• majorAlexa

        See all notifications

        Skip to content
        Moz logo Menu open Menu close
        • Products
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Pro Home
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Home
          • STAT
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Home
          • Compare SEO Products
          • Moz Data
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis
          • Keyword Explorer
          • Link Explorer
          • Competitive Research
          • MozBar
          • More Free SEO Tools
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO
          • SEO Learning Center
          • Moz Academy
          • MozCon
          • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers
          • Agency Solutions
          • Enterprise Solutions
          • Small Business Solutions
          • The Moz Story
          • New Releases
        • Log in
        • Log out
        • Products
          • Moz Pro

            Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

          • Moz Local

            Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

          • STAT

            SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

          • Moz API

            Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

          • Compare SEO Products

            See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

          • Moz Data

            Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

          Let your business shine with Listings AI
          Moz Local

          Let your business shine with Listings AI

          Learn more
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis

            Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

          • Keyword Explorer

            Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

          • Link Explorer

            Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

          • Competitive Research

            Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

          • MozBar

            See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

          • More Free SEO Tools

            Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
          Moz Pro

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

          Learn more
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO

            The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

          • SEO Learning Center

            Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

          • On-Demand Webinars

            Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

          • How-To Guides

            Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

          • Moz Academy

            Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

          • MozCon

            Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
          Moz API

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

          Find your plan
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers

            Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

          • Small Business Solutions

            Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

          • Agency Solutions

            Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

          • Enterprise Solutions

            Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

          • The Moz Story

            Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

          • New Releases

            Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

          Surface actionable competitive intel
          New Feature

          Surface actionable competitive intel

          Learn More
        • Log in
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Dashboard
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Dashboard
          • Moz Academy
        • Avatar
          • Moz Home
          • Notifications
          • Account & Billing
          • Manage Users
          • Community Profile
          • My Q&A
          • My Videos
          • Log Out

        The Moz Q&A Forum

        • Forum
        • Questions
        • My Q&A
        • Users
        • Ask the Community

        Welcome to the Q&A Forum

        Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

        1. Home
        2. SEO Tactics
        3. Reporting & Analytics
        4. Totally Remove "localhost" entries from Google Analytics

        Moz Q&A is closed.

        After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

        Totally Remove "localhost" entries from Google Analytics

        Reporting & Analytics
        5
        15
        12786
        Loading More Posts
        • Watching

          Notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread.

        • Not Watching

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread if category is not ignored.

        • Ignoring

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Do not show question in unread.

        • Oldest to Newest
        • Newest to Oldest
        • Most Votes
        Reply
        • Reply as question
        Locked
        This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
        • Robert-B
          Robert-B last edited by

          Hello All,

          In Google Analytics I see a bunch of traffic coming from "localhost:4444 / referral".

          I had tried once before to create a filter to exclude this traffic source, but obviously I did it wrong since it's still showing up.

          Here is the filter I have currently:

          Filter Name: Exclude localhost
          Filter Type: Custom filter > Exclude
          Filter Field: Referral
          Filter Pattern:  .localhost:4444.
          Case Sensitive: No

          Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong and give me a push in the right direction?

          Thanks in advance!

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • Saphera
            Saphera last edited by

            The filter I used a long time ago that worked at the time was a hostname one using (.?localhost.?)

            Filter Name: Exclude localhost
            Filter Type: Custom filter > Hostname
            Filter Pattern: (.?localhost.?)
            Case Sensitive: No

            Now I block via code so I'm not sure if this still works - feel free to try.  Also, I'm not sure why the filter uses both * and ? since the star should be inclusive of ? wildcard but I can no longer find the source.

            Good luck

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Malx
              Malx last edited by

              Hi Robert,

              did you resolve this problem as I have exactly the same thing showing on my analytics too and it is driving me mad?

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Robert-B
                Robert-B last edited by

                Does anyone have any ideas?

                I'm still totally stumped!

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • Robert-B
                  Robert-B last edited by

                  Does anyone have any ideas?

                  Having this silly "localhost:4444" entry is skewing all of my numbers and no matter what I try, it won't seem to filter it out.

                  Any help is very much appreciated!

                  Thanks!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Robert-B
                    Robert-B @mikecp last edited by

                    Thanks Mike.

                    At least I know I'm not alone in being totally & completely baffled!

                    Hopefully someone else can give me a push in the right direction.

                    Cheers!

