{"id":303,"date":"2021-02-02T11:41:39","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T11:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/organicdigital.co\/blog\/?p=303"},"modified":"2024-06-10T16:24:22","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T15:24:22","slug":"how-to-block-spam-traffic-from-bot-traffic-icu-in-google-analytics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/how-to-block-spam-traffic-from-bot-traffic-icu-in-google-analytics\/","title":{"rendered":"How To: Block Spam Traffic From bot-traffic.icu In Google Analytics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/how-to-block-spam-traffic-from-bot-traffic-icu-in-google-analytics\/#TLDR\" >TLDR:<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/how-to-block-spam-traffic-from-bot-traffic-icu-in-google-analytics\/#What_is_referral_spam\" >What is referral spam?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/how-to-block-spam-traffic-from-bot-traffic-icu-in-google-analytics\/#What_is_bot-trafficicu\" >What is bot-traffic.icu?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/how-to-block-spam-traffic-from-bot-traffic-icu-in-google-analytics\/#How_Do_I_Block_Referral_Spam\" >How Do I Block Referral Spam?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/how-to-block-spam-traffic-from-bot-traffic-icu-in-google-analytics\/#Dont_Forget_The_Bot_Filtering_Setting_In_Analytics\" >Don\u2019t Forget The Bot Filtering Setting In Analytics<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/how-to-block-spam-traffic-from-bot-traffic-icu-in-google-analytics\/#What_is_Organic_Spam\" >What is Organic Spam?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/how-to-block-spam-traffic-from-bot-traffic-icu-in-google-analytics\/#How_Do_I_Block_Organic_Spam\" >How Do I Block Organic Spam?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/how-to-block-spam-traffic-from-bot-traffic-icu-in-google-analytics\/#Use_Segments_To_View_Historical_Data_Without_Spam\" >Use Segments To View Historical Data Without Spam<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/how-to-block-spam-traffic-from-bot-traffic-icu-in-google-analytics\/#How_To_Create_Custom_Dimensions_for_the_Google_Anaytics_Platform_API\" >How To Create Custom Dimensions&nbsp;for the Google Anaytics Platform API<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/how-to-block-spam-traffic-from-bot-traffic-icu-in-google-analytics\/#So_What_Next\" >So What Next?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"TLDR\"><\/span>TLDR:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Block\/remove the spam using a segment which filters out traffic where the <a href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/how-to-block-spam-traffic-from-bot-traffic-icu-in-google-analytics\/#page_title_not_set\">page title is (not set)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>As a <a href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/skills\/analytics-and-ad-tracking-consultant\/google-analytics-4\/\">Google Analytics consultant<\/a> I spend a lot of time looking around in GA to see what&#8217;s happening on a site.  Whilst taking a look at my Google Analytics data yesterday, I got all excited about a huge spike in traffic over the weekend.\u00a0 I\u2019d been doing some blogging recently, so maybe it was that.\u00a0 Or had there been a Google Core update maybe following some recent on site optimisation?\u00a0 The anticipation was immense as I delved in for a deeper look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"729\" height=\"554\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/google_analytics_spam.png\" alt=\"Google Analytics Spam\" class=\"wp-image-305\" style=\"width:547px;height:416px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/google_analytics_spam.png 729w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/google_analytics_spam-300x228.png 300w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/google_analytics_spam-150x114.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 729px) 100vw, 729px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Sadly, it was neither.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this instance it was a case of referral and organic spam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_referral_spam\"><\/span><strong>What is referral spam?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is basically bogus traffic sent to your site to inflate and skew your traffic data.&nbsp; The real question is \u201cwhat is the point\u201d?&nbsp; I don\u2019t really know the answer, I convince myself it\u2019s just some nerd somewhere giving their self a false sense of power as they take revenge on a society that has shunned them.  You know the type:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/WoWSouthpark.jpg\" alt=\"South Park\" class=\"wp-image-320\" style=\"width:512px;height:288px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/WoWSouthpark.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/WoWSouthpark-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/WoWSouthpark-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/WoWSouthpark-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_bot-trafficicu\"><\/span>What is bot-traffic.icu?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In my case the spam came from bot-traffic.icu (no link, sorry) and when looking at the site, it redirects to this one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"781\" height=\"477\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/gamma_traffic_arseholes.png\" alt=\"Gamma Traffic Arseholes\" class=\"wp-image-306\" style=\"width:391px;height:239px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/gamma_traffic_arseholes.png 781w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/gamma_traffic_arseholes-300x183.png 300w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/gamma_traffic_arseholes-150x92.png 150w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/gamma_traffic_arseholes-768x469.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 781px) 100vw, 781px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Initially, I thought that perhaps someone had decided to carry out a negative SEO attack on my site \u2013 and to be honest, was that the case I would have felt a sense of pride and been flattered that I\u2019d been targeted, but again, this wasn\u2019t the case as a quick look on Twitter showed that I wasn\u2019t the only one:<\/p>\n\n\n<p><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Heads up! If your analytics look too good to be true today, it&#39;s likely not because of a Google update. Many sites in our profile are seeing an attack of bot traffic Jan 31.<br><br>The spam site causing this promises you&#39;ll see more traffic in GA. \ud83e\udd26\u200d\u2640\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TkW3AlUHIy\">pic.twitter.com\/TkW3AlUHIy<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Marie Haynes (@Marie_Haynes) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Marie_Haynes\/status\/1356234648611934208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">February 1, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hmm.. one of my sites currently has 1000+ users (analytics realtime) requesting \/bot-traffic.icu (non-existing). Maybe a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DDOS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#DDOS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CloudflareHelp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@CloudflareHelp<\/a> ?