HELP: Suspicious traffic from Ashburn!?!

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I just created a new site less than a month ago, and it's still in the works. I've just been working hard to produce a lot of content. So, I'm not expecting a lot of traffic at this point because my new website hasn't quite even taken shape yet. I hadn't really taken much notice of my traffic analytics because I didn't expect much to be there.

Surprisingly, when I looked into my analytics today, I saw a huge spike in the last couple of days. At first, I was super thrilled. I was like, YES, it's starting to get traffic already. But, then I dug deeper into exactly where this traffic was coming from and what pages are they viewing the most.

I found this...

Traffic from...



Pages viewed...


In fact, when I just pulled up analytics, there were 5 people active right that second!! It was quite shocking at first, but they were all coming from one place. Ashburn.

Now, I'm not quite sure whether to be excited that I have traffic flowing or be concerned that there are randoms folks out there that are just viewing my site.

I researched a bit in Google if there were anyone else facing similar issues. A few people seemed to have been in similar situations and someone mentioned it could be bots or crawlers or something of that sort. I'm not quite familiar with that.

I couldn't really find anyone in WA who had faced similar situation. So, I geniunely want a suggestion. What do you think is happening here? Anything I should be concerned about? I'm not the most tech-savvy guy out there so I really don't know how to go about blocking people if that's the route I need to take.

If there is anyone that knows, please let me know. I'd love the help!

Thanks y'all!


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Recent Comments

25

Hi Parmi thanks for this post. A newbie and a tech-illiterate person like me might not be able to detect such in my website.

Hi Pami,
Wow that is an interesting happening. Thanks for reporting.
Cheers Jae

Hi Jae,
Yeah, I wasn't aware of it until just a couple of days ago but it doesn't seem to be something to be too concerned about. Best of luck to you!

Thanks for the updating, me I am new so my level, this morning i just set my Google Search console. For me I can really educate someone on that particular issue.

I read some response, their response are quiet informative, some said it's could be bots or crawlers, other said giant internet company.

For don't trouble yourselves over this, continued with your and get your set proper set-up.

Regards.

Thanks Blessing! Yeah, I figured the same. I think I was just getting overly nervous since I had never seen or heard about this before. WA has a great security system, so nothing to worry about. Best to you!

Thanks for sharing, Parmi.

you bet! thanks for your comment!

No problem.

Not so mysterious. Ashburn is near me in Virginia. It is one of the biggest network/internet hubs in the country. Lots of companies have their data centers in Ashburn because of the proximity to major metropolitan centers and great infrastructure.

Oh wow! I had no idea that it was. When I looked at it Google Maps, it seemed like a small town so that's why I got suspicious. Hmm, makes sense now I think. Thanks for sharing Glen!

Yes, Ashburn is a tiny town. It used to be mostly farmland back in the day. With the availability of land and the infrastructure, many companies that run data centers moved in.

Very interesting, and also glad that Ashburn is developing as a city! Thanks for the help Glen!

I have seen some weird and wonderful things recently in GA. These are probably bots. Google "bots and GA" or some other relevant search string to find out more. So much information on this.

You will see ways to prevent these bots from coming to your site, however, if you do implement a solution, do so with caution as if there are genuine people in Ashburn visiting your site, you will be blocking them too.

Personally, I wouldn't bother too much about trying to 'fix this' unless you think your site is un-secure and are concerned with the bots doing some damage.

If your site is hosted here, you have nothing to fear.

Yes, it's annoying and will skew your stats especially if they spend a few minutes - your bounce rate will go up which isn't a nice thing to happen.

I think once these bots try and try and "can't get through", they will leave you alone.

All the best!


That's so interesting Jackie. Have you faced similar situation as well coming from GA?

Yeah, I think it probably won't be a good idea to block Ashburn entirely since there might be ligitimate traffic. And, since my website is new at this point, getting this traffic (even though it might just be illigitimate) is a good start. This might trickle soon into real traffic.

Thanks for the support Jackie. I was never too worried, but just wanted to voice what was happening so I could have the WA support if I need anything else. Really appreciate your comment and support Jackie!

You're welcome Parmi,

Yes. It was only a couple of days ago that a bot was on my page. When I looked at the source, it was a website which requested your website address to analyse your site.

All the best.

Oh okay, that does sound like it's not just me facing this then. Thanks for the help Jackie!

No. It's certainly common.

I just checked my GA and the same site is active - my-seo-promotion.com

Lots of information about this bot ....
I used the information in this one to block them:

https://mighil.com/your-seo-promotion-com-spam/

Let's see what will happen.

Oh wow, this is very useful to know on how to block certain people to view your website. My GA doesn't show this particular site spamming, but I think it's a variation of it. I'd love to hear if it helped you at all and if you were able to block those spamming website. Thanks again Jackie!

You're welcome Parmi.

I just checked again and the site isn't showing, however, I will continue to monitor.

I will let you know how it goes.

I had the same a couple of days ago, not sure what it is but maybe they were trying to find some problems with the site (to hack it or something?).

I'm not getting myself too worried though, I know I don't have any black hat SEO and the site protection here is good.

Oh no way! Yeah, I figured it would be someone trying to steal information - but there isn't a whole lot to steal there anyways so not quite sure what they were trying to find.

Thanks for calming me down - I knew WA had a solid site protection service and there is the entire community to help so I wasn't too worried, but just wanted to share what was happening so that I was aware of what to to if there is anything I need to do.

Appreciate the comment Zarina!

Maybe you have requested for some sitefeedback?

Nope, that wasn't it - I didn't ask for any. And it would still be quite odd that all sitefeedback visitors were from Ashburn. Thanks for the comment!

Did you submit your blog to a Social Media platform called Mix? I get quite a few Ashburn visitors (probably bots) whenever I upload something there.

I actually did not. I didn't even know there was a social media called Mix. Thanks for the heads up though!

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