How to Filter Language Spam in Google Analytics

1 Method: How to Block Language Spam in Google Analytics

Google Analytics spam is quickly growing and becoming a concern with many webmasters and website owners. Spammers are using more methods to spam Google Analytics accounts than ever before and ways to block spam in Google Analytics changes as spammers find ways to get around them.

One new way spammers are using to get into our Google Analytics data is by using the language dimension with a message. Spammers are using the Language dimension to send messages to those who monitor Google Analytics data. One of the most recent instances occurred with a Russian spammer started to use the Language dimension to spam his support for Donald Trump.

How to Block Language Spam in Google Analytics

In order to block language spam in Google Analytics it is recommended to create an exclude filter for language spam using the “language setting” filter type.

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

block language spam in google analytics — The numbers in the image do not represent the numerical order of steps

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

Written by

Sean Moran

Sean Moran is a distinguished tech author and entrepreneur with over 20 years of extensive experience in cybersecurity, privacy, malware, Google Analytics, online marketing, and various other tech domains. His expertise and contributions to the industry have been recognized in numerous esteemed publications. Sean is widely acclaimed for his sharp intellect and innovative insights, solidifying his reputation as a leading figure in the tech community. His work not only advances the field but also helps businesses and individuals navigate the complexities of the digital world.

5 Comments

papang says:

May 19, 2018 at 5:08 pm

hi sean, thanks for your sharing. this is very useful to me.

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Stuart says:

June 5, 2017 at 3:15 pm

Nice solution Sean, this is definitely solve my problem.

Regards,

Stuart

Admin of https://svgtopng.org/

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Napitoe says:

May 18, 2017 at 4:44 am

Hi Sean Doyle,

Your information is very informative. I like it.

I know, how to defense spam in google analytics.

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Sarumpun says:

December 18, 2016 at 11:56 am

Hi Sean Doyle, The language makes me anxious and uncomfortable. Now the issue has been resolved in a way that you give. Thank you..

Greetings from the State Indonesia

Reply
Laurie says:

December 6, 2016 at 5:54 pm

Hi Sean,
Thanks for the post. Great idea!

Quick FYI — I think your filter pattern has a slight error.

You want the first part to match any whitespace, followed by 0 or more non-whitespace, followed by another whitespace. The expression in your post is missing a backslash after the carrot. (You need to escape that “s”, otherwise it will match 0 or more non-s characters, instead of non-whitespace characters.) You can test it out here: https://regex101.com/
Thanks again,
laurie

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