<\/p>&mdash; Michiel Kikkert \ud83c\udd70\ufe0f (@Dutch_Guy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Dutch_Guy\/status\/1355946024200790019?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">January 31, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hey <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fighto?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@fighto<\/a>, it&#39;s not just you. <br><br>My site just got hit by one today too. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/googleanalytics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@googleanalytics<\/a> can you please fix this? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rOsrpOaG78\">pic.twitter.com\/rOsrpOaG78<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Joe Youngblood (@YoungbloodJoe) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YoungbloodJoe\/status\/1356081077312516098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">February 1, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n\n\n<p>So, it looks like everyone got a hit, which makes me suspect that in answer to the question \u201cwhat is the point?\u201d, in this case it looks like Gamma Traffic are trying to demonstrate how effective their services are in the hope that someone will sign up to them.&nbsp; If that floats your boat, go for it.&nbsp;&nbsp; The rest of us have to deal with a load of shite data in our GA accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Do_I_Block_Referral_Spam\"><\/span><strong>How Do I Block Referral Spam<\/strong>?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is straightforward enough, you set up a filter in Google Analytics as follows \u2013 test this by verifying to see if it would block your traffic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"519\" height=\"616\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/spam_filter-1.png\" alt=\"Spam Filter\" class=\"wp-image-342\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/spam_filter-1.png 519w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/spam_filter-1-253x300.png 253w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/spam_filter-1-126x150.png 126w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 519px) 100vw, 519px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two issues here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" style=\"list-style-type:1\">\n<li>This won\u2019t remove any data already in your account, it will only block data moving forward<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Spammers are agile, they can change the source at will<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Point 2 has already happened, a client of mine also got a load of spam over the weekend from trafficbot.life<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1006\" height=\"49\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/trafficbot_life.png\" alt=\"trafficbot_life\" class=\"wp-image-314\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/trafficbot_life.png 1006w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/trafficbot_life-300x15.png 300w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/trafficbot_life-150x7.png 150w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/trafficbot_life-768x37.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1006px) 100vw, 1006px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I haven\u2019t had any spam from there yet, and can add this domain to my filter as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"276\" height=\"68\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/spam_filter_new.png\" alt=\"filter\" class=\"wp-image-344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/spam_filter_new.png 276w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/spam_filter_new-150x37.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 276px) 100vw, 276px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But, years in the business has taught me the fight on spam never ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dont_Forget_The_Bot_Filtering_Setting_In_Analytics\"><\/span><strong>Don\u2019t Forget The Bot Filtering Setting<\/strong> In Analytics<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There is also a setting in GA that you should always ensure is ticked:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"296\" height=\"74\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bot_filtering.png\" alt=\"Bot Filtering\" class=\"wp-image-316\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bot_filtering.png 296w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bot_filtering-150x38.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 296px) 100vw, 296px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This will keep things tidy, but as it says it blocks from \u201cknown\u201d bots and spiders.&nbsp; Clearly gammatraffic is a new kid on the block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_Organic_Spam\"><\/span><strong>What is Organic Spam?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, in essence it\u2019s basically the same as referral spam \u2013 in this case the spam was evenly split between organic and referral:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"419\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/types_of_spam.png\" alt=\"organic spam\" class=\"wp-image-317\" style=\"width:419px;height:267px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/types_of_spam.png 419w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/types_of_spam-300x191.png 300w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/types_of_spam-150x96.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 419px) 100vw, 419px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Do_I_Block_Organic_Spam\"><\/span><strong>How Do I Block Organic Spam<\/strong>?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, this isn\u2019t as easy \u2013 the referral spam has a common denominator \u2013 the campaign source.&nbsp; However, organic spam comes from a wide range of dimensions such as city, language, source etc.&nbsp; So, if you try and block based on those dimensions, you may in advertently block real traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>Update 03\/02<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After much digging around I came across this tweet where it would appear the common denominator is &#8220;browser size&#8221; which is set to &#8220;(not set)&#8221;:<\/p>\n\n\n<p><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Google Analytics spam &#8211; what it was and what to do from the guy that wrote the Definitive Guide. