How to Identify Bot Traffic in Google Analytics

Data drives decisions in the digital age.

Of the many tools available to transform raw numbers into actionable insights, Google Analytics serves as the backbone for the majority of businesses. It can provide amazing insights into user behavior, traffic patterns, and marketing effectiveness. However, that depends on the quality of your traffic.

Chances are, not all traffic that hits your website is genuine. Some of it may be generated by bots. While the latest iteration of Google Analytics (GA4) offers built-in tools to filter out known bots and spiders, these measures are not foolproof. Join us as we cover the ins and outs of how to identify bot traffic in Google Analytics.

The Basics of Google Analytics and Bot Traffic

You’ve likely seen the headlines that bots are taking over the Internet. This isn’t hyperbole. Forbes recently reported how bots account for nearly half of all Internet traffic globally. Bad bots are responsible for around a third.

Bot traffic refers to any non-human traffic to a website, and each year this type of traffic increases./ At this rate, it won’t be long until the majority of Internet traffic comes from automated bots.

These automated scripts and programs that perform tasks over the internet can include:

• Search Engine Spiders: Also known as web crawlers or bots, these are automated scripts used by search engines like Google to browse the web systematically. Their primary function is to index the content of websites, which helps in updating their search results. They are considered to be “good bots.”
• Scrapers: These automated scripts are designed to extract data from websites. Scrapers can be used for anything from gathering prices from eCommerce sites to collecting articles from news sites. While the majority of scrapers are benign, they can also be used maliciously to copy content.
• Malicious Bots: These are automated scripts that are designed exclusively to carry out harmful activities. These bad bots are often sophisticated and designed to evade detection. They can even mimic human behavior to try to spread malware, steal data, or commit ad fraud.

How Bot Traffic Affects Google Analytics

As you can see, each type of bot interacts with web environments differently. While not all bots are “bad,” this type of non-human traffic, regardless of the intent, can still impact your web analytics. 

Bot traffic can inflate your metrics. The inflated numbers can lead to inaccurate reports on user engagement, conversion rates, and overall traffic. This distortion makes it challenging for businesses to make informed decisions based on their Google Analytics data. For example, a high volume of bot visits could suggest more site engagement than there actually is, affecting marketing strategies and budget allocations.

How to Identify Bot Traffic in GA4

Identifying bot traffic in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is essential for maintaining accurate data analytics. Here are some of the red flags to look out for that can help you identify bot traffic in GA4.

• Analyze Traffic Anomalies: Regularly review your analytics for sudden spikes or unusual patterns in traffic. Significant and unexplained increases in page views, new users, or events could indicate bot activities. 
• Monitor Bounce Rate and Session Duration: Bots typically have either a 100% bounce rate or an unusually low bounce rate, and they may spend very little time on pages. 
• Check Geographic Irregularities: If your analytics show an unexpected amount of traffic from countries where you do not market your products or services, it could be bot traffic. 

Best Practices for Google Analytics Bot Filtering

The good news is that in Google Analytics 4 properties, traffic from known bots and spiders is automatically excluded. Google uses its own research and a list maintained by the Interactive Advertising Bureau to filter out known bots.

However, GA4 bot filtering is not enough to exclude bot traffic. It does not account for unknown malicious bots and has no way of identifying more sophisticated forms of fraud, such as human click fraud. The limitations of these built-in features can leave your data vulnerable to manipulation and inaccuracies.

The best way to filter bot traffic in Google Analytics is by stopping spam bots in their tracks. Unlike basic bot filtering options, Anura offers a more robust and advanced solution designed to identify and eliminate not just simple bots, but also those sophisticated malicious bots and even human-like fraudulent traffic that often go undetected.

Stop bots from destroying your ROI. Let Anura help you detect, prevent, and eliminate unwanted bots and protect your analytics.