How to Identify Whether Your Increased Traffic Is Spam
Getting large increases in traffic without any explanation can be a sign that you’re being hit by spam. Spam usually comes in the form of ‘Direct’ traffic. Luckily, there are some ways to identify if you’re being hit by spam. This article will give you some tips to filter out known bad bots. In the meantime, you can use these techniques to determine the source of your increased traffic.
Identifying a source of spam traffic
Identifying a source of spam traffic is a crucial part of removing it from your site. Spam traffic is unwanted traffic that does not do any harm to your site, but skews your data. It creates a false positive, causing your site to look as if you’ve gained a large number of visitors overnight. It should raise a red flag when it starts affecting your website’s performance.
A great way to identify a source of spam traffic is to examine the location of the users. Spam traffic often comes from a single city, so you can start by looking at the city tab or country report to determine where the traffic originates. Moreover, you should never use location as a filter in Google Analytics because it might contain legitimate traffic from the same region. By understanding the location of the visitors, you can determine whether or not they are part of the spam network.
One clue that you might notice is an IP Address. Some social media platforms send traffic from different sub-domains. However, Google Analytics only recognizes a few of them as social media sources. So, the next time you see a spike in traffic, look for this IP address. You might notice a new region or country. If so, that’s likely spam. However, you don’t want to get into this situation without taking measures to stop the spam.
Measuring bounce rates
The bounce rate of a website is an indicator of the quality of that traffic. Visitors with a high bounce rate are likely to not be interested in your content or have landed on your site by clicking a misleading link. It is important to note that many visitors arrive on your site via search engines and may have come to view different content. By analyzing bounce rates, you can determine whether or not the additional traffic is truly relevant to your business.
One way to measure the bounce rate is to use Google Analytics. Click on Audience->Overview to find the bounce rate for each page. Bounce rates can be broken down by device, page, and period. You can find out more information about this metric by reading Google Analytics’ comprehensive guide, which is available in most languages. Be sure to double check the bounce rate before you take any action.
Another way to determine if your increased traffic is spam is to check whether it is coming from third-party sources. Many users today expect sites to load quickly. High bounce rates may indicate that your site is not loading fast enough. This could be because the link was placed in a third-party page with no explanation. By adding more content to your site, you can improve the SEO bounce rate. Be sure to make the content relevant and topical. You can do this by verifying and creating unique content for your site.
Filtering out known bad bots
Bots make up more than half of all internet traffic, and the sophistication of these bots is increasing. Until a global solution is in place, the safest option is to filter out known bad bots. But do bots really impact your site? There is no guarantee. Using a server error log file to identify bot errors and placing contextual JavaScript on your website can help you determine if you’re getting bot traffic.
The first step in limiting bot traffic is to identify which domains are generating traffic on your website. To identify which domains are sending bot traffic, you can use data segmentation. This feature will make your data more accurate going forward, as fewer bots will be visiting your site. To use data segmentation, simply enter the domains that you don’t want to receive traffic from. Then, add a vertical bar between these domains to eliminate them.
The second step in minimizing bot traffic is to block known bad bots from interacting with your site. Many bot scripts are designed to perform the same action repeatedly, hoping that the bot will get it done quickly and effectively. Bot traffic can cause your site to lose a large chunk of its revenue, especially if it relies on paid advertisements and products. By ensuring your site is free of known bad bots, you can boost your website traffic.