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XlsYQVqngr\">https:\/\/t.co\/XlsYQVqngr<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VIchh0XczB\">pic.twitter.com\/VIchh0XczB<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Mike Sullivan (@AnalyticsEdge) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AnalyticsEdge\/status\/1356801320989171713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">February 3, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"636\" height=\"525\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/browser_size_not_set.png\" alt=\"Browser Size Not Set\" class=\"wp-image-332\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/browser_size_not_set.png 636w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/browser_size_not_set-300x248.png 300w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/browser_size_not_set-150x124.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This makes sense to me, in that if the spam is automated, then it wouldn&#8217;t have a browser size, so I have no qualms in creating a filter moving forward to exclude traffic where the browser size is not set:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"346\" height=\"489\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/filter_browser_not_set.png\" alt=\"Filter Exlclude Browser Size Not Set\" class=\"wp-image-333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/filter_browser_not_set.png 346w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/filter_browser_not_set-212x300.png 212w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/filter_browser_not_set-106x150.png 106w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 346px) 100vw, 346px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Use_Segments_To_View_Historical_Data_Without_Spam\"><\/span>Use Segments To View Historical Data Without Spam<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Whilst you are unable to remove historical data from your analytics view, you can use segments to see what your data would look like without the spam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To do this, click &#8220;Add Segment&#8221;, then set the advanced condition as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conditions:<\/strong><br>Filter -&gt; Sessions -&gt; Exclude:<br>Browser Size -&gt; contains -&gt; (not set)<br>or<br>Source -&gt; contains -&gt; bot-traffic.icu<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/exclude_spam_segment-1.png\" alt=\"Exclude Spam Segment\" class=\"wp-image-335\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/exclude_spam_segment-1.png 900w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/exclude_spam_segment-1-300x113.png 300w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/exclude_spam_segment-1-150x56.png 150w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/exclude_spam_segment-1-768x288.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You can then apply that to see your &#8220;clean&#8221; data retrospectively &#8211; you can also sit it alongside the &#8220;All Users&#8221; segment to see your data with and without the spam &#8211; just to sense check that you&#8217;ve got rid of all the crap &#8211; as you can see, the spambots sent 1,427 visits over the last few days, the utter bastards:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1023\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/compare_data.png\" alt=\"spam excluded\" class=\"wp-image-336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/compare_data.png 1023w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/compare_data-300x188.png 300w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/compare_data-150x94.png 150w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/compare_data-768x480.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1023px) 100vw, 1023px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"page_title_not_set\"><br><strong>Update 04\/02<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After reading this blog post looking for a solution, Marta Laurent from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreverbarcelona.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ForeverBarcelona.com<\/a> got in touch to say that the above filters weren&#8217;t blocking the traffic as in her case the organic traffic was actually using varying browser sizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In her case, she noted that both referral and organic were being sent to a bogus page &#8211; \/bot-traffic.icu, which in turn has page title as (not set):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"812\" height=\"232\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/page_title_not_set.png\" alt=\"Page Title Not Set\" class=\"wp-image-347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/page_title_not_set.png 812w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/page_title_not_set-300x86.png 300w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/page_title_not_set-150x43.png 150w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/page_title_not_set-768x219.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 812px) 100vw, 812px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a good spot, as it means both referral and organic spam can be filtered out with a segment to remove traffic where the page title is &#8220;(not set)&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"692\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/filter_page_title_not_set-1024x692.png\" alt=\"Segment Page Title Not Set\" class=\"wp-image-349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/filter_page_title_not_set-1024x692.png 1024w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/filter_page_title_not_set-300x203.png 300w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/filter_page_title_not_set-150x101.png 150w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/filter_page_title_not_set-768x519.png 768w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/filter_page_title_not_set.png 1177w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_To_Create_Custom_Dimensions_for_the_Google_Anaytics_Platform_API\"><\/span>How To Create Custom Dimensions&nbsp;for the Google Anaytics Platform API<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If, like me, you use a custom 3rd party reporting tool such as <a href=\"https:\/\/dashthis.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DashThis<\/a> which provides your data via the <a href=\"https:\/\/ga-dev-tools.appspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Analytics Platform API<\/a> you can create filters to remove this data from your bespoke reporting dashboards as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>ga:browserSize!~(not set)|ga:source!~bot-traffic.icu|ga:pageTitle!~(not set)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"So_What_Next\"><\/span><strong>So What Next?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There isn\u2019t much you can do to permanently remove the spam from your data; it is forever skewed and your monthly report for January will come with caveats (or you could lie to your clients and take the glory).&nbsp; All we can do is pray to the Google Gods that they find a way to remove this data from everyone\u2019s analytics accounts, and we can just put it down to an anomaly then pretend it never happened.  Until then, use segments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google Analytics data has been hit by a massive spike in spam traffic in the past few days.  Find out how to (try and) block such traffic moving forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analytics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}