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Referrers-some seem bogus

  1. maidiebike
    Member

    At times, under the Blog Stats. for the Referrers section, I seem to get bogus "referrers". I can see the stem part of the referrer's URL and it absolutely has nothing to do with the content of the posting.

    How does this happen? I realize search keyword combinations on Google can yield unusual results which might lead people to my blog site. But seriously some of it is bogus. I can tell by going to 1-2 original referrers. Thereafter, I just haven't bothered. It appears they are trying jack up their blog hit numbers artificially.

    Am I correct?

    Jean

    The blog I need help with is cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com.

  2. tellyworth
    Staff

    I can't see any obviously bad ones in your stats.

    If they're still there, please contact support with a list of bad URLs. Don't post them on the forum.

    http://support.wordpress.com/contact/

  3. jasonmmatthews
    Member

    I'm curious about this too. Many times I'll click on my referrer's URL as they appear and I won't be able to find a single link to my blog nor will their site have anything to do with my content. This also seems to be more common than referrer's who clearly have links to my blog.
    Any idea what's going on or what I'm not finding when I visit referrers?

    http://ebooksuccess4free.wordpress.com/

  4. timethief
    Member

    I believe what's going on can be described in two words "referral spam".

  5. raincoaster
    Member

    Please see this thread, a little farther down the main page:

    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/phantom-referrals?replies=75

  6. charlotteash
    Member

    I'm having this "referral spam" issue as well and have been for a long time. I went to the thread referenced above - comments have been closed.

    The comments from WP "Happiness Engineers" that they are "on this" and "not to worry" are not acceptable. If you can't do anything about it, just 'fess up so we can make a decision about what WE want to do about it.

  7. sl1k
    Member

    I am also seeing spam referrals in my stats section I have contacted staff before about this and they said they we're looking into the matter but this has been brought up more than once here in the forums in the last couple of months with really no updates from staff other than we're looking into this matter thank you message...

    I understand this may not be a easy fix and may require a lot of research of the matter before a plan can be thought up or put into action but it would also be nice if staff could be a little more communicative with the matter other than the standard message that has been going around...

  8. pakistaniswede
    Member

    I'm also suffering; almost 90% of the traffic is coming from spam referral.

  9. charlotteash
    Member

    Looks like WP isn't interested in their client's problems.

  10. timethief
    Member

    The Volunteers answering questions on this forum are your fellow bloggers. We provide technical support. Despite how sympathetic we feel for you we do not provide emotional support. Please direct your remarks to Staff.
    http://support.wordpress.com/contact/

  11. imagepoint
    Member

    Please do as timethief suggests and contact staff, repeatedly, about this problem. It's a huge issue here at wordpress. Your blog stats are essentially useless because the numbers are inflated by referrers who haven't referred a single view. Your link does not appear on their sites. I don't know how they do it but it's a major scam.

    DO NOT click on the links. Do not post them anywhere. That's just fueling the fire.

    I have emailed wordpress support repeatedly with this issue and most of the time they are silent, accept for "we're working on it." The last time I contacted them, however, someone was kind enough to explain how they're trying to solve the problem.

    That doesn't mean YOU shouldn't contact them. Please, complain. And send them lists of the fake URLs so they can keep track of where it all comes from.

    If you don't know HTML, here's how to get the full URL. Click to your referral page, go under "view" in your browser window and choose "view source." The URLs start about halfway down the page.

    Look for this tag: <div id="referrers" class="sumdiv">. That's the beginning of the URLs. Below it a few lines you'll find this tag: <h4>Today</h4>. That's where the day's referrers start.

    Each link starts with this <a href=
    And will end with this

    Everything in between is the URL. You'll be able to recognize the beginning from the first few words you normally see in your browser.

    Digging through the page the first time may seem laborious, but you'll pick it up quickly. Please report the spammers and encourage wordpress to fix the problem.

    WordPress is a terrific free service, and I'd like to stay here ... if we could only get real stats.

  12. timethief
    Member

    @imagepoint
    Thanks for chiming is on this with such good advice. Do your use a third party visitor tracking stats program like sitemeter or statcounter on your blog?

  13. thesacredpath
    Staff

    @charleyana said,

    Looks like WP isn't interested in their client's problems.

    Don't know how you can say that. WordPress continuously responds to their "client's problems" and in a courteous and quick manner. For a free blogging service, wordpress.COM simply cannot be beat. I have my problems with them from time to time on some decisions they make, but that doesn't keep me from seeing that there isn't really any competition when it comes to service and support.

    Do you really think referral spam is unique to wordpress.COM? Think again. All sites, no matter what service or software they are using get it specifically because it is virtually impossible to stop. I have clients on Joomla and Drupal and also using the wordpress.ORG software, and they all get it. I have clients with sites built strictly with standard HTML and they get referral spam.

  14. imagepoint
    Member

    thesacredpath is correct ... this isn't strictly a wordpress problem. My post above reads as if it is. The problem is widespread, and I don't know if anyone has been able to solve it 100 percent.

    WordPress, however, believes it has a solution. So please do your part and report the URLs. Support says it's important to know where the phantom hits are coming from.

    @timethief -- no, I haven't. You suggested that a few weeks ago and I've been on an involuntary blogging break. Which of these do you recommend? And are you certain that they don't count the spam? If they don't, that would mean that they have somehow solved this problem?

  15. charlotteash
    Member

    @timethief, I did not ask for and do not need emotional support. I'm simply asking for a concern to be addressed in a timely and professional manner. I'm apparently under the mistaken notion that these forums have influence with WP and are designed to be an intermediary between clients and admin. My mistake. Now I know.

    I'm involved in other blogs and have had blogs in the past with other free blogging services and have never had this particular problem. However, I will indeed report my problems directly to the support staff.

    Thanks for your input.

  16. timethief
    Member

    I'm sorry but there's really nothing we Volunteers can do to have your concern addressed in a timely and professional manner by Staff. I sincerely hope Staff come up with a way to block this referrer spam. Best wishes.

  17. charlotteash
    Member

    I reported it & received an email stating they're working on it but no ETA.

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