In this guide, we’ll explore why unfiltered data can distort your website analytics and lead to misleading insights. You’ll learn how to filter internal traffic in Google Analytics filter, maintain a raw data view, and ensure your reports reflect real user behavior for accurate decision-making.
The Problem with Unfiltered Data
You’re probably visiting your own website a lot. You and your team are testing new features, checking contact forms, and signing up for newsletters. All of these actions are being recorded in your website’s analytics. This is a problem because all of that internal activity can mess up your numbers and give you a wrong impression of how your site is performing.
Unfiltered data can show you a high number of page views, a low bounce rate, and a high time on page. This can be misleading because it is not an accurate reflection of what your real customers are doing. To get a clear, accurate picture of your website’s performance, you need to use filters to get rid of all the noise. This is a crucial step in any data-driven marketing strategy.
How to Filter Traffic in Google Analytics
The most common way to filter out traffic is to create a filter based on an IP address. This is a simple process that you can do in your Google Analytics account.
Set up an IP filter in Google Analytics
You can set up an IP filter in Google Analytics by following these simple steps:
- Go to the Settings of your Analytics view.
- Click on Filters.
- Click Add filter.
- Select Create New Filter.
- Enter a name for your filter, like “ACME Office IP Filter.”
- Select Predefined.
- Set the filter to Exclude, and select Traffic From IP Address, and That are equal to.
- Enter your IP address.
That’s it! All traffic from that IP address will no longer show up in your reports. You should also ensure that you are filtering out all the IP addresses of your employees and your development team. This will give you a much more accurate picture of your website’s performance.
The Importance of a Raw Data View
When you are using filters, you should always be careful. If you accidentally filter out too much data, there is no way to get that data back. For this reason, we recommend that you always create a raw data view that doesn’t have any filters. This will serve as a backup in case you make a mistake.
The Benefits of a Clean Data Set
A clean data set is essential for making good business decisions. When you have a clear, accurate picture of your website’s performance, you can:
- Make better decisions: A clean data set can help you make better decisions about your marketing strategy, your content, and your website’s design.
- Improve your SEO: While filtering traffic does not directly affect your SEO, it helps you make better decisions about your website. For example, if you see that a lot of people are bouncing from a page, you can fix it.
- Understand your audience: A clean data set can help you get a deeper understanding of your audience. You can see what pages they are visiting, what products they are buying, and what questions they are asking.
A professional SEO platform like Clickrank can help you with this. The platform automatically analyzes your website and provides a prioritized list of tasks to fix your SEO issues. This allows you to focus on your content and other SEO tasks while the platform takes care of the technical side.
