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Its not clear to me why spammers would do this, can someone please explain how a 3rd party benefits from incrementing hits on an unrelated site?

taf2 12y ago
they get their links in your google analytics reports... you'll likely check to see what the site is - causing you to visit the spammers site...
- raziel2p 12y ago
  The number of people in posession of a Google Analytics dashboard is way too low for spammers to generate significant click counts.
- chii 12y ago
  wow, that's quite a long winded way to get a site admin to visit a spam site - and plus it's very likely to be ad-blocked (savvy admins).
  - wlkr 12y ago
    Based on article dates it would seem this spam hasn't been around all that long, certainly I hadn't seen it before December. I imagine people would click the link because it's the source of an unexpected spike in perceived traffic. Certainly spammers are testing the waters with this, I suppose we'll soon know how successful it is from the number of copycats and Googles eventual response.
    - mansr 12y ago
      Referer spam has been around almost as long as web analytics. What's new is that they found a way to infiltrate Google Analytics, which previously avoided them somehow. I'm surprised Google hasn't come up with a countermeasure yet.
    - SyneRyder 12y ago
      The SEMalt spam has been around since at least June 2014, I got incensed enough to block them from my server and write up how to block them on Apache servers: http://kohanikin.com/2014/filtering-semalt-referrer-spam.html http://kohanikin.com/2014/filtering-semalt-referrer-spam.htm... This post seems to describe a new technique where spammers never even visit your site in the first place, spamming the Google Analytics servers directly.
wlkr 12y ago
According to this article when the site owner visits the spam link affiliate cookies are set. http://www.wiyre.com/google-analytics-darodar-forum-spam-what-is-it/ http://www.wiyre.com/google-analytics-darodar-forum-spam-wha...
dazc 12y ago
I think it's aimed at CMS platforms like Wordpress as some users have a list top referrers in their sidebar.
josteink 12y ago
Lots of websites posts their visitor logs or stats on a special status-page (or at least used to do). If those links aren't rel=nofollow, then congratulations, your referer-spamming just gained yourself some SEO-bonus.

taf2 12y ago

they get their links in your google analytics reports... you'll likely check to see what the site is - causing you to visit the spammers site...

raziel2p 12y ago
The number of people in posession of a Google Analytics dashboard is way too low for spammers to generate significant click counts.
chii 12y ago
wow, that's quite a long winded way to get a site admin to visit a spam site - and plus it's very likely to be ad-blocked (savvy admins).
- wlkr 12y ago
  Based on article dates it would seem this spam hasn't been around all that long, certainly I hadn't seen it before December. I imagine people would click the link because it's the source of an unexpected spike in perceived traffic. Certainly spammers are testing the waters with this, I suppose we'll soon know how successful it is from the number of copycats and Googles eventual response.
  - mansr 12y ago
    Referer spam has been around almost as long as web analytics. What's new is that they found a way to infiltrate Google Analytics, which previously avoided them somehow. I'm surprised Google hasn't come up with a countermeasure yet.
  - SyneRyder 12y ago
    The SEMalt spam has been around since at least June 2014, I got incensed enough to block them from my server and write up how to block them on Apache servers: http://kohanikin.com/2014/filtering-semalt-referrer-spam.html http://kohanikin.com/2014/filtering-semalt-referrer-spam.htm... This post seems to describe a new technique where spammers never even visit your site in the first place, spamming the Google Analytics servers directly.

wlkr 12y ago

According to this article when the site owner visits the spam link affiliate cookies are set. http://www.wiyre.com/google-analytics-darodar-forum-spam-what-is-it/ http://www.wiyre.com/google-analytics-darodar-forum-spam-wha...

dazc 12y ago

I think it's aimed at CMS platforms like Wordpress as some users have a list top referrers in their sidebar.

josteink 12y ago

Lots of websites posts their visitor logs or stats on a special status-page (or at least used to do). If those links aren't rel=nofollow, then congratulations, your referer-spamming just gained yourself some SEO-bonus.