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • mikecp
                      mikecp @Robert-B last edited by

                      I'm sort of baffled, myself. I see no reason why this would be unfilterable. I'm marking this as an unanswered question, hopefully someone comes to our rescue here.

                      Robert-B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Robert-B
                        Robert-B last edited by

                        Putting the filter pattern of "localhost" did not work... sadly.

                        I still see "localhost:4444 / referral" in my reports.

                        There must be a way to filter this out.... I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem (or at least I hope not!)

                        Any other ideas?

                        Thanks in advance.

                        mikecp 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • Robert-B
                          Robert-B @Robert-B last edited by

                          There was no real reason I wasn't just trying localhost.

                          I just thought we needed some other parameters on there... but clearly those weren't working.

                          I just updated the filter now and I'll check tomorrow's data to see if the answer was really this simple.

                          Thanks!

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • mikecp
                            mikecp @Robert-B last edited by

                            Was there any reason you're not trying just

                            localhost

                            as the filter pattern? No asterisks, quotes, backslashes or anything?

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • Robert-B
                              Robert-B @Robert-B last edited by

                              Unfortunately that did not work.

                              I still see this in my referral reports:

                              localhost:4444 / referral

                              Just to confirm, the filter I set is:

                              Filter Name: Exclude localhost
                              Filter Type: Custom Filter > Exclude
                              Filter Field: Referral
                              Filter Pattern: localhost*
                              Case Sensitive: No

                              Any other ideas? I'll try anything. 🙂

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • Host1
                                Host1 @Robert-B last edited by

                                Do you have a update on this? Did it work?

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • Robert-B
                                  Robert-B @Host1 last edited by

                                  If I put localhost then I get a "Regular expression is invalid" error.

                                  I'll put: localhost*

                                  I'll watch it for a couple days and see what happens.

                                  Thanks!

                                  Host1 Robert-B mikecp 4 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • Host1
                                    Host1 last edited by

                                    1: the "." in front of "*localhost" might break the filter i guess. The same goes for the "." after "4444".

                                    2: Have you tried localhost*  or localhost ?

                                    Robert-B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • Robert-B
                                      Robert-B last edited by

                                      Thanks for the link... this is kind of what I had followed earlier, but it still doesn't work.

                                      In my original question you can see the current filter I have setup.

                                      Yet, for some reason this is not blocking what I need since I still see "localhost:4444 / referral" in my reports.

                                      Any other ideas?

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • 1 / 1
                                      • First post
                                        Last post

                                      Browse Questions

                                      Explore more categories

                                      • Moz Tools

                                        Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                                      • SEO Tactics

                                        Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                                      • Community

                                        Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                                      • Digital Marketing

                                        Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                                      • Research & Trends

                                        Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                                      • Support

                                        Connect on product support and feature requests.

                                      • See all categories

                                      Related Questions

                                      • Kevin_P

                                        Why is Indeed.com traffic appearing as organic in Google Analytics?

                                        A large number of sessions in my client's Google Analytics account appear to come from medium: organic and source:Indeed. Since I'm focused on SEO for this project, I'd prefer that Indeed be treated as referral traffic. Any ideas for fixing this issue? Also, and I'm sure the answer is no, is there a way to fix the past data in Google Analytics that has already reported Indeed as an organic medium?

                                        Reporting & Analytics | | Kevin_P
                                        0
                                      • RosemaryB

                                        Direct traffic spam on Google Analytics: how can you identify and filter it?

                                        One of my smaller clients noticed a huge jump in direct traffic visits last month.  The bounce rate was around 97% so I'm pretty certain that most of the traffic was illegitimate.  I know how to filter out spam referrals and organic keywords in Google Analytics.  However I'm not sure what to do about direct traffic spam.  Are there recommendations for filtering this out?  Can I identify spam IP addresses?

                                        Reporting & Analytics | | RosemaryB
                                        0
                                      • marketingmediamanagement

                                        Is there a way to find out who the admin of a Google Analytics account is?

                                        We have a client who has been searching high and low to gain access to the GA account that is tied to their website, but previous agencies keep stating they don't have access. Is there a way to find out who the admins are on a GA account with the tracking number so we can reach out to that person and ask them to admin the client?

                                        Reporting & Analytics | | marketingmediamanagement
                                        0
                                      • Kingalan1

                                        Set Up of Goal Tracking with Google Analytics-$750 a Fair Price????

