Why would you want to exclude IP addresses?
The minute you set up Google Analytics on your blog or website, you’ll want to filter your own traffic. This is a biggie. Why? When you first set up a blog, it’s almost a guarantee that most of your traffic will be from you viewing posts, making sure plug-ins are working, or just staring at the awesomeness that is your website. If you exclude IP addresses in Analytics, this prevents Google from counting your own visits as traffic on your site. That way you can see the real traffic you’re getting… from other people.
How It’s Done
Setting up an IP filter is easy peasy (and won’t take you long at all.) Start out by logging into your Google Analytics account. Select your blog/website on your main account page, then select “Admin” at the top of the page.
- Select “All filters” on the left-hand side of the next page.
- Click “new filter” on the next page.
- Give your filter a descriptive name like “MyIP” or “MyOfficeIP.”
- Under “Filter Type”, select “Predefined filter.”
- Select “Exclude” and “traffic from the IP addresses” and “that are equal to.”
- Enter your IP address in the form. (Here’s a guide to finding your IP address, in case you don’t know yours.)
- Click “save” and you’re done! Now your own visits won’t show up in your website reports.
Once you’ve followed the above steps, you should no longer receive data in Google Analytics on your own traffic.
Keep an eye out for any changes in your IP address or other IP address you wish to exclude. When one of these IP addresses changes, you’ll want to update the filter you created above, in step 3.
Have any questions about how to exclude IP addresses in Google Analytics? Do you just want to share some thoughts? Leave a comment below!