• About
    • History of Dallas SEO
    • SEO Expert Witness Service
  • Contact
  • Topics
    • Bing
    • Blogging
    • Branding
    • Domain Names
    • Google
    • Internet Marketing
    • Link Building
    • Local Search
    • Marketing
    • Public Relations
    • Reputation Management
    • Search Engine Marketing
    • Search Engine Optimization
    • Search Engines
    • Social Media
    • Tech
  • Advertise
  • Email Newsletter

Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer on Search, Marketing, Tech, and Domains.

traffic analysis tools

Home » Google » Google Launches Google Analytics Demo Account, Includes Referral Spam

Google Launches Google Analytics Demo Account, Includes Referral Spam

Posted By Bill Hartzer on August 3, 2016at 2:41 pm

I applaud Google for launching a Google Analytics demo account, which anyone (with a Google Account) can access. Now we can use a real, live, Google Analytics account to play around with and look at the data. Quite often, it’s difficult to learn all of the Google Analytics features because some websites (in your Google Analytics account) may not have that feature. So this is all good. But there’s only one problem: even Google’s own demo account includes referral spam.

google demo account referral spam

If you look at the screen capture above, it shows that this website apparently has had 9 visitors from free-video-tool.com. Well, that’s absolutely NOT the case. The company that owns that website, related to semalt.com, is, in fact, a company that typically uses some sort of virus/malicious software/spam bot to “fake” traffic to websites. I have written about this before. Even now, two years later, this referral spam like this remains a big problem for Google Analytics users.

When you search for that website, you clearly can see that the website is associated with SEMalt.com, a very big referral spammer. Take a look below:

free video tool referral spam google analytics

Referral spam is especially a big problem for smaller websites, who typically only get 10 to 1000 visitors a day. On some days, referral spam can show up as high as 80 or 90 percent of that site’s daily traffic. So, a client may come to me thinking that they had a spike in traffic according to Google Analytics but, in fact, it’s just FAKE traffic.

Referral spam is where someone “fakes” that their website is sending visitors to your website. The theory is if you’re a website owner, you see this traffic from another website, you will investigate it. That website doing to the referral spam gets your attention.

As a digital marketer, a website owner, and a Google Analytics user, I have to say that ON A DAILY BASIS I have to deal with referral spam in Google Analytics. It’s a HUGE problem. Google must absolutely address this issue or I will stop using Google Analytics on my websites and tell my clients to stop using it. Period. Yes, it’s that bad.

There are solutions, and there are people who have come up with solutions to fix the referral spam issue, but that always involves setting up filters in GA so that you filter out all the spam. Well, honestly that’s not a solution.

The solution is for Google to fix the referral spam problem, once and for all.

Apparently Google hasn’t been able to deal with it, as they can’t even filter it out in their own demo account.

Filed Under: Google, Search Engines

traffic analysis tools

Listen to "Digital Marketing with Bill Hartzer" on Spreaker.

About Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer is CEO of Hartzer Consulting, LLC, an SEO Consulting firm that includes services such as search engine optimization, technical SEO audits, domain name consulting, and online reputation management.

Recent Posts

  • RightoftheDot Live Online Domain Auction February 25 February 18, 2021
  • Jabez LeBret on Digital PR, Journalism, and Media Coverage February 5, 2021
  • Someone Stole My Domain Name: Here’s What You Do February 1, 2021
  • 23 Top Level Domains TLDs Up for Auction January 27, 2021
  • GotConn Privacy Search Engine Launches January 26, 2021
  • Andrew Muller on Testing Google Ads Using Facebook Ads January 15, 2021
  • Mike Rhodes from Web Savvy On Google Ads January 8, 2021
  • How to Opt Out of Google Analytics December 16, 2020
  • Majestic Just Changed SEO and Linking Forever December 15, 2020
  • Yext Consumer Search Trend Predictions for 2020 December 8, 2020
  • SearchBox Launches SearchAI SmartSuggest, SearchAI Answers and SearchAI Personalization December 7, 2020
  • Google Poly is Shutting Down December 2, 2020
  • Domain Name Brokers Put FFF.com and HHH.com Domains Up for Sale December 1, 2020
  • Google Webmaster Tools Moves Twitter Account November 11, 2020
  • Email Deliverability, Setting Up DMARC, DKIM, and SPF on Your Domain October 29, 2020
  • The Bing Search Engine is Now Microsoft Bing October 6, 2020
  • Beck Power on Building Authority on Social Media and Repurposing Content October 2, 2020
  • Naira Perez on Paid Media, and an Intro to Social Paid Media, and Audiences September 17, 2020
  • Fake Birth Date Used on Google and Apple Accounts Is on Credit Report August 17, 2020
  • What is Bill Hartzer Disease? July 20, 2020

DFWSEM logo

Bill Hartzer is a Brand Ambassador for:



Industry Friends

WTFSEO
SEO By the Sea
Jeff Lenney
Jeff Gabriel
Phil Drinkwater
Dixon Jones

Connect With Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer on Twitter
Bill Hartzer on Instagram
Hartzer Consulting on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on YouTube

Categories

  • Advertising (19)
  • Bing Search Engine (6)
  • Blogging (42)
  • Branding (12)
  • Domain Names (200)
  • Google (228)
  • Internet Marketing (24)
  • Internet Usage (84)
  • Link Building (52)
  • Local Search (38)
  • Marketing (176)
  • Marketing Foo (30)
  • Pay Per Click (1)
  • Podcast (9)
  • Public Relations (8)
  • Reputation Management (9)
  • Search Engine Marketing (44)
  • Search Engine Marketing Events (47)
  • Search Engine Marketing Firms (19)
  • Search Engine Marketing Jobs (33)
  • Search Engine Optimization (156)
  • Search Engines (203)
  • Social Media (187)
  • Tech (7)
  • Web Analytics (16)




Note: All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this website are for identification purposes only, and are mentioned only to help my readers. All other trademarks cited herein are the property of their respective owners. Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement.




Hartzer Consulting



Website, Content, and Marketing by Hartzer Consulting, LLC.

Copyright © 2021 by Bill Hartzer and Hartzer Consulting, LLC.

Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
Go to mobile version