Semalt Expert: Reasons To Use Google Analytics

It does not matter whether you have owned a domain for many years running or just for a few days, there are two important Google Analytics filters you need to use. The reasons for this is to ensure that the reports generated are always accurate, and you will continue to enjoy profitable traffic.

First of all, no self-respecting online entrepreneur having a site can do without a Google Analytics account that is free and easy to create. It should be a must for all businesses, which makes the person having it the smartest business owners. Also, as an admin, one should not overlook the admin options to create the filters. Most people forget that the power to create the most significant and reliable data lies in the admin function of Google Analytics.

Artem Abgarian, the Senior Customer Success Manager of Semalt, offers you to get acquainted with the following two filters that are sure to make a huge difference in the accuracy of all monthly reports from Google Analytics.

Option 1

As mentioned earlier, one thing to watch out for is referral spam. Google Analytics tracks the owner's activity by default. It is an issue which does not help when determining such things as the top landing pages, the correct conversion rates, time spent on the site or the pages per visits. The simplest way to fix this problem is to create a filter that blocks all traffic coming from a particular or range of IP addresses. To achieve this, take the following steps:

• Go to the admin tab and select filters;
• Create a new filter "+New Filter";
• Name the new filter;
• Make sure to check the box for the predefined filter;
• Choose to exclude traffic from an IP address;
• The next step is to insert the specific address one wants to eliminate. Google "what's my IP" to determine the current IP address;
• Save.

Option 2

Some companies are too lazy to create source codes for their websites. Instead, they steal source codes from other companies and use them as their own. Despite the fact that it is shameful and pathetic, it is something that business owners have to deal with from time to time. Such actions can impact the traffic information for a site since some of these companies taking part in the hacking forget to remove the Google Analytics script from the code. Eventually, both the traffic from the original owner and the other company combines and mixes traffic data. The only way to fix such an error is to set up a filter which only accepts the traffic that comes from company's domain. Here is how to do this:

• Up to the point where one has to check the predefined filter box, choose to include only the traffic to the hostname that contains the root domain alone;
• Input the root domain;
• Save.