Semalt: How & Why You Need To Block Your IP Address In Google Analytics

It is possible to receive hundreds or even thousands of views in a blog post and yet fail to receive contacts or comments on the same. A website may indicate that it has been viewed by a number of viewers, but the response in terms of comments and contacts indicate otherwise. This takes place in a Google Analytics account. The data that show the viewer's response is known as reporting data. The reporting data may be inaccurate if the IP address in the Google Analytics Account is not blocked.

In order to get accurate reporting data, it is essential that the IP address that is used daily on a website should be blocked. It is good for a website to receive quite a number of views. One may be tempted to think that if a website indicates that it receives several views, it is in a position to gunner more revenue from advertisements. On the contrary, this is not the case because the reporting data is not accurate if the IP address of that particular website does not reflect the fact. Therefore, using this data to convince a potential advertiser may be misleading. It is better to get a small number of viewers of a website whose statistics are reliable such as knowing what they do when they visit that website than, receiving a bunch of viewers whose intentions are not clearly defined.

It is possible to block an IP address if this simple procedure, explained by Ryan Johnson, the Senior Sales Manager of Semalt, is followed.

Step 1: Identifying the IP address

Most people spend long hours on their computers and do not have a clue about their IP address. To find out the IP address, one simply needs to Google "what is my IP address?" from the results, the number that will show at the top of the page is the IP address. It is important to memorize this number if not, it can be written down for future reference.

Step 2: Logging in

The next step is to login in the Google Analytics Account that you wish to block the IP address.

Step 3: Selecting the account

After logging in into the Google Analytics Account, the next thing is to select the account which you wish to block the IP address.

Step 4: Selecting the admin link

After the account has been selected, you need to move to the upper right corner of the screen and click on the Admin link.

Step 5: Selection of filters

Once the Admin link has been opened, the "All Filters" option should be selected from the account section.

Step 6: Select new filter

The next step is to click on New Filter. On the name field, one can select any desired name for the IP address. The already defined filter and the "Exclude" option should remain checked. The second drop-down should be changed and written as "traffic from the IP address", and the third drop-down left unchanged. The IP address from the Google search should be input in the appropriate field followed by selecting the available profile and adding it. The final step is saving it.

Once saved, the IP address has been successfully blocked from reporting.