How to Block Okout.ru Referral Spam in Google Analytics
3 Methods: Campaign Source Filter | Campaign Referral Path Filter | Language Settings Filter
Okout.ru referral spam promotes advertisements and websites in your Google Analytics data.
Okout.ru (also known as Advertise.ru) is a Russian advertising network that offers a referral advertising (referrer spam) package for websites who want to spam their content around the web. If you are spammed by the ad network you will notice unusual amounts of okout.ru referral traffic in your Google Analytics reports from paths like: okout.ru/a00af605. Beware of the webpages spammed by okout.ru, they might contain very graphic content.
Referrer spam is a blackhat marketing tactic that allows a person to target Google Analytics data. 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 website offers this blackhat SEO service to websites desperate enough to purchase it.
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.
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 Okout.ru 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 | Okout.ru
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
