Is there a way to apply the same google analytics filter to multiple properties?
-
I manage WordPress multiple sites for my clients. Some of these clients are SEO customers. One issue I have with the analytics reports is the occurrence of spam and ghost spam. I know how to create filters to block however there are always more and more. Is there away to export the filter and import it to all the other properties i manage? Or do they just have to be done manually every time i need to block spam?
-
In addition to the include filter that Carlos has explained, I also use the spamreferrerblock plugin for Wordpress sites. The two together have vastly improved reporting accuracies for sites I monitor.
-
Hi Malleablebyte,
I do understand that it only covers the problem, however i do need the problem covered! I have to show this data to clients and it cannot be misleading as far as organic and social markers are concerned.
Thanks.
-
Hi Donald,
I think I should mention to you that the solution that you are applying to GA are not really solving the traffic spam problem. Rather, all that you are doing is hiding the spam data. After applying the solution, the spamming will continue to happen except that now you wouldn't see it anymore. It works great for (Google) ghost spam but there are many more types of web traffic spam that you will happily ignore thinking that all is fine now...
Thanks Carlos for mentioning MB (malleablebyte.org). We are a bunch of researchers trying to really solve the web traffic spam problem. Referral spam is merely a subset of web traffic spam. Web traffic spam is evolving and in some instances botnets are used to do web traffic spamming but these data doesn't really show up on your GA. They look like human visitors but are really bots either harvesting data from your site or making money with referral spamming.
Our hope is to bring awareness to this problem and help people avoid the false impression that the current techniques are adequately solving the problem. MB is our effort to collect data for research and experiment with possible solutions. MB is more advanced than mere filters, it includes machine learning and predictive algorithms that we hope can make a real difference.
-
To apply the filters to different properties in the same account:
- Go to the Admin tab > Select the account from the dropdown (first column)
- Select All filters
- Choose the filter you want to apply
- Go to Apply filters to views at the bottom of the Edit Filter page
- And move all the views from the properties you want to apply the filter
"Apply filters to views"
-
Thanks Carlos,
My filters would be on the same account. Can you direct me to instructions on how to pass those filters?
-
Thanks Carlos! The **ONE filter that only includes real hostnames **works like a charm. That spam traffic is really getting bad lately.
-
Hi Donald,
The only way to pass filters between properties is if they are on the same account, I'm afraid that is not possible to share filters, for historical data you can do it with segments though.
There are a couple of web services that will add the filters automatically for you.
They are good help, but there are 3 inconvenients:
- You need to grant access to your account, although I think they are trustful.
- Most likely you will have hits from the spam, by the time they add the spammer to the list, the same happens when you add filters manually after you spot the spammer.
- Lately spam has been hitting with fake direct visits and these won't be excluded with those filters
The best solution for ghost spam for now(the one I've been using for months), is instead of excluding fake traffic you should include real, this can be done using 1 of the main characteristics of ghost spam the hostname.
If you check your list of referral spam, you will notice that the use either a fake hostname or is not set. Based on this you can create ONE filter that only includes real hostnames, and all ghost spam no matter if it is referral, keyword, page or direct visit will be excluded.
You will still have to create it for all the accounts, but you won't have to create a filter every time, and most importantly you won't receive hits at all from ghost spam.
You can find a detailed guide on how to set up this filter in this article
Hope it helps,
Carlos
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
-
Www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js what is this link doing on my website?
Hello Expert, I am using google tag manager and google analytic is already configured in that now i just want to confirm when i do inspect element of my home page in that i can see this link - http://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js where as if i do view source of my page then it is not visible. so what is this link - www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js and what role it play? Do we really need this link to be present on website? Regards, Raghuvinder
Reporting & Analytics | | raghuvinder0 -
Google Analytics Real Time Not Working! :(
Hello Everyone, Today, the real time feature in my google analytics stopped working. I am able to see that traffic is visiting my site, but not in real time. The real time count is usually at 0. But, there are some instances where real time will come back online, but there will be only 1 unique visitor. At any given time, our website usually has 20 visitors or so..Has anyone encountered this issue? Where should i start looking for fixes? What are the possible problems? Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | KarlMarxTheBear0 -
How to track in Google Analytics
Hello, I am helping a client track traffic using Google Analytics. We recently just signed an agreement with a publisher and they have given original credit using a canonical link. How can I track this? I believe it is showing up under direct/ none and I don't know to measure the success of our new partnership.
Reporting & Analytics | | rmazur0 -
Google Analytics
Is there any way around being able to set up 20 goals in Analytics? What if one of my clients want to set up 10 pages with separate actions to track on each page. Will then each actions count as a separate goal? If this is the case, how could I work around creating more than 20 goals? Would I have to look into hiring/buying a third party or separate software? Your help is greatly appreciated.
Reporting & Analytics | | flcity150 -
Google Analytics data - Canonical problems?
Hi everyone, We're trying to determine why Google Analytics is showing multiple versions of the same page as having "landing page traffic". For instance, these 2 pages are both shown as landing pages in GA: www.oursite.com/product_page
Reporting & Analytics | | darkgreenguy
www.oursite.com/product_page/ This occurs many times in Google analytics. Also, there are instances such as these: www.oursite.com/index.php/custom_product_url www.oursite.com/custom_product_url I can't find anything in Google Webmaster tools that would indicate a problem. However, this GA data is making me think there are duplicate content issues on the site... Thanks in advance for any help...0 -
Looking for a solid educational piece for continuing education for our staff on Google analytics.
Particularly, the updates that have been made in the last few months with the new interface. Any suggestions? Book and course are of interest.
Reporting & Analytics | | DavidWolf580 -
Looking for a Google Analytics expert
Looking to hire a Google Analytics expert for a project. Dealing with trying to track traffic across multiple domains and then work with the Ecommerce options. Contact Jeff Logan @ Avelient with costs and time frame for work. [personal information removed by editors. please contact via private message system to exchange information]
Reporting & Analytics | | Avelient0