How To Filter Referral Spam In Google Analytics

When Is Google Going To Help With Google Analytics Spam

Referral spam is a problem that every website owner faces when using Google Analytics. This type of spam is characterized by referrals from suspicious-looking websites that have nothing to do with the content of your website, and often with high bounce rates. The most common types of referral spam are ghost spam, bots, and crawlers. Fortunately, there are several methods to filter spam traffic in Google Analytics.

One of the most effective ways to filter referral spam in Google Analytics is to use filters to exclude unwanted traffic. To do this, go to the Admin section of your account and select the view where you want to filter spam traffic. From there, select Filters and create a new filter. Choose the Predefined filter option and select Exclude, then choose Referral as the filter type. You can then add a list of domains and referral sources to exclude from your analytics data.

Another way to filter referral spam in Google Analytics is to use a third-party tool such as Bot Filtering. This tool offers additional protection against bot and spider traffic as well as filtering out referral spam. It is important to note that using a third-party tool may not be as effective as using built-in Google Analytics features, as referral spam tactics can change frequently.

As for Google’s response to this issue, it is uncertain when Google will provide a more robust solution for filtering referral spam in Google Analytics. However, they have provided resources to guide website owners on how to filter spam traffic, as well as a report feature to help identify and report suspicious traffic. It is recommended to regularly review your analytics data and adjust filters accordingly to ensure accurate data and better insights.