Referral Exclusion List - Data Questsion
-
This may seem like a silly question. Since we are having an issue with self-referrals, we checked all the pages and everything is tagged properly, I used the referral exclusion list to exclude our domains. Question is, since we had a large number of our revenue coming in from the self-referring traffic, what happens to that revenue data once I add our domains to the referral exclusion list?
-
That make sense. Thanks so much for your insights, much appreciated.
-
Bought better code, the old galleries had been a hack job by a previous agency, we bought new clean code, customized it for our needs. We also upgraded from using on-page analytic code to Google Tag Manager at the same time which made all future tracking updates much easier and cheaper.
-
You are awesome! How did you end up fixing the java galleries issue?
-
As a best practice you should, and while I do not think it will fix your data, who knows it might. The problem will be, if it does not give you better insight now, all it will do is split up this unknown data into 2 separate groups in your data instead of just one.
-
That is a great suggestion. I will look into that as well. I am not sure if that is an issue for us but at this point I am willing to look at anything. So do you think that I should not have added our domains to the referral exclusion list then?
-
I had a similar problem on a site awhile ago, the issue was not with the analytics code but with the site which had a large amount of java galleries and procedurally generated content which would somehow create small interstitial pages when generating pages and redirect from them to the actual pages.
-
We have checked the tracking on all pages. Updated the tracking on our blog. The only thing I can think of would be updating any event tracking we have as I understand it is sending the old code. Any other ideas? Is there a fast way to dbl check that our tracking code is correct on all pages?
-
It will depend on how/why it is saying you are a referral source to yourself. There most likely is a larger issue with how your site is functioning that is causing a disconnect to happen that just removing yourself as a referral will not solve. If there is still a break in your tracking then it will see it as a new session with no source information and attribute conversions to (not found) or something similar. To fix the issue you are going to need to understand why your analytics program thinks you are sending yourself traffic and fix that problem first, then you will be able to get real and actionable data on what your main conversions drivers are.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Important updates on Google Analytics Data Retention and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
Hi Everyone, I'm sure many of you received the email from Google over the past few days with the subject line: [Action Required] Important updates on Google Analytics Data Retention and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). I hope I'm not alone in not knowing what exactly this whole notification was in regards to. I realize it's for Data but are we no longer able to pull stats from the past? If anyone has a "dumbed down" explanation for what this update entails, I would be very interested - I don't want to miss out on any important updates and info, but I'm just not grasping this content. Below is the full email in its entirety for those who are interested as well: Dear Google Analytics Administrator,
Reporting & Analytics | | MainstreamMktg
Over the past year we've shared how we are preparing to meet the requirements of the GDPR, the new data protection law coming into force on May 25, 2018. Today we are sharing more about important product changes that may impact your Google Analytics data, and other updates in preparation for the GDPR. This e-mail requires your attention and action even if your users are not based in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Product Updates
Today we introduced granular data retention controls that allow you to manage how long your user and event data is held on our servers. Starting May 25, 2018, user and event data will be retained according to these settings; Google Analytics will automatically delete user and event data that is older than the retention period you select. Note that these settings will not affect reports based on aggregated data.
Action: Please review these data retention settings and modify as needed.
Before May 25, we will also introduce a new user deletion tool that allows you to manage the deletion of all data associated with an individual user (e.g. site visitor) from your Google Analytics and/or Analytics 360 properties. This new automated tool will work based on any of the common identifiers sent to Analytics Client ID (i.e. standard Google Analytics first party cookie), User ID (if enabled), or App Instance ID (if using Google Analytics for Firebase). Details will be available on our Developers site shortly.
As always, we remain committed to providing ways to safeguard your data. Google Analytics and Analytics 360 will continue to offer a number of other features and policies around data collection, use, and retention to assist you in safeguarding your data. For example, features for customizable cookie settings, privacy controls, data sharing settings, data deletion on account termination, and IP anonymization may prove useful as you evaluate the impact of the GDPR for your company’s unique situation and Analytics implementation.
Contract And User Consent Related Updates
Contract changes
Google has been rolling out updates to our contractual terms for many products since last August, reflecting Google’s status as either data processor or data controller under the new law (see full classification of our Ads products). The new GDPR terms will supplement your current contract with Google and will come into force on May 25, 2018.
In both Google Analytics and Analytics 360, Google operates as a processor of personal data that is handled in the service.
• For Google Analytics clients based outside the EEA and all Analytics 360 customers, updated data processing terms are available for your review/acceptance in your accounts (Admin ➝ Account Settings).
