Can I filter a site out of Google Analytics data because the tracking code was accidentally installed on a second site?

Question

I have accidentally installed Google Analytics tracking on two websites abc.example & xyz.example, one of which it never should have been installed on.

The issue I now face is that the analytics for website abc.example is being skewed by the extra data from xyz.example.

Is there any possible way of filtering out the data from xyz.example or is this data now just invalid?

Answer 1

To fix the issue going forward and prevent future similar issues from reoccuring in the future (and help prevent data spam), both above approaches should be taken

1. Remove the erroneous tracking from xyz.example.
2. General best practice is to not filter the default All Website Data view and to create one or more reporting views, which can be filtered according to reporting needs. If not already done so, create a main reporting view and apply an include only hostname filter that only includes valid hostnames.
3. The historical data cannot be fixed, however to view the historical report data without the xyz.example data included, you can create and apply a segment to only include sessions (or users) for hostname abc.example

Answer 2

You can filter it out while viewing by adding Hostname as a secondary dimension and then an advanced filter for Exclude Hostname Containing xyz.co.uk (the Hostname option doesn't appear under filter unless you have it added as a dimension).

Unfortunately, that's the only way to do it, you can't have the data removed. This does mean while looking at that data, you won't be able to use any other secondary dimensions.

Answer 3

Delete the tracking code snippet from the of xyz.co.uk. If implemented through Google Tag Manager, delete the tags.

Now you get the data only from abc.co.uk.