Semalt Expert: Referral Exclusion List

One of the most common issues in analytics audits is that people don't get an idea of what is the referral exclusion list and how to make the best use of it. First of all, we need to know what this referral exclusion list is. When Google launched the latest version of Google Analytics, it claimed that the referral exclusion list was included in the Analytics. It is easy for every user to find this list; you have to locate it in the property settings. First of all, you should navigate to the admin section and go to the tracking information where referral exclusion list is present. You should click on the referral exclusion button and click on the domain create button.

Nik Chaykovskiy, the Semalt Senior Customer Success Manager, states that there are a large number of problems that can be solved with the referral exclusion list. So use it to solve the following problems:

Self-Referrals

Self-referrals are one of the most prominent and significant issues in Google Analytics. To resolve this problem, you should click on the referral report and locate your website there. Here you can adjust analytics and audits as per your requirements.

Third-Party Tool

When it comes to using third-party tools, you should accomplish a number of tasks. If you are trying to adjust PayPal, Freshdesk, and Eventbrite with your website, make sure their icons and links are properly included, and the credit goes directly to your personal account. The conversions should not be credited to those third party websites. For example, if you own a website of event management or photography, you should try Eventbrite for it and signup for an account immediately. When the visitors of your site try to place an order, they will easily send money to this account, which can eventually come to your own bank.

How Does It Help?

It is mandatory to use the referral exclusion list, without it, you cannot get quality visitors for your website. If you don't want some links to generate traffic to your site, then you should disable this option or exclude the domain from your referral exclusion list. Let us suppose that some visitors come to your website via social media, Twitter or Facebook, and you want them to move on the third party websites. For this, you will have to include the referral exclusion list so that a new session is started in no time.

Limitations

The Referral Exclusion List can limit your session and number of visitors. If you want to know what type of visitors have come to your site and what are their sources, you should set up cross-domain tracking codes and insert them into your website's different pages. It is rare when a website in the referral exclusion list will not let you see what type of visitors are coming to your website. You can track and record their activities and thus prevent unknown or risky IPs to send you traffic.

For some time, you may see that your website receives visitors, but their arrival will be stopped once you adjust the settings and those people would never come to your site.