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I have a filter set up on a view in Google Analytics to show the full hostname for pageviews. This enables us to analyse traffic on our various microsites.

However I'm also seeing pageviews recorded against external URLs e.g. 

www.youtube.com
m.youtube.com
inst.webinstantservice.com

I could filter these out (or just ignore them) but I can't figure out why they're appearing at all since they aren't using our tracking code.

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2 Answers 2

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It's just spam :) Scripts can send Pageview and Event data to random GA tracking codes without visiting your site. The best fix is to create a filter that only allows requests originating from your hostname(s). This is a great article on it:

http://help.analyticsedge.com/spam-filter/definitive-guide-to-removing-google-analytics-spam/

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Check to see if you are tracking your YouTube channel visits in Google Analytics. This would have required you to configure your YouTube channel with the tracking code. That would explain the www.youtube.com and m.youtube.com hostnames. You would also see these visits landing on pages like /channel/.....

The inst.webinstantservice.com hostname is spam referrals from rank-checker and monitizationking.

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  • Thanks. You were right, it was configured in YT. I'm going to route Youtube traffic to a separate GA property now for clarity.
    – strangerpixel
    Jun 16, 2016 at 8:23

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