Learn how to eliminate ghost spam in Google Analytics with Web Positioning Salamanca . We will teach you how to eliminate ghost spam with a filter. This is a very important aspect of this Google tool, and it must be taken into account. That is why you should carefully review your data, especially if you have little traffic or a microwebsite. Keep reading and learn more about the topic.
Take a good look at your Analytics reports
To avoid making bad decisions, you should carefully review ghost spam and bot traffic in your Google Analytics (GA) reports. Because these can create erroneous traffic patterns that can lead you to incorrect conclusions about your website and your strategy.
You might see a few days in your report with a spike in traffic, and perhaps these days coincide with a marketing strategy you've started implementing. Then you might start celebrating. But it's best to take a good look at Google's data.
Because it may be that a high percentage of that traffic is ghost traffic or phantom spam, and that it was created by unimportant referral sources.
What are the types of spam?
In Google Analytics you can find two types of spam: ghost spam and tracking spam.
Remember that you can take advantage of Google Analytics in your marketing strategy .
Ghost or Ghost
They are called ghosts because they never actually access your site . They account for the majority of spam you will see in this tool. It is important to understand how they work as it is key to creating a more efficient solution for handling spam.
And even though this is counted as traffic, this type of spam never interacts with your site. It's hard to understand why it's counted by Google Analytics if it's used to count visitors to our sites. They actually use something called a Measurement Protocol, which allows people to send data directly to GA followers.
Using this method and perhaps randomly generated tracking codes, spammers leave a visitor with fake data, without knowing who they are affecting.
How Ghost Spam Works by MOZ
Tracker spam
This type of spam actually accesses your website , unlike the one we mentioned before. Spam bots crawl your site, accessing your pages, ignoring the rules in robots.txt that are there with the intention of stopping them from reading your site. When they leave your site, they leave a mark in your reports, which looks like a legitimate, real visit.
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This type of spam is difficult to identify because they know their targets and use real data. So if you detect referral traffic that seems suspicious, search on Google and you will be able to determine whether or not it is spam.
How to recognize ghost spam traffic
The hostname is not one of your valid websites. For example, your website is not publishing results in Google Analytics.
The screen resolution or colors are not set. This means that the visitor is not really a human.
The referral traffic source is one of a list of spam sources.
Plus, the traffic you get from these typically has a 100% bounce rate and new session rate.
Avoid these mistakes when analyzing spam in Google Analytics
Dealing with this type of spam is not an easy task, and many people make mistakes when dealing with it. A common mistake is to block ghost spam from the .htaccess file (a file whose main function is to allow or block access to your site). If we know that spam never reaches your website, then adding it there will be no point.
Phantom spam usually appears for a few days and then disappears. Many people think that they have successfully blocked it, when in reality it is a coincidence and it is no longer affecting your website. So, if the spam comes back later, you will realize that the solution did not work.
The .htaccess file will only be effective in blocking trackers. Most regular spam can be blocked with this method.
Using the referral exclusion list to stop spam is a mistake that many webmasters make. The list is useful for other things, such as if you have a store and the customer is sent to a third page for payment. After doing so, they are redirected to your website and Analytics takes that as a new referral. The way to use this list correctly is to prevent this from happening.
Another mistake is to worry about bounce rates resulting from this spam , which will not affect your ranking . People see a high bounce rate from this type of spam and start to worry about the impact it will have. But, it should be clear that Google does not take Google Analytics metrics into account as a ranking factor.
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When you see this spam, don't assume your site has been hacked. This is a mistake many people make as well.
What you should worry about about ghost spam
Now that we know what mistakes you shouldn't make when looking at cameroon telegram lead traffic, and that there are no security issues or issues affecting your rankings, what you should be concerned about is your data. Because it leaves erroneous information in your reports.
It may have a lot or a little impact on your site's traffic, everyone can be susceptible to this. However, small and medium-sized sites are the ones that can be impacted most easily. Not only because of traffic, but because many times the owners themselves are the ones analyzing the data and do not have the support of experts to understand why these problems occur.
Sure, large sites can also be hit by this form of spam, but the impact may be small. Invalid traffic means inaccurate reporting, so if you have a hired analyst they should be able to explain what's going on.