Filter Web Robots from Analytics | Weboptim
What is "semalt.com"?
...and why we see it more and more in our Google Analytics account?
You are also increasingly coming across the following source in your Google Analytics account: semalt.com. Is your website not only visited from here, but also from various sub-domains?
Typically from different regions around the world, at different times, but always "visiting" only one page, 100% bounce rate, 100% new user rate and always spending 0 minutes on our site.
Clearly it's a robot, but what exactly is it, how can it spread so quickly, and why is it cluttering up my Google Analytics account?
A semalt.com It advertises itself as an SEO company, offers professional SEO services, free plans etc...of course you have to register on their site. I overcame my curiosity and recommend the same to everyone.
The company is named after a Ukrainian start-up. In fact, it is a malicious botnet (botnet = zombie cheetah) that is growing and spreading very fast on the Internet by infecting computers.
Objective of: illegal activity to influence Google's ranking technique, specifically to create backlinks to a particular URL.
According to 2014 data from the security firm Incapsula, 300,000 machines around the world were infected, of which 60% were located in Brazil. It uses them to carry out attacks targeting various less protected websites.
How can we protect ourselves against it?
- Google Analytics from our account can be found at the display of these results
- WordPress forums, you can also read how to modify the .htaccess file, blocking Semalt's attacks.
Don't be too naive, don't expect Semalt to provide a solution!
Unsurprisingly, the internet is full of questions from users asking what Semalt is, how harmful it is, how to get rid of it, how to protect against it, how to ban it, etc.
More surprising to me, I met a Nataliya Khachaturyan on a Google forum, who, as a representative of Semalt, politely apologised to everyone for the inconvenience caused and offered a link to a solution for all those who had discussed the problem. Another surprise was that there were some gullible users who tried the solution he suggested. They then cried out in alarm for help that their Analytics data had been lost.
Web robots are on the rise, with more and more robotic sites besides semalt among the sources of traffic to your website:
|
|
With one click, the solution is integrated into your Analytics and you will see it as a segment:
