Google Analytics Referral Spam Blocking Tool

[mborgelt]

Over the last year it seems like there is more and more junk referral spam which makes things hard for clients and pros alike. The great team over at Loganix has created a FREE tool that will remove all these buggers for you.

<a href="https://www.producthunt.com/tech/analytics-referral-ghost-spam-removal-tool">Loganix Analytics Referral Ghost Spam Removal Tool</a>

What issues did referral spam cause for you this year?

 

[Conor Treacy]

From what I can tell they're providing a file to allow updating of the segments, but from the comments it doesn't appear to update automatically, instead you must import a new segment each time.

I did find a section in Google Support talking about sharing segments with others, but I couldn't determine if *I* was the owner, and updated something, would it update for anyone else that had previously imported segments. If so, then this is awesome. If not, then it's another manual task to remember.

Currently, we filter everything internally, and with our access to client sites, the reports we provide them are filtered, however we don't install our filters on their Google Analytics profiles.

As for what issues referral spam has caused us this year, by filtering it, we get "closer to real numbers" than what the clients previously received. In one case, a clients old SEO company was reporting 12,000 sessions for the month, when after filtering they were really in the 4,000 session range. Using the filters actually helped convert the prospect to become a client!

 

[Linda Buquet]

As for what issues referral spam has caused us this year, by filtering it, we get "closer to real numbers" than what the clients previously received. In one case, a clients old SEO company was reporting 12,000 sessions for the month, when after filtering they were really in the 4,000 session range. Using the filters actually helped convert the prospect to become a client!

And sure improved their conversion #s too right, Conor?

With the other guys they were probably thinking, how can we be getting that much traffic yet have so few sales (or leads or calls) to show for it.

 

[Conor Treacy]

And sure improved their conversion #s too right, Conor?
With the other guys they were probably thinking, how can we be getting that much traffic yet have so few sales (or leads or calls) to show for it.

Working on it! It's amazing how much communication and openness can happen with a client when you deal with real numbers and real information. Once they saw how much spam was coming in (hundreds of visits less than 1 second) and where the visits came from (out of state, or mostly out of country), it really opened their eyes!