How to effectively block fake or bot traffic on online stores?

[dimeuleh]

Hi Everyone,

I am at my wits end with shopify analytics and trying to block fake / bot traffic.

For the past 3 months my site analytics have been affected by fake and bot traffic. I have tried numerous apps to try block this traffic and bots with no luck. Shopify openly have admitted that we should look at GA because of the bots however its ridiculous that is their response and don't have any way to solve this.

My store sessions are through the roof with fake traffic - my CVR is constantly below 1% because of the fake traffic which has ruined my analytics. I can not make any analytical decisions nor can I figure out from a CRO standpoint how to move forward.

I have constant issues with low visitors and huge active carts. Issues with just high amount of fake traffic visitors doing nothing on the site.

Its super frustrating and I don't have any solution. It's super unfair when you pay a subscription that they do not even help solve this issue. This goes beyond just analytics in the store, some apps charge based on monthly sessions and then you also have the issue of selling a store that's now got butchered analytics because of this fake / bot traffic.

I am hoping to get some input here on what to do because honestly I am out of ideas. 

[dimeuleh]

How about not even one reply?

Good on your shopify - you make us pay for a service and don't even acknowledge issues within your infrastructure. 

There are numerous people now complaining about session analytics being thrown out. Suddenly that metric is doubling over night. 

I have a cart app that literally warned me there are too many bot sessions on my store! 

Its out of control take some ownership and help your customers out!!!

[Victor]

Hi @dimeuleh,

Thank you for reaching out and I appreciate that this is a frustrating situation to have to deal with. Unfortunately this is a common issue for merchants who sell online and there is little that can be done to stop it; taking measures to prevent bots from reaching your store are likely to also impact genuine customers who wish to make purchases.

If you use Google Analytics, this article on Moz.com speaks to some actions you can take to filter out this bot traffic from your analytics. I would also recommend enabling reCAPTCHA on your store to ensure bots cannot send messages to you via forms or sign up for accounts on your site.

[Ciarán]

HI @Victor,

For sure, bot traffic is a pain we all have to live with. However It would be helpful if Shopify analytics had a filter built in so we can filter bot traffic without resorting to Google Analytics. GA4 is far too complex for most entry level merchants so they rely on Shopify Analytics instead. I think its fair to say this should be offered natively from Shopify without an app considering how extensive Shopify Analytics is. I've seen massive spikes of bot traffic from France on two Irish stores which makes the Shopify analytics tool redundant. 

[bolabu]

Hey @dimeuleh 
There are many bot protection and fake traffic blocking apps for Shopify stores. I think from Shopify's official website theay also recommendtpo use additional apps for advanced fraud or bot activities, especially most of the are malicious. There is a comparison table here in this article, I hope it would help you to find the suitable app for you to solve your problem. Shopify Anti-Fraud Tools 2024: A Comprehensive Comparison

[dylanpierce]

Sorry to hear that bots are ruining the Shopify Analytics tool for you.

I provided a bot detection app for about a year before pulling the plug on it. This is because Shopify's app platform doesn't allow apps to actually block traffic, the best thing you can do as an app developer is redirect the user's browser.

This isn't a good solution because analytics are recorded at the same time these 3rd party Shopify Traffic blocking apps are trying to determine if the user is a bot or not.

On top of that, any half decent bot programmers can simply instruct their bot not to follow redirects, and there's nothing Shopify apps can do about that.

Shopify has purposefully placed Bot Protection on their higher subscription tiers, so you can solve this problem only by upgrading your subscription. It's just how it is.

Alternatively, you can use different more robust analytics tools that can weed out bad traffic, which is what I recommend to do. Otherwise you'll be paying for Shopify apps that claim to block bot traffic (but really can't) and on top of that you might find these bot providers block good traffic in addition to the bad.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, the "problem" is that it is affecting your analytics, don't try to play the cat and mouse game by blocking bots, it's not worth your time and nor is it cost effective.

Instead switch to a different analytics tool like Google Analytics where you can filter out bots within your reports.

[apps-developer]

try Kedra Shield: Website Security app which has this bot block feature. or vpn/proxy blocking, or ip blocking. depends what you are looking for https://apps.shopify.com/kedra-shield-website-security 

[apps-developer]

try an app with bot-blocking features like "Kedra Shield: Website Security." It also lets you block specific countries and IP addresses. Check it out: https://apps.shopify.com/kedra-shield-website-security