Is it possible to block a certain country from being counted in GA4

[HFE Signs]

Hi Folks,

We seem to be getting a few bots on our site, not really doing any harm other than distorting our stats, I just wondered if it's possible to block a country from being counted in analytics? We had 204 visits in a 30minute window from Warsaw Poland

Thanks,

 

[ctrlbrk]

We had 204 visits in a 30minute window from Warsaw Poland

Same here. Could your situation be related to this thread?

I got referrals from the likes of a dodgy site. What does it mean?

Hi So in GA4 I got yesterday a "spike" in referral-type traffic. Looking at the origin, it appears to come from a site with domain ending in .patlik.site. I have removed the subdomain reference in case it is used as unique identifier but I tried going to that base URL and that serves as a...

www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk

 

[HFE Signs]

Same here. Could your situation be related to this thread?

I got referrals from the likes of a dodgy site. What does it mean?

Hi So in GA4 I got yesterday a "spike" in referral-type traffic. Looking at the origin, it appears to come from a site with domain ending in .patlik.site. I have removed the subdomain reference in case it is used as unique identifier but I tried going to that base URL and that serves as a...

www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk

Thanks for this, yep, seems like the same

 

[ServWise]

You are not alone, there are a lot of people with this referrer traffic in GA recently, not even related to the site traffic itself, I have it on two sites and it's on the site root / that does not even have GA code (or any code for that matter as it just redirects to a site language page) and checking my server logs the Poland traffic does not exist so someone is faking it.

 

[fantheflames]

@ServWise which means that IP blocking wouldn't really help things then! I'd be interested to know the next steps here.

 

[fisicx]

I use clicky. Blocks bots by default. And a much better analytics package.

Privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative | Real-time Web Analytics | Clicky

Clicky's privacy-friendly web analytics is simply the best Google Analytics alternative. Monitor, analyze, & react to your website's traffic in real-time.

clicky.com

 

[Dany Grantsev]

Hi Folks,

We seem to be getting a few bots on our site, not really doing any harm other than distorting our stats, I just wondered if it's possible to block a country from being counted in analytics? We had 204 visits in a 30minute window from Warsaw Poland

Thanks,

Sure, you can exclude traffic from specific countries in Google Analytics. I have helped my clients with this issue many times.

 

[Banksbroo]

I had this too on a site I manage, if you bury deep in GA4 there is a way to exclude domains from results. This recent spate of referral spam seems to use less common domain extensions, so I excluded for "ends in" .site, .online etc which would just be spammy sites anyway.
The guide I used was from a UK site called ccdigital (I've no connection to them) Not sure if I can post link, but google search for "weird-ga4-referral-traffic-from-newsgretsstore-and-staticsederswebsite-heres-why-what-to-do" sorted it for me, took me 10 mins (and I find GA4 hard going!)

 

[ctrlbrk]

Thanks @Banksbroo

Posting that link you menioned here:

Weird GA4 Referral Traffic From news.grets.store, and static.seders.website? Here’s Why And What To Do. — CC Digital

"news.grets.store," "static.seders.website," "info.seders.website," "kar.razas.site," causing issues? Lucky for you I've done the hard work for you and have got to the bottom of whats going on here.

www.ccdigital.co.uk

Also of note in the article:

Here’s the lowdown on why they do it:

• Seeking the Spotlight: Imagine throwing a party nobody knows about. That's the last thing spammers want. By flooding your analytics with their URLs, they're hoping you'll get curious, click through, and voilà, their site gets the limelight. It's all about grabbing your attention to boost their site's visibility and traffic, albeit in a not-so-legit way.
• The Backlink Game: When these spammy URLs show up in your analytics, they often score backlinks from sites that might publish their traffic data or unknowingly share it. This can puff up their perceived importance and rankings in search engine results, making them look more reputable than they really are.
• Luring into Traps: Some of these referrals are bait, leading unsuspecting webmasters to sites loaded with malware or phishing scams. The goal? To compromise your security or wheedle out sensitive information under false pretenses. This is why I mentioned earlier not to click the links.
• SEO Shenanigans: By generating a flood of fake visits loaded with specific keywords, these spammers aim to mess with search engine rankings. It’s a sneaky side of the broader, shadowy world of black-hat SEO tactics.
• Duping for Dollars: Affiliate marketing can be a legitimate way to earn a buck, but not like this. Spammers use referrer spam to mimic referral traffic to affiliate sites, hoping to rake in commissions on these ghost referrals.

In essence, this spooky traffic isn't just a benign blip on your analytics radar. It's a multifaceted strategy by spammers to manipulate, deceive, and benefit from the digital ecosystem's intricacies.

 

[NickZ]

Dynamic IP pools change their country quite frequently.
So an IP of the UK 2024 could be an IP used in Australia a year later.
ipxo.com/ip-marketplace/
iam-media.com/report/special-reports/q3-2021/article/iams-top-40-market-makers