Best Practices for Cleaning Up Your Google Analytics Data

Did you know 58% of marketers make decisions based on inaccurate analytics data? (Source: HubSpot) Dirty data leads to:
❌ Misguided marketing spend
❌ Poor campaign optimization
❌ Incorrect performance reporting

This guide covers 9 essential practices to clean your Google Analytics (GA4) data and ensure accuracy.

Remove Internal & Developer Traffic

Why It Matters

Your team’s visits inflate:

• Session counts
• Conversion rates
• Geographic data

How to Fix It

✅ Method 1: IP Exclusion

1. Go to Admin > Data Settings > Data Filters
2. Create filter for office IPs

✅ Method 2: Browser Extension
Use Google Analytics Opt-Out Add-on for team devices

Block Bot & Spam Traffic

Common Spam Sources

• Fake referrals (e.g., “semalt.com”)
• Crawler bots
• Ghost spam

3-Step Cleanup Process

• Enable GA4 Bot Filtering

• Admin > Data Settings > Data Filters > “Exclude known bots”
  • Block Spam Referralsvia .htaccess:

Copy

Download

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} buttons-for-website\.com [NC]

RewriteRule .* – [F]

• Create Custom Filterfor suspicious hostnames

Fix Cross-Domain Tracking Issues

Symptoms of Broken Tracking

• Sessions splitting across domains
• Lost referral data

Solution

• In GA4 Admin, configure:

• Data Streams > Configure Tagging > Configure Your Domains
  • Add all domains (e.g., example.com, checkout.example.com)

Standardize Campaign Tagging (UTM Best Practices)

Common UTM Mistakes

❌ Inconsistent naming (utm_campaign=spring_sale vs. spring-sale)
❌ Typos (utm_sorce=facebook)

UTM Hygiene Checklist

✅ Use lowercase (utm_medium=social)
✅ Standardize naming conventions
✅ Document all parameters

Set Up Proper Data Filters

Essential GA4 Filters

Audit & Fix Event Tracking

Common Event Issues

• Duplicate events
• Missing parameters
• Incorrect naming

Audit Process

• Check Reports > Engagement > Events
• Look for:

• Unexpected event counts
• Missing conversion events

Clean Up Historical Data (When Possible)

What You Can Fix Retroactively

• Channel grouping corrections
• Conversion attribution

What You Can’t Fix

• Past bot traffic
• Deleted events

Implement Ongoing Maintenance

Monthly Data Quality Checklist

1. Review filters
2. Check for new spam sources
3. Validate UTM parameters
4. Document Your Configuration

Key Items to Document

• All active filters
• UTM naming conventions
• IP addresses to exclude

Clean analytics data helps you:
✔️ Make better decisions
✔️ Optimize marketing spend
✔️ Improve reporting accuracy

Next Steps:

1. Implement 3 fixesfrom this guide
2. Schedule quarterly data audits

Need help? Book a GA4 data quality audit today.