20 Tips for Identifying Whether Your Increased Traffic is Actually Spam
From discussions on the same over at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, getting large increases in traffic without any explanation can be a sign that you are being hit by spam. Spam usually comes in the form of ‘direct’ traffic. The good news is that there are some ways to identify if you are being hit by spam. Continue reading to find tips to identify whether your increased traffic is actually spam.
Gaining a large number of visitors overnight
As per RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, 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 have gained a large number of visitors overnight. This should raise a red flag when it starts affecting your website’s performance.
Examine the location of the users
Examining the location of the users is a great way to identify a source of spam traffic. 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.
Never use location as a filter in Google analytics
Continuing from the previous point, you should also never use location as a filter in Google Analytics because it might contain legitimate traffic from the same region according to RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. By understanding the location of the visitors, you can determine whether or not they are part of the spam network.
Check the IP address
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. Therefore, the next time you see a spike in traffic, look for this IP address. You might notice a new region or country, and if this is the case, then that is likely spam.
Check the Average Session Duration
Average Session Duration in Google Analytics shares how long, on average, a user has spent on a website during one session. Generally, spam traffic doesn’t spend long on a website. This is because, spam traffic isn’t browsing the site – it is not reading blogs or researching the products or services provided – instead, spam traffic usually lands on a page, then bounces.
Check the Bounce Rate
Bounce Rate on Google Analytics is a very useful metric for indicating that there is a problem on the site. As articulated at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, the Bounce Rate metric shares the percentage of users who visited one page on the site, didn’t engage, didn’t click to another page, and left. This metric could be used to identify spam.
Not all pages with a high bounce rate indicate a problem
As always with SEO and data analysis, you need to contextualize the data. Not all pages with a high bounce rate indicate a problem. For example, organic traffic might search “brand name + telephone number”, visit the contact page from SERPs, grab the number, and leave to make a call. It is a bounce, but it is not a bad thing as the user was served.
Check numerous data points before making a judgment
As already mentioned, you can’t go on bounce rates alone when trying to determine if the increase in traffic is spam as captured at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. This is why it is important to check numerous data points before assuming increased traffic is spam.
Pages per Session
If there is quality traffic on-site (meaning that there is no spam), then you can expect to see users viewing multiple pages per session. Naturally, engaged traffic clicks around the site. Spam traffic is most likely going to view 1.00 (or a very low number of) pages. If the Pages Per Session metric is plummeting with increased traffic, then it is a strong indicator that the traffic is spam.
New Users
If Google Analytics is reporting 100% new users to a site or a significant increase in new users, then this may be spam traffic. To determine if new users have spiked, compare the percentage of new users with historic data and look out for a spike.
Third-party sources
Another way to determine if your increased traffic is spam is to check whether it is coming from third-party sources as covered at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. Many users today expect sites to load quickly. High bounce rates may indicate that your site is not loading fast enough, which could be because the link was placed on a third-party page with no explanation.
Referral traffic
You should also check your traffic sources as spam traffic is often hidden in referral traffic. By looking at the data under Traffic Sources, you can find which links are sending spammy traffic, then you can decide what to do about it.
Spam and the ‘size’ of the website
As described at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, an increase in spam traffic from a referral can go unnoticed on websites with a high volume of genuine traffic, since it is often a minor inflation and impactless. However, spam traffic can have a greater impact on smaller or new websites since it can largely skew data by percentage.
Traffic from countries that are not targeted by the digital strategy
As already mentioned, you should check the geographic implications of your traffic if you want to identify whether your increased traffic is actually spam. This is because another indicator of spam traffic is increased traffic from countries that aren’t targeted by the digital strategy.
An increase in traffic only should not be enough to indicate spam
It is incredibly important to reiterate that to decide whether or not traffic is spam, numerous indicators of spam traffic must be present. It is not enough to see an increase in traffic from a non-target country and assume it is spam. Always do your due diligence and check different reports before reacting to potential spam.
Identify which domains are sending bot traffic
Bots make up more than half of all internet traffic, and the sophistication of these bots is increasing as discussed at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. 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.
Block known bad bots
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. By ensuring your site is free of known bad bots, you can boost your website traffic.
Disavow spam backlinks
If you have checked multiple metrics and see at least a few indicators that your traffic spike might be the result of increasing spam, one of the actions you can take is to disavow spam backlinks as outlined at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com.
Filter spam traffic in Google Analytics
Given that Google is pretty well informed about which websites drive spam traffic and which don’t, you can avoid risky disavows, and instead, simply set Google Analytics to filter out bot traffic, a process you should familiarize yourself with.
Keep an eye on spam traffic
Finally, it is important to note that all websites have a percentage of spam traffic, and how to deal with it depends on the website, the impact of the spam, and the potential harm. It is wise to be diligent and stay close to the data so you can spot a problem if it arises.
These are some of the ways you can identify spam and how to deal with it, with more on this topic, and then some, to be found over at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com.