samedi 6 février 2016

Spam Referrer : fake traffic and infernal bounce rate !

Today, as i was looking to one of my website's statistics, I found an important trafic coming from referral websites  with a bounce rate close to 100%. After some investigations and the advices of Guillaume Eouzan from the Mindfruit agency, it happen to be spam referrer that is growing since the 2015's summer.

I did some research and had a deep look to my Google Analytics accounts and saw that some referral domains came really often on different websites, always with that awfull bounce rate. That's why I thougt it would be interrestic to write a little article to exchange on the subject and propose the solution I found to prevent and protect from Spam Referrer.

How to know if I'm attacked by Spam Refferal ?


Spam Referrer : from which websites to protect ?



The list of websites attacking you with spam referrer can be found (or guessed) in your Google Analytics account looking to how your bounce rate is composed. To find this list, loggin to your Analytics account and follow the indications :

  • In the « Acquisition » pannel, go to « Presentation ». You will find there your trafic sorted by acquisition channel : paying trafic (Adwords), organic (natural SEO), direct (access by the url), social (social networks) and… Referral, the one that is interesting us today. I put you an exemple found on one on my websites (here a non-merchand). On this page we clearly see Spam Referrer with a bounce rate 20 times superior to the average bounce rate on the other acquisitions channels… This spam referrer situation is sky rocketing the general bounce rate on this website by somthing close to x3… Embarassing !

  • Then clic on « Refferal » to access the list of websites generating traffic on your account. You can have a first guess of which websites could be spam referrers looking to the individual bounce rate... Spam Referrers are generally generating traffic with a bounce rate close to 100%.


    Here it is... You can know guess your Spam Referrer list indicating which websites are injuring your Google Analytics statistics ! Then you could check what is told about that websites on the Internet and see if they truly are spam referrers or if you have a quality problem on your website's content ;-)

Websites known as Spam Referrer :

I had been able to find some lists presenting websites known as Spam Referrer, I don't want to blame them without more investigations… But as I found some of them in 7 of 10 the 10 Google Analytics accounts I studied today, I chose to block that urls. You will find at bellow the list I used referring to the articles at the end of the post and the urls found in my GA accounts.


How to protect from Spam Refferer?

How to protect your stats from Spam Referrer on Google Analytics :


To block url you identified as Spam Referrer, get connected to your Google Analytics account, once your logged :

  • Clic on the « Admin » link in the principal menu
  • Get to the « Referral Website Exclusion » via the « Tracking Informations » button in the Admin pannel













  • Now you could exclude websites from you Google Analytics stats by adding their urls one by one. Indicate every website you want to be protected from !

    • How to protect from Spam Refferer using Htaccess file :

    It seem to be several ways (or codes) to protect you from Spam Referrer (deflecting, blacklisting, pluggins), you will find all of that methods presented in the sources articles at the end of the post or having a quick search on the Internet. I personally chose (but it's up to you) to use a basic htacess pice of code looking like :
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} websiteurl.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteRule .* - [F]

    Which lead me to use the following code in my .htacess file (be carrefull, modify your htacess file only if you know what you are doing)

    ## SITE REFERRER BANNING
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} cadf\.ly [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} black-friday\.ga [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} boost-my-site\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} cyber-monday\.ga [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} hosting-tracker\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} quit-smoking\.ga [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ranksonic\.net [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} santasgift\.ml [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} traffic2cash\.org [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} traffic2cash\.xyz [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} w3javascript\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} website-stealer-warning.hdmoviecamera\.net [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} website-stealer.nufaq\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} website-stealer.nufaq\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} claim61056260.copyrightclaims\.org [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} googlemare\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} o-o-8-o-o\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} semalt\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} Darodar\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} Priceg\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} 7makemoneyonline\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} Buttons-for-website\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} Ilovevitaly\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} Blackhatworth\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} Econom\.co [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} Iskalko\.ru [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} Lomb\.co [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} Lombia\.co [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} cenoval\.ru [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} humanorightswatch\.org [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} simple-share-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} sharebutton\.org [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} s.click.aliexpress\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} social-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} anticrawler\.org [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site12.social-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} adcash\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} adviceforum\.info [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} anticrawler\.org [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} blackhatworth\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} cenokos\.ru [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} cityadspix\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} edakgfvwql\.ru [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} gobongo\.info [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} iskalko\.ru [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} kambasoft\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} luxup\.ru [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} myftpupload\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} prodvigator\.ua [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} resellerclub\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} savetubevideo\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} screentoolkit\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} seoexperimenty\.ru [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} slftsdybbg\.ru [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} socialseet\.ru [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} superiends\.org [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} vodkoved\.ru [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} websocial\.me [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ykecwqlixx\.ru [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} 76brighton\.co\.uk [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} paparazzistudios\.com\.au [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} powitania\.pl [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} sharebutton\.net [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} tasteidea\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} descargar-musica-gratis\.net [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} torontoplumbinggroup\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} cyprusbuyproperties\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} 4webmasters\.org [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ranksonic\.org [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} best-seo-solution\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} get-free-traffic-now\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} googlsucks\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} Buttons-for-your-website\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} Best-seo-offer\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} offers.bycontext\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} www1.social-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} website-errors-scanner\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} free-share-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} theguardlan\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} buy-cheap-online\.info [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} iloveitaly\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} iloveitaly\.co [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} sexyteens.hol\.es [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} anal-acrobats.hol\.es [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(www\.)?([a-z0-9-]+)\.social-buttons\.com$ [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site32.simple-share-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} shopping.iLoveVitaly\.ru [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} iLoveVitaly\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} shopping.iLoveVitaly\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} darodar\.comredirect [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} darodar\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} blackhatworth\.com [NC,OR] 
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} priceg\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} s.click.aliexpress\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} event-tracking\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} guardlink\.org [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} sitevaluation\.org [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} www.event-tracking\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} best-seo-offer\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} 100dollars-seo\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} www10.free-social-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} free-social-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} webmonetizer\.net [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} forum.topic64196891.darodar\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} dailyrank\.net [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} forum.topic63212415.darodar\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} comarch\.ru [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} www2.free-social-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} forum.topic64295261.darodar\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} www1.free-social-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} www5.free-social-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} semaltmedia\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} www6.free-social-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} guardlink\.org [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site3.free-share-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site4.free-share-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} buy-cheap-online\.info [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site1.floating-share-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} domination\.ml [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site6.free-share-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} webmonetizer\.net [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} success-seo\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site3.floating-share-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site5.floating-share-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site4.floating-share-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} floating-share-buttons\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} success-seo\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} e-buyeasy\.com [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} 4webmasters\.org [NC]
    RewriteRule .* - [F]

    I hope that this little post could help you fighting this undying phenomen.

    Sources :
    https://www.optimizesmart.com/geek-guide-removing-referrer-spam-google-analytics/
    https://raventools.com/blog/stop-referrer-spam/
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