• For Google Analytics clients based in the EEA, updated data processing terms have already been included in your terms.
• If you don’t contract with Google for your use of our measurement products, you should seek advice from the parties with whom you contract.
Updated EU User Consent Policy
Per our advertising features policy, both Google Analytics and Analytics 360 customers using advertising features must comply with Google’s EU User Consent Policy. Google's EU User Consent Policy is being updated to reflect new legal requirements of the GDPR. It sets out your responsibilities for making disclosures to, and obtaining consent from, end users of your sites and apps in the EEA.
Action: Even if you are not based in the EEA, please consider together with your legal department or advisors, whether your business will be in scope of the GDPR when using Google Analytics and Analytics 360 and review/accept the updated data processing terms as well as define your path for compliance with the EU User Consent Policy.
Find Out More
You can refer to privacy.google.com/businesses to learn more about Google’s data privacy policies and approach, as well as view our data processing terms.
We will continue to share further information on our plans in the coming weeks and will update relevant developer and help center documentation where necessary.
Thanks,
The Google Analytics Team6 -
Tracking specific path and referral for unique session
Happy Monday everyone! We recently received a unique lead on our site and I was wondering if there was anyway to pinpoint the exact behavior flow and/or specific referral source they came from on Google Analytics. I know you can view the general behavior flow for all or segmented users based on what pages they viewed, but I wanted to see if I can track by unique sessions to see where this person exactly found us. Any insight is appreciated! Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | KathleenDC0 -
Advanced Segments for Remarketing Lists
Hello Moz community! I have a question around advanced segmentation for a client and was hoping someone would like to take a crack at it. Basically, I’m trying to establish segments which map to areas of the sales funnel, which I can then utilize as remarketing lists. So the scenario is this, for the time being we have 4 stages, let’s call them Aware, Interested, Engaged and Intent. For each of these stages a user will need to meet specific criteria. So for instance, Aware segment looks like the following Aware: Visited 1x (site.com/home) Had 2 unique page views/session That’s pretty easy to do in segments. Where it gets a little more confusing is when we try to take it to the “Interested” category. Which would have the criteria of Interested All of aware Repeat visitor (2x in last 30 days) Visited specific deeper pages (site.com/home/page1) (site.com/home/page2) Had specific events fire Clicked on download data sheet In GA, does this segment architecture make sense? | Filter users Include Page Contains site.com/home AND Unique Pageviews per session ≥ 2 Filter Users Include Page Contains site.com/home/page1 OR Page Contains site.com/home/page2 AND Count of Sessions session ≥ 2 Filter Users Include Event Label Matches download datasheet | I would love any feedback on this! Thanks in advance
Reporting & Analytics | | amichaels0 -
Stripping Out Referral Spam
I'm working my way through Google Analytics adding filters to all Spam referrals. 1. Am I doing this correctly:- Filter > Custom > Exclude - Campaign Source > Filter Pattern - Website address 2. I understand I can also strip out referral spam from past data Can anyone tell me how to do this or direct me to a blog or article about this? 3. Who on earth are Semalt, and why do they keep changing their URL and bombarding our websites? Appreciate any help. Christina
Reporting & Analytics | | ChristinaRadisic0 -
Analytics code removed and still collecting data
Google analytics code was removed from a website and then it started tracking a couple of days later to only stop again? How can that happen? Has the developer not removed the old code properly? Can the code be injected remotely?
Reporting & Analytics | | GardenBeet0 -
Google Analytics - Still Seeing Keyword Data
Hi, I hope you can answer this question for me, obviously I'm aware of the changes regarding "not provided" in analytics however I am still getting keyword referral data in analytics (not much of course!) in the section Acquisition>Keyword>Organic Can anybody explain why I am still seeing organic keyword data even up until yesterday for the odd term? I cannot find an answer anywhere!!! Many thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | splendidapple1 -
Blocking our IP's but wondering if Google still uses our search data?
The company owner here has our (company) website as his home page. I excluded our static IP’s on Google Analytics, but is that good enough to keep Google from using his search traffic as an indicator of anything negative. Does Google still take into account his activity, but simply block it from my reporting? Finally, does one person actually have that kind of influence as far as time on site, bounce rates, etc. Should I convince him to find a new home page?
Reporting & Analytics | | Ticket_King0 -
What is this referrer site?
Hi Guys....i keep seeing this in my analytics..can someone tell me what it is? 146w.bay146.mail.live.com thanks for your time
Reporting & Analytics | | nomad-2023230