How to block analytics-ads.xyz referral spam in Google Analytics

3 Methods: Campaign Source Filter  |  Campaign Referral Path Filter | Language Settings Filter

What is analytics-ads.xyz?

Analytics-ads.xyz is a website that claims to be owned by well-known Russian spammer Vitaly Poplov; However, Vitaly does not own it. The website is used by an unknown spammer trying to profit on Vitaly’s name. The spammer will spam your Google Analytics data with fake referral traffic from the webiste in order to get your attention and provoke you to visit the URL in your browser. This is a blackhat SEO tactic known as referrer spam. The website acts as an advertising platform for the spammer and his alleged blackhat Google Analytics services. The website claims “Your advertising will see 7816821 webmasters. If you are interested in Webmaster traffic, email me.” The website also says “Vitaly rules Google” on the homepage.

Referrer spam is a blackhat online marketing strategy that allows a spammer to target Google Analytics accounts around the world with deceptive referral traffic. The spammer will make it appear as if visitors were referred to your website from a third-party domain name even though no one actually stepped foot on your server. This is not the type of service you want associated with your website. If your website is associated with referrer spam it is likely that you will become blacklisted around the web as spam.

Although referrer spam can ruin your analytical data it will not harm your website or affect your website’s SEO, including your rank in Google search results pages. This is simply spam that wants to get your attention. Here are a few ways to block analytics-ads.xyz referral spam in Google Analytics:

Campaign Source Filter

A campaign source filter is a simple exclude filter that blocks referrals from a domain name in Google Analytics.

1. Open your Google Analytics account and go to the Admin tab > Click Filters on the right side in the VIEW section.

2. Click the + ADD FILTER button to create a new exclude filter.

3. Add Campaign Source Filter as the Filter Name.

4. Select the Custom Filter Type.

5. In Filter Field, find and select Campaign Source in the list. In the Filter Pattern text box, add Analytics-ads.xyz and click the blue Save button on the bottom of the webpage. To add multiple URLs to the same filter you can make a Filter Pattern similar to this with a | between each URL: Example.com | Example\.com | Analytics-ads.xyz

Campaign Referral Path Filter

A campaign referral path filter can be used to block a string of the URL path if you are getting spammed by webpages on legitimate websites. This filter will not block referrals in Google Analytics from the entire domain name; just the webpage.

1. Open your Google Analytics account and go to the Admin tab > Click Filters on the right side in the VIEW section.

2. Click the + ADD FILTER button to create a new exclude filter.

3. Add Campaign Referral Path as the Filter Name.

4. Select the Custom Filter Type.

5. In Filter Field, find and select Campaign Referral Path in the list. In the Filter Pattern text box, add a partial string of the URL (permalink) and click the blue Save button on the bottom of the webpage.

Language Settings Filter

A language settings filter can be used to block language spam in Google Analytics.

1. Log in to your Google Analytics account and go to the Admin tab

2. In the “View” column select Filters and then click + Add Filter

3. Add a Filter Name: Language Spam (or something you can easily remember)

4. Go to: Filter Type > Custom > Exclude

5. Select Filter Field: Language settings

6. Add a Filter Pattern: \s[^s]*\s|.{15,}|\.|,

7. Click on the blue text that says Verify this filter to see a preview table of how this filter will work in your account. You should only see language spam on the left side of the table: filter-verification-language-spam

8. After you verify the filter click the Save button on the bottom of the page