If you’ve taken a look at your Google Analytics data anytime in the past year or so, then no doubt you’ve seen the Semalt bot mucking up your data. I don’t know about you, but when I look at my GA reports, I want to see accurate reports and not data that is skewed by bots. That’s why I block Semalt.
The bad thing about Semalt is that they don’t show up under just one name. When they first began appearing, it was simply semalt.com, then it changed to savetubevideo.com in the reports, and it wasn’t long until kambasoft.com and buttons-for-website.com began making regular entries on the reports. The reality is that those bastards deploy new bots several times a month. I think the worst for me was four different ones in a single month.
How to block Semalt
Preventing them from showing up on your analytics data is pretty simple. You can either use a plugin or go old school and block them via your site’s .htaccess file. Personally, I use .htaccess simply because I prefer to keep my sites’ plugins to a minimum.
Here’s what you need to know about blocking Semalt – each time they have a new bot, you must update your .htaccess file or the plugin block list. Yeah, that blows. Especially if you have tons of sites.
To get you started, here’s the current data I’m using in my .htaccess file:
RewriteEngine On# Section for blocking bad bot from Semalt and its clones.RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(.*.?)semalt.com(/.*)?$ [nocase]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://semalt.com/ [last]RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(.*.?)savetubevideo.com(/.*)?$ [nocase]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://semalt.com/ [last]RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(.*.?)kambasoft.com(/.*)?$ [nocase]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://semalt.com/ [last]RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(.*.?)buttons-for-website.com(/.*)?$ [nocase]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://semalt.com/ [last]RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(.*.?)7makemoneyonline.com(/.*)?$ [nocase]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://semalt.com/ [last]RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(.*.?)ranksonic.info(/.*)?$ [nocase]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://semalt.com/ [last]RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(.*.?)best-seo-solution.com(/.*)?$ [nocase]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://semalt.com/ [last]RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(.*.?)best-seo-offer.com(/.*)?$ [nocase]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://semalt.com/ [last]RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(.*.?)buttons-for-your-website.com(/.*)?$ [nocase]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://semalt.com/ [last]RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(.*.?)100dollars-seo.com(/.*)?$ [nocase]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://semalt.com/ [last]RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(.*.?)semaltmedia.com(/.*)?$ [nocase]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://semalt.com/ [last]RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(.*.?)videos-for-your-business.com(/.*)?$ [nocase]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://semalt.com/ [last]RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^(.*.?)success-seo.com(/.*)?$ [nocase]RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://semalt.com/ [last]
This just sends the bot back to the Semalt website, but you can edit that and send it wherever you like.
If you’ve never edited your .htaccess file, you can do it via your FTP program or via your hosting cPanel. In cPanel, just click on “File Manager” and when the pop-up appears, be sure to select “view hidden files” or you will not see the .htaccess file. Then, just navigate to the folder of the website to find the .htaccess file for your site.
Too technical for you? Shoot me a message and I’ll see if I can walk you through it.
And, if you just want to block it from showing up in your Google Analytics, check out the video below for some tips on that. (I have no affiliation with the person who made the video)
Hey, I’m Shawna. I make a living working from my laptop in places like London, Sydney, Dubai, Rome, Oslo, Bangkok, Las Vegas, Barcelona, and Amsterdam. I share how I do some of that on this website.