"Referral spam is like a cockroach, except is it doesn’t scatter when the lights come on, it stares you in the face and dares you to get rid of it”

If you’re tired of having your analytics ruined by referral spam like semalt.semalt.com, today we are going to fight back. I will show how to block referral spam as well as how to filter it from your analytics.

To complete this training you will need to be familiar with how to FTP into your website and have a Google analytics account setup.

This training will be a complete solution and require no plugins or having to block entire countries. We are going to simply target and block the offending domains AT THE SOURCE!

If this is your first introduction to referral spam, here is a quick look at what it is and why it happens.

What is Referral Spam?

Referral Spam is a type of spam also known as log spam. It’s a technique done by spammer sites that involves making multiple requests to your webpage with a bot using a fake referrer URL.

Why Do They Spam You?

They hope to create a backlink to their page to raise their search engine rank.

You may be thinking, but how can they create a backlink, if I don’t backlink to them?

Many sites publish their access logs and it includes these refer URL’s. When these logs get published it creates a backlink to the spammers website. Eventually these links get crawled by search engines and indexed, thus raising the site rank of the spammers website.

Is Referral Spam a Problem?

Yes it is problem from this perspective:

And In addition to resulting in less traffic, It’s just a huge waste of time, hogs up bandwidth, and makes your site slower for your real visitors.

Is It Dangerous and Does It Cause Security Issues?

In all of my research I failed to find anything conclusive to say that referral spam dangerous. Also in my experience it hasn’t been, however…let’s not wait around and find out the hard way.

Whats The Difference Between Referral Spam And Comment Spam?

While both are automated with bots. comment spam can appear on your page without creating a hit on your website...referral spam records a visit in your website analytics. The intention of the spammer is the same though, to create a backlink. Comment spam backlinks on your pages, while referral spam backlinks in your log files.

If you are looking to stop comment spam a plugin like Askimet or Anti Spam Bee will do the trick. For referral spam we need a heavier tool for the job...our BRAINS!

Ready to stop the referral spammers?

Let’s find out who the heck is spamming you.



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rosieM Premium
Thank you sounds too small...THANK YOU!!!! Everyone should read this.....saved and sharing!
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NicheDown Premium
I appreciate your kind words. Referral spam is a big problem and it really can bring your spirits down when you see it ruining all your analytics data.

I am glad that you found the training to be of value!

-James
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rosieM Premium
I really did! You laid it all out easily understood and detailed...great job!
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johnwnewman Premium
Thanks, great training!
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NicheDown Premium
Thanks, I appreciate your kind words!

-James
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MarionBlack Premium
Thank you so much for sharing, I've been able to block 5 of those nasties from one of my websites. I would never have known where to find them in Google Analytics. ~Marion
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NicheDown Premium
Hey Marion,

Glad you found the information helpful. O love that you called them "nasties"! You couldn't be more right!

-James
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TheCatherine Premium Plus
I have added this to my Google Analytics training synopsis
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NicheDown Premium
Thanks, That's a great resource you put together on Google Analytics. I am honored to have a link in it!
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TheCatherine Premium Plus
it was only a compilation of the hard work of others but Google Analytic is so vital and so useful I wanted to make it easy for everyone to get acquainted with it
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marant Premium
Wow, Just what I was looking for! Many Many Thanks!
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NicheDown Premium
NP. Let me know if you need any help. I am certainly not an IT guy, but this a battle I have been fighting with referral spam for awhile.
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marant Premium
It sounds like you've done quite a bit on it... how difficult is filezilla to use?
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NicheDown Premium
I dont find it difficult at all. It's really pretty streamlined. I watched this training when I first set it up:
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marant Premium
Thanks, Spam not too big a problem for me atm, my site still pretty new, but I want to stay ahead of it...thanks again, I know you've worked hard on it!
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NicheDown Premium
Best of luck. save this as a reference. If the problem arises you can jump right on it. This took me a few weeks to learn and figure out so save your self the stress.
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marant Premium
Definitley!...If you ever need some good comments...or feedbacks...or anything else..I'm your boy!!
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