How to block keyword spam

Keyword spam is very similar to referrer spam. Referrer spam itself has been a very active issue for quite a few months. However, this time around a new spam tactic has been introduced alongside referrer spamming and it’s called “keyword spamming.” This method used is a little different that referrer spam because it uses search terms to clunk up your Google Analytics data and promote the webpages it wants people to visit.

Why is keyword spam showing up in my Google Analytics?

Keyword spam is a very questionable tactic used to promote online content. Keyword spammers use this tactic for several reasons:

• Keyword spammers want to promote a specific webpage or program and want webmasters to visit the webpage or search for it online and visit it through Google results pages.
• Keyword spammers want to boost their rank in Google Search and acquire backlinks by generating dubious keywords associated with a hostname webpage.

Keyword spam is not entirely dangerous to your website. It will most likely not cause any trouble with how your website is accessed by your visitors or ranked by Google. However, in some cases keyword spam may use up your website’s bandwidth and CPU by creating multiple site requests to your website. In other cases, keyword spam is generated by traffic bots which create ghosts hits and never actually land on your website.

Keyword spam can mess up your Google Analytics data. Keyword spam can ruin your website’s bounce rate. Search term traffic from dubious keyword spam hostname URLs mostly land on a single page on your website. They also leave from a single page. This can cause problems measuring your website’s appropriate bounce rate. Keyword spam can also ruin other Google Analytics data including your Acquisition and Behavior data. Since keyword spam only shows up in your Google Analytics metrics you can create a filter to block keyword spam using your GA account.

How to block keyword spam

At the moment, the only way to stop keyword spam is to make an exclude filter in your Google Analytics account.

1. Go to the Admin tab

2. Select All Filters in the Account section and click New Filter

3. For the filter name put the keyword spam content you want to block

4. In Filter Type choose Custom Filter > Exclude Filter > Field: Campaign Term > Filter Pattern: Enter the keyword spam content you want to block