How to Block Spam Referral Traffic from Google Analytics?

Unwanted referral traffic spoils the Google Analytics report. I heard same issues in SEO industry by collogues and many SEO folks in my network. So, here I am going to share some tips and tricks to avoid unwanted referral spam.

How to Exclude Hits from Known Bots?

To block the bots, GA provides “Bot Filtering” to block such referral visits.

1. Go to ‘ADMIN’.
2. Click on “View Settings”
3. Check the “Bot Filtering” box.

This filtering can stop spamming referrals to the some extent but can’t all. For this, you may try other options mentioned below.

How to Block a Specific Domain?

1. Go to ‘ADMIN’.
2. Click on “Filters”
3. Create a “New Filter”.
4. Enter details –
   • Filter Name
   • Filter Type
   • Filter Field
   • Filter Pattern

Be Careful while performing this section.

How to Add Referral Exclusion?

With this, you may block specific Web Page URL and their respective sub domains.

1. Go to ‘ADMIN’.
2. Click on “Referral EXCLUSION”.
3. Add “Referral EXCLUSION”.
4. Enter exact “URL Details”.

This is the best technique to stop referral traffic occurs from same URL regularly.

Disadvantage – Don’t use this technique until extremely required because it may change the session to direct visit.

Get a list of the most common spam referral websites.

.htaccess File to Block Spam Traffic

If nothing works, .htaccess file is the best option to complete it.

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Neha Sharma

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