silly.questions   0 #1 Posted January 21, 2019 As my username suggests... this is going to be a silly question. I work for a company that manages many sites. We are getting a lot of ghost traffic that make our Analytics reports look so bad. I have just started to learn about reCAPTCHA v3. Can this be used to stop ghost traffic? I am meeting with our web agency tomorrow and would love to be able to sound what I am talking about! Thank you in advance for your help! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Ghozer   112 #2 Posted January 21, 2019 It depends what sort of traffic you're talking about, if it's site crawlers etc, then there's nothing much you can really do about it.. You also, shouldn't put a website or it's content behind reCAPTCHA, any website that does that I leave instantly.... but basically, it depends totally on the type of traffic you are referring to, you could potentially even block them entirely... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
silly.questions   0 #3 Posted January 21, 2019 That reply was so fast. I thank you Ghozer.  From what I gather about reCAPTCHA v3 no user will even know it is there. It is not like you have to click on pictures of busses. Google gives a visitor a score. 1 is likely human, 0 a bot (or maybe the other way around) and they start you with a default of 0.5.  I am wondering if it would totally block ghost traffic. Colleagues discussed filters but this issue has been going on for months with no real answers being found. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Ghozer   112 #4 Posted January 21, 2019 (edited) Yea, I know how reCAPTCHA v3 works  - in very basic terms, it detects if the way the website is being used/browsed/viewed etc (and where it's originator URL is) and uses a series of logic to decide if it's human, or not.. the problem with that is, unless it's already a KNOWN safe (or unsafe) client, it needs some interaction with the site to determine whether or not said client is human or not.. (obviously there's MUCH more into it than that, just a very cut down version) so like I said, it all depends on the type of ghost clients, where they are originating from, what they are actually doing on/with the site etc... I have known 'ghosts' been left if a user has been browsing the site, gone off site, then clicked the back button to return, this creates a 2nd 'client' (as the first may not have yet timed out) - leaving a 'ghost' for a while... both would count towards analytics, and isn't very easy to avoid, without user accounts, log-ins, or strong and accurate cookies Edited January 21, 2019 by Ghozer Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
the_bloke   17 #5 Posted January 21, 2019 What are you considering 'ghost traffic'?  How are you identifying a ghost compared to a normal user? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
alchresearch   214 #6 Posted January 23, 2019 If you know you have ghost traffic can't you just eliminate or filter that from your analytics? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Waldo   96 #7 Posted January 23, 2019 (edited) I recently removed recaptcha v3 from a site, and switched to v2. Apparently, v3 adds significantly to page load times, and it also has a small ad / limk / eu data protection compliance thing that displays on every page of your site. So if you're just using v3 for a contact us form, there are just too many downsides to justify it, imo. Edited January 23, 2019 by Waldo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
