Combating Spam Traffic in Google Analytics 4

Have you experienced a strange spike in traffic recently, all coming from Poland and with 0% engagement? You’re not alone! Several Google Analytics 4 users have reported a similar trend in their data and, while there is no one-size-fits-all solution, the following will help you identify where this spam traffic is coming from and filter it to ensure your reports remain as accurate as possible.

This process has three main steps, described below:

Spam traffic in the context of website analytics refers to the influx of web traffic generated by bots, fraudulent sources, or unsolicited referrals. This type of traffic is known to skew data, creating misleading analytics that can obscure real user behavior and website performance.

Spam traffic often manifests through ghost visits, referral spam, or fake visits, saturating reports with irrelevant data. The presence of spam traffic not only distorts key metrics like session duration, bounce rate, and user engagement, but also poses security risks and can affect a website’s credibility. Recognizing and filtering spam traffic is essential to maintaining accurate and actionable analytics and ensuring website data integrity.

News.Grets.Store has been identified as an adware distributor, representing a significant concern in the digital landscape. Adware, software designed to bombard your device with unwanted ads, often infiltrates systems without the user’s consent. This not only disrupts the user experience with intrusive pop-ups and banners but also raises privacy and data security concerns.

By generating fake traffic to various websites, adware operators can cause confusion and disruptions in site analytics. This can make it harder for site owners to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate traffic, potentially leading to poorly informed business decisions.

1. Locate the Spam Referral IPs.

The first step to ensuring unwanted traffic doesn’t show up in Google Analytics is to find the IP address of the sites. To do this, explore your GA4 property, identify the spam websites, and then find the site’s IPs.

2. Filter IP Addresses in Google Analytics 4

Once you’ve identified where the spam is coming from, you need to enter the IP addresses in Google Analytics so it stops reporting spam data.

Steps:

3. Activate the IP Filter within Google Analytics 4

Once the IPs have been identified and entered into your tag’s internal filter, you need to ensure a data filter is active within your property so spam traffic no longer appears.

Steps:

4. Configure GTM Blocking Tags

After blocking within Google Analytics, it’s also recommended to install a GTM script to add to your Google Analytics 4 tag to exclude the flagged spam website sources.

Steps:

If you begin to notice other sources of spam traffic, you can add the domain to the referrer hostname rule trigger. See the bottom of the article for the most up-to-date list.

1. What is spam traffic in Google Analytics?

Spam traffic refers to the influx of web traffic generated by bots, fraudulent sources, or unsolicited referrals that can distort data and skew analytical reports.

2. What is News.Grets.Store and why is it concerning?

News.Grets.Store is an adware distributor generating fake traffic to websites, disrupting analytics and potentially impacting user experience and data security.

3. How can I identify spam referral IPs in Google Analytics 4?

To locate spam referral IPs, navigate to the traffic acquisition tab, identify spam sources, and use a domain lookup site to find the IP addresses associated with spam traffic.

4. How do I filter unwanted IP addresses in Google Analytics 4?

Go to the Admin Panel, navigate to Data Streams, configure tag settings, define internal traffic rules, add identified unwanted IPs, and save the settings.

5. How do I activate the IP filter in Google Analytics 4 to prevent spam traffic from being reported?

Go to the Admin Panel, navigate to Data Filters, select the Internal Traffic filter or create a new one, ensure it’s active, and save the filter settings.

For further questions or additional assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact our technical support team via email at [email protected] or through live chat from your client area.