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The Semalt Islamabad Expert: How To Block WP Referrer Spam In Google Analytics

The referrer spam in Google Analytics has become a significant issue. Due to the deluge of referrer spam from the adult websites and social media, webmasters have become overwhelmed by different filters and use other methods to prevent low-quality traffic from ruining their sites.

There is no need to panic as it's possible to block WordPress referrer spam in your Google Analytics account. Sohail Sadiq, a leading expert from Semalt, tells here how to perform this successfully.

Getting started with Google Analytics

If your website receives lots of traffic and you see some spam links in your Google Analytics account, you can get rid of those links as they might lead you to click on malicious websites. In case you didn't use Google Analytics on your WordPress website before, you should install a WordPress plugin and get it integrated into your analytics account.

Google Analytics is a remarkable and useful tool that lets you see how the visitors interact with your web pages. You can also check which pages the users like the most, can track clicks on your links and perform other similar tasks.

What is Referrer Spam?

If you want your site to be noticed, make sure you have excluded referrer spam from your site. Referral spammers and hackers take advantage of your desire and send referral URLs with automated scripts to hundreds to thousands of blogs and websites every day. These URLs appear in your Google Analytics accounts and other services in no time. Considering that they will affect your site's ranking, you should explore the ways to get rid of them as soon as possible.

How do I deal with Referrer Spam?

You can use Sucuri for monitoring the website security. Sucuri not only protects your site against Trojans and malware but it blocks the referrer spam permanently. Sucuri Website Firewall is one of the best WordPress you can use to eliminate referrer spam. Its team is dedicated and hard-working, and customers are provided with details of how their sites are improving.

Block Referrer Spam in WordPress with Plugin

Another way to block referrer spam on your WordPress website is by using different WordPress plugins. These plugins have multiple options, and you can activate them to prevent the referral spam. The first thing you should do is to download, install and activate the relevant plugin, and we suggest you use the SpamReferrerBlock plugin. Once fully activated, you should go to Settings » Spam Referrer Block and configure the settings for this plugin to get started.

Block the Ghost Referrals with Google Analytics Filters

You can block the referrer spam with the Google Analytics filters. If the spammers send you continuous requests, they might have tracked your UA tracking codes. They use this code to identify the niche and nature of your website. Most webmasters add filters to their Google Analytics accounts, where the insert the suspicious sites and get rid of them within minutes. Go to your Google Analytics account and go to the Audience » Technology» Network section. Here you should choose the Hostname as the primary dimension and try to expand the results to the Monthly option. Some of the domain names you must add here are wpbeginner.com, darodar.com, and others.

You can also block the common referrer spam with Google Analytics filters. Go to the Exclude Filters option in your Google Analytics account and block URLs like buttons-for-website.com, blackhatworth.com, darodar.com, and anticrawler.org.