Strange Site Referrals - Paid?

[BeachToBlvd]

Hello,

For the past few months, I have been seeing referrals from some strange sites.  In the Shopify sessions by referrer report, these are marked as paid advertising but I'm not sure that is accurate.  Any suggestions on where these are coming from and if they are in fact paid advertising?  Any insight will be appreciated.

[DaisyVo]

Hi @BeachToBlvd 

It looks like you're seeing referral traffic from unusual sites in your Shopify “Sessions by Referrer” report, marked as "paid advertising." If you haven’t set up paid ads on these sites, this traffic might be coming from spam referrals, bots, or other sources misidentified as paid ads. Here are some steps to investigate and address the issue:

1. Check Ad Campaigns

• If you’re running any ad campaigns, review them to confirm if these sites are included in your campaign placements. Sometimes ad networks distribute ads to partner sites you may not be aware of.
• If you find that these sites are part of a campaign, you can adjust the ad network settings to exclude low-quality or irrelevant sites.

2. Look for Bot or Spam Traffic

• Some referral traffic can come from bots or referral spam, which aim to get attention by appearing in your analytics. These sites may have no legitimate traffic value and often inflate your visitor count with low-quality or irrelevant sessions.
• Typically, this type of traffic has a high bounce rate, low session duration, and no conversions.

3. Analyze Traffic Patterns

• Check for patterns in user behavior from these referrals. If visitors from these sites have extremely short sessions, high bounce rates, and no interactions, it’s likely bot or spam traffic.
• Use your analytics tools (Google Analytics or Shopify analytics) to further inspect this behavior.

4. Exclude Known Spam Domains

• You can create filters in Google Analytics to exclude traffic from certain referral sources. This won’t stop the visits but will prevent them from appearing in your reports, giving you a clearer view of genuine customer activity.

5. Check Shopify App Integrations

• Some third-party apps, especially discount or deal apps, may refer traffic and appear as paid referrals. If you’re using any apps related to affiliate marketing, discounts, or deals, this may be the source of these referrals.

6. Contact Shopify Support

• If you’re unsure about the origin of this traffic and suspect an error in how Shopify categorizes it, reach out to Shopify support. They may be able to provide insights into why it’s classified as paid advertising.

Summary

It’s likely that these referrals aren’t genuine paid ads but rather bot traffic, spam referrals, or partner sites through ad networks. Filtering these sources out of your analytics or investigating any third-party app connections should help clean up your data.

Let me know if you need more guidance on filtering or blocking this traffic!

If you have other questions, I am willing to answer them more.

Best regards,

Daisy