                                        Greetings Moz Community! My firm operates commercial real estate website that contains 3-4 forms.  Each form represents a goals. Google Analytics has been set up for years, but it does not track these form completions/goals properly. My SEO firm has offered to configure Goals on Google Analytics for $750. Is this a fair price? If the set up takes one hour, I am really over paying. But if this is a complex project that may take 7-9 hours the pricing seems OK. Also, the SEO firm will require an additional $750 in the future to set up event tracking. Is this excessive? I might add that my developer will need to add code to my web site. My SEO company has proven reliable and accurate. I can go to sleep at night knowing they are doing a good job. Where as my Argentinian developers really try their best, but perhaps because of the language barrier, they can make mistakes from time to time. I am willing to pay a premium to ensure that the job is done correctly domestically, however I don't appreciate over paying. Is the $750 payment for setting up Google Analytics reasonable assuming the job is done well??? Thanks,
                                        Alan

                                        Reporting & Analytics | | Kingalan1
                                        0
                                      • nyc-seo

                                        Google Analytics for example.com and www.example.com

                                        Hello. I have had a Google Analytics account set up to track the property www.example.com for several years. In Google Webmaster Tools, I recently set the preferred domain to example.com (without the www), and we put in a rewrite from www to no-www in the .htaccess file. Should I now change the url of the property in Google Analytics to example.com (without the www), or does Google Analytics see the two urls as the same? Thank you!

                                        Reporting & Analytics | | nyc-seo
                                        0
                                      • ivan.precisodisso

                                        How to track what people type on my text boxes on Google Analytics?

                                        Hi there! In our website, we have a few text boxes that users need to use to complete the goal. The boxes aren't search boxes, but it's still important to us to track what people type on it. I'm looking for a way to track the data through the "event" feature in Google Analytics, but it seems that this tracker can only calculate clicks, or video views etc. Does anyone knows how to track do it?

                                        Reporting & Analytics | | ivan.precisodisso
                                        0
                                      • johnshearer

                                        AW Stats vs Google Analytics

                                        Hey Moz Community, I am looking to get opinions on the best practice for analytics/traffic analysis. From experience I know that AW Stats reads high and Google Analytics reads low for traffic for reason in this article http://www.smartz.com/blog/2009/01/23/analytic-confusion-%E2%80%93-awstats-vs-google-analytics/ It drives me a little nuts how far off both are for some pages.  I have one article that shows 100 views (GA) and AW stats shows 5 times that number of views. Any suggestions or systems you recommend? Thanks

                                        Reporting & Analytics | | johnshearer
                                        0
                                      • Alexey_mindvalley

                                        Google Analytics - paid & unpaid visits messed up

                                        I guess Google Analytics messes up my paid and unpaid visits. In the list of top 10 kw's sending non-paid traffic it shows 5 very short kw's that we don't rank for at all (checked with RankTracker - we are not in first 50 search results). But these are the kw's we advertise for... One more proof: Webmaster Tools 'Search queries' shows 10 times less 'Clicks' from organic search than Google Analytics. Is there anyone who is experiencing this kind of problems with GA? Is there anything you can do with it?

                                        Reporting & Analytics | | Alexey_mindvalley
                                        0

                                      Get started with Moz Pro!

                                      Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                                      Start my free trial
                                      Products
                                      • Moz Pro
                                      • Moz Local
                                      • Moz API
                                      • Moz Data
                                      • STAT
                                      • Product Updates
                                      Moz Solutions
                                      • SMB Solutions
                                      • Agency Solutions
                                      • Enterprise Solutions
                                      • Digital Marketers
                                      Free SEO Tools
                                      • Domain Authority Checker
                                      • Link Explorer
                                      • Keyword Explorer
                                      • Competitive Research
                                      • Brand Authority Checker
                                      • Local Citation Checker
                                      • MozBar Extension
                                      • MozCast
                                      Resources
                                      • Blog
                                      • SEO Learning Center
                                      • Help Hub
                                      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                                      • How-to Guides
                                      • Moz Academy
                                      • API Docs
                                      About Moz
                                      • About
                                      • Team
                                      • Careers
                                      • Contact
                                      Why Moz
                                      • Case Studies
                                      • Testimonials
                                      Get Involved
                                      • Become an Affiliate
                                      • MozCon
                                      • Webinars
                                      • Practical Marketer Series
                                      • MozPod
                                      Connect with us

                                      Contact the Help team

                                      Join our newsletter
                                      Moz logo
                                      © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                                      • Accessibility
                                      • Terms of Use
                                      • Privacy

                                      Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.