Internal traffic filtering in Google Analytics #696
Description
Ashley noticed a third of our traffic is from Direct links, likely from existing PauseAI people.
Here are two options for identifying internal traffic so it can be filtered out. Both only mark data going forwards, i.e. past reports are unaffected:
Option 1: Internal Rule for static IPs
To understand our actual traffic flow, you can mark internal traffic per below (I lack access):
analytics account → property → web stream → Tag Settings → Define Internal Traffic → Create Internal Rule
Then internal IPs can be added. If the Data Filter "Internal Traffic" seems to be picking up the right stuff, you can change its state from Testing to Active.
Option 2: Manually add UTM parameter if dynamic IPs
If people are working from home or their home IPs keep changing, we instead ask active volunteers to include parameters when accessing the site. These can easily be filtered out in our reports. Example:
https://pauseai.info/australia_**?utm_medium=internal**_