly on your GA WordPress plugin dashboard. If you see the below or similar to the below, sadly you may have been hit with referral spam too.

Don’t Panic

As long as you don’t visit the referrer spam links, you should be relatively safe. It’s only when you click on those spam links that appear on your GA data that you are potentially at risk from these sites. This referral spam does however distort your Google Analytics data, so it’s best to fix this issue so you can get more accurate reporting.

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How to fix this issue

There are various WordPress plugins that exist that combat referral spam.
Our recommendation is the  “Custom Referral Spam Blocker” Plugin.

To download this visit: https://wordpress.org/plugins/custom-referral-spam-blocker/

It’s fairly straightforward and simple to setup and will prevent referral spam from trashing your Google Analytics data.

Still stuck or having issues?

Send us a message and we’ll be happy to help!