Semalt Expert – How To Remove Darodar Referrer Spam From Google Analytics?

Referrer spam can be a significant issue which faces a majority of the website owners. For instance, there occur numerous cases whereby Google Analytics records multiple web visits which do not necessarily mean they reach your website. Darodar is a domain which makes spam visits to a site. This technique is standard for black hat hackers. Darodar happens to be a third-party bot, just like the web crawlers which common search engines use to get to clients. Most people operating websites or SEO agencies need to develop effective ways of stopping Darodar.

Some of the ways, provided by Artem Abgarian, the Senior Customer Success Manager of Semalt, to help you remove this bot from Google Analytics are as follows:

Request to remove it from their website

One native way of dealing with Darodar can be requesting them to stop their bot. You can fill out a simple form they provide and mark the websites you do not want them to visit.

Block Darodar from crawling your website

For websites using an Apache server, dropping a .htaccess file on the root of your directory can prevent Darodar from showing up. Common search engine bots will still see your website, but Darodar won't. From their panel, they will see a 403-status code response. They do not have the authority to see that page, which means that GA tracking code will not execute to record the visit. You can run codes like:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (.*)darodar.com [NC]

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ – [F]

It is essential to be careful while running such code on your website. Consulting a website developer for this step can be a worthwhile venture. Any error in this step could result in the entire site failing to load.

Apply custom filters in Google Analytics

For people with Google Analytics account, dealing with Darodar can be easy. Individual filters can be helpful in removing from Google Analytics as well as stopping future Darodar referrals. To perform this task, you can log in to your GA account. From the admin tab on the top right corner, you can add a filter in the all filters tab. You can put in Darodar removal in the filter box. Set the filter type to exclude. The referral radio button should be set at excluding. This customization can keep the referral traffic away from your Google Analytics. Moreover, it is possible to apply other custom filters such as IP address. Always remember to save the changes you make before leaving the customization page. These filters can block these bots.

Conclusion

Removing Darodar from Google Analytics can decrease your website statistics to zero. In some cases, such traffic will still show up in your previous website stats. However, you can use this guideline to remove it from your website. Similarly, you can make meaningful adjustments to your site campaign.