In the past month, we have been noticing a high volume of referrals coming from semalt.com domain with hundreds of sub-domains on several of clients’ Google Analytics. After some research we are finding that this is really skewing our stats. High referrals with 100% bounce rates.
.htaccess Solution
For our WordPress Maintenance Plan customers, we have implemented a fix and changed the .htaccess file to block all traffic from semalt.com and identified it as a spammer. We feel that blocking access to the site itself is a better method and first option to clean up your analytic stats.
Google Analytics Solution
Another option would be to filter semalt.com traffic, so it does not add data to Google Analytics. This does not remove the existing data in your reports, but from this point on will exclude it.
To filter semalt.com in Google Analytics follow these instructions.
- Go to Admin > Filters > +New Filter.
- Filter Name: Exclude semalt.com
- Use Preloaded filter with Exclude | Traffic from the ISP domain | that are equal to
- From ISP Domain: semalt.com
- Save
When you view your stats, Google Analytics will display a warning message indicating that you are filtering your data.
Avoid semalt.com remove site from seed list form.
Semalt.com does provide a form to request your site(s) to be removed from their database. We highly recommend not filling this out. Like so many other spammers, request removal from their database list is most likely a collection method or worst. Why should you request to be removed from a list you never requested to be put on? Also, unlike other crawlers, they do not disrupt your analytics.
Need help?
Access your .htaccess file can be a little daunting. If you need help, call our office. We provide a range of maintenance services to assist you and your business.