undefined
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
    • SEO Q&A
    • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Agency Solutions
    • Enterprise Solutions
    • Small Business Solutions
    • Case Studies
    • 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.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    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
    • 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.

    • Case Studies

      Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

    • 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
  • 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
12.8k
Loading More Posts
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as question
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
  • Robert-B
    Robert-B last edited by Nov 6, 2012, 8:12 PM

    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 Jun 4, 2015, 9:41 AM Jun 4, 2015, 9:41 AM

      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
      • topic:timeago_earlier,2 years
      • Malx
        Malx last edited by Aug 18, 2013, 7:25 PM Aug 18, 2013, 7:25 PM

        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
        • topic:timeago_earlier,9 months
        • Robert-B
          Robert-B last edited by Nov 29, 2012, 4:06 PM Nov 29, 2012, 4:06 PM

          Does anyone have any ideas?

          I'm still totally stumped!

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • topic:timeago_earlier,9 days
          • Robert-B
            Robert-B last edited by Nov 20, 2012, 5:32 PM Nov 20, 2012, 5:32 PM

            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
            • topic:timeago_earlier,8 days
            • Robert-B
              Robert-B @mikecp last edited by Nov 12, 2012, 8:20 PM Nov 12, 2012, 8:20 PM

              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 Nov 12, 2012, 8:08 PM Nov 12, 2012, 8:08 PM

                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 Nov 12, 2012, 8:20 PM Reply Quote 0
                • Robert-B
                  Robert-B last edited by Nov 12, 2012, 7:35 PM Nov 12, 2012, 7:35 PM

                  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 Nov 12, 2012, 8:08 PM Reply Quote 0
                  • Robert-B
                    Robert-B @Robert-B last edited by Nov 8, 2012, 5:31 PM Nov 8, 2012, 5:31 PM

                    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 Nov 8, 2012, 5:25 PM Nov 8, 2012, 5:25 PM

                      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 Nov 8, 2012, 1:36 PM Nov 8, 2012, 1:36 PM

                        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 Nov 8, 2012, 11:27 AM Nov 8, 2012, 11:27 AM

                          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 Nov 6, 2012, 9:12 PM Nov 6, 2012, 9:11 PM

                            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 Nov 8, 2012, 5:31 PM Reply Quote 0
                            • Host1
                              Host1 last edited by Nov 6, 2012, 9:01 PM Nov 6, 2012, 9:01 PM

                              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 Nov 6, 2012, 9:11 PM Reply Quote 0
                              • Robert-B
                                Robert-B last edited by Nov 6, 2012, 8:56 PM Nov 6, 2012, 8:56 PM

                                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
                                1 out of 15
                                • First post
                                  1/15
                                  Last post

                                Got a burning SEO question?

                                Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                                Start my free trial


                                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

                                • rachelmeyer

                                  UTM Links Showing Up as Separate Pages in Google Analytics

                                  Hey everyone, I was just looking at landing pages in Google Analytics, and in addition to just the URL of the landing page, the UTM links are being listed as separate pages. Is this normal? I anticipated seeing the landing page URL and then using the secondary dimension to see source/medium. If this isn't normal, what would I check next?

                                  Reporting & Analytics | Aug 22, 2017, 2:58 PM | rachelmeyer
                                  0
                                • NachoRetta

                                  In Google Search Console: Total Clicks differ from the sum clicks on search queries

                                  Hi.This may be a google technical question, but I've searched a lot and I couldn't find any certain information about that.The problem appears when you look at two stats in Search Console ( WebMasters Tools, some months ago), particulary in the Search Analysis.1- Total clicks2- Sum of clicks at every search query.I attached an image to make me clear.8IZsxs6.png

                                  Reporting & Analytics | Jan 20, 2016, 8:17 AM | NachoRetta
                                  2
                                • JohnPalmer

                                  % Change - Google analytics - how to calculate?

                                  Hi All,
                                  I have two dates with two different numbers I want to calculate the "% Change" like google analytics, The numbers of June 2015 - 127,931 sessions
                                  The numbers of June 2014 - 90914 sessions please tell me what is the %Change. Best. J

                                  Reporting & Analytics | Jul 22, 2015, 11:23 AM | JohnPalmer
                                  0
                                • RCF

                                  How can I use Google Analytics to detect users viewing my website on a TV?

                                  I want to see in Google Analytics whether or not people are viewing my website on a TV, such as with a smart TV or other device connected to their TV. These are the only ways to do this that I have found so far: Operating system: Google TV, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, Xbox Browser: Nintendo Browser, Playstation 3 Are there other data points that I can reliably use to segment these users?

                                  Reporting & Analytics | Nov 26, 2013, 6:52 AM | RCF
                                  0
                                • apartmentGin

                                  Google Analytics VS target="_blank" internal links: How much wrong is it?

                                  I am working on an e-commerce website, and our CEO is sure that having target="_blank" in internal search result is boosting the conversion (not sure, but it's not an issue at the moment). The problem is that Google Analytics sees all URLs visited from search results as entrances/direct visits, hence the Booking Funnel Tracking does not work as it was supposed to. Is there any way to recover the tracking? Or we shall get the rid of target="_blank" attribute?

                                  Reporting & Analytics | Jul 10, 2013, 9:33 AM | apartmentGin
                                  0
                                • Darden

                                  Google Analytics and DNS change

                                  Our new alumni application is going be tested at domain uva.imodules.com .  We are going to collect traffic data with a Google analytics account number UA-884652-XX. So going to uva.imodules.com/myPage.html would send its data to Google Analytics with that account number.     Then when it is ready for production we are going to just change the domain name of the application and switch the DNS over to dardencommunity.darden.virginia.edu .  So going to dardencommunity.darden.virginia.edu /myPage.html would send its data to  Google Analtics with that SAME account number.  Aside from having the testing domain data in the same profile are there any other issues/problems we may run into?

                                  Reporting & Analytics | Jan 25, 2013, 7:44 PM | Darden
                                  0
                                • inhouseseo

                                  How can I verify if someone is Google Analytics certified?

                                  I am looking to hire an IC to help with analytics. I need to know how I can verify if they are GA certified. They gave me a link to a http://www.starttest.com profile. Is that legit?

                                  Reporting & Analytics | Jul 2, 2012, 11:19 PM | inhouseseo
                                  0
                                • Darioz

                                  Google Analytics: how many visits from country Google domains?

                                  Hello, I manage a site with visitors from many different countries. With Google Analytics, it is normal to see the number of visitors from each search engine. However, I would like to identify the number of visitors from each Google-search contry domain. How many visitors from Google.com? How many from Google.co.uk. And from Google.co.zm? And so on. Anybody knows if this is possible and if yes, how can it be done? Thank you in advance, Dario

                                  Reporting & Analytics | May 12, 2011, 11:40 AM | Darioz
                                  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
                                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.