Identify and Remove referrer spam from Google Analytics using Power BI

There are a lot of blog posts aiding people to get rid of referrer spam in Google Analytics and although they are effective, the spammers are usually one step ahead of you, and spam will find its way in your data.

How serious is the problem?

It varies depending if you have a lot or a little traffic and whether spammers are targeting your site or if it is a random attack.

I wanted to find out how serious the problem was for some of the sites I manage, and here is what I found out using our growth dashboard:

Before removing the spam:

After removing Spam:

So, for this site 1% of the monthly growth is caused by spam…Not good right?

Ok, so how did I do that?  Lets go through the steps and the new dashboard.

What insights can we get with this dashboard?

In this dashboard you will be able to understand:

• Spam that has gone through despite the filters from referspamblocker.
• Identify potential spammers that are not yet caught by referrerspamblocker and add them to your own spam list and filters.
• Basically, keep your data spam-free!

Watch it on 

If you would like to see a live version of the dashboard or learn how to build it, you can watch it in our YouTube Channel. If you want to download the file, you will be able to do it down below.

How to keep spam away proactively

With this dashboard, you will be able to keep spam away from your data, but it is good practice to filter out the spam before it hits the views you use for reporting.

I use a service provided by referrerspamblocker, that automatically sets spam filters on your Google analytics account and it does it for free!

I really recommend you to use their service, and then use my method for the spam that still makes its way in your data.

 Download the Power BI file

Don’t want to create the Power BI file? If you are a member on our site (it’s free), you can download it below.

You will need also to change the data source from my account to your Google account.

Do you need help creating the file or setting up your account? Contact me for more details.

Members Download center:

This download is for Curbal Members only. If you have a membership, please login and download the files from our download center *HERE*, if not, register!