Bot Filtering

Overview

Pulse automatically filters known bots from your analytics data to provide more accurate insights about your real human visitors. While this method isn't foolproof, it helps maintain cleaner statistics by removing most common bot traffic.

How it works

Pulse uses a comprehensive list of known bot User-Agent strings to identify and filter out automated traffic. This includes:

• Search engine crawlers (Google, Bing, etc.)
• Social media bots (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)
• Feed fetchers (RSS readers, etc.)
• Monitoring services
• SEO tools

Limitations

While User-Agent based filtering catches many bots, it's important to understand its limitations:

• Bots can easily spoof their User-Agent
• New bots emerge regularly
• Some legitimate tools might use bot-like behavior
• Some sophisticated bots don't identify themselves as bots

For stronger protection

If bot traffic is a significant concern for your site, consider implementing additional anti-bot measures:

• CAPTCHA systems
• IP reputation checking
• Behavioral analysis
• Professional anti-bot services like Cloudflare, DataDome, or Imperva

These solutions offer more robust protection but may impact user experience or require additional setup.

Anyway, if you decide to use one of these solutions, don't forget to whitelist the BlogTally Bot crawler to have SEO insights.

List maintenance

The bot identification list is regularly updated to include new known bot patterns. Updates are automatically applied to your analytics - no action required on your part.

FAQ

Q: How do I know if I need stronger bot protection?
A: Look for unusual patterns like:

• Abnormally high traffic spikes
• High bounce rates with very low time on page
• Traffic from unusual locations
• Consistent patterns in visit timing

Q: Will this affect my SEO?
A: No. Legitimate search engine crawlers are still able to access your site - they're just not counted in your analytics.

Support

If you notice suspicious traffic patterns or need help with bot filtering, contact our support team at [email protected]