How To Remove Floating-Share-Buttons.com Referral Spam
I was checking my Google Analytics data a moment ago when I noticed another surge in referral traffic. However, this time it was not from 1, not from 2, but from 3 sources all related to Floating-Share-Buttons.com! These sources appeared in my Google Analytics data as the following:
- site1.floating-share-buttons.com
- site2.floating-share-buttons.com
- site3.floating-share-buttons.com
Other subdomains you may see in your list of referrals include the following:
- floating-share-buttons.com
- site4.floating-share-buttons.com
- site5.floating-share-buttons.com
- site6.floating-share-buttons.com
- site7.floating-share-buttons.com
- site8.floating-share-buttons.com
- site9.floating-share-buttons.com
- site10.floating-share-buttons.com
If you’ve also seen these referral sites in your Google Analytics data, then you should know that this referral spam is not malicious, although it’s best to avoid visiting any referral spam websites after the phishing attack that Trafficmonetize used against its visitors.
How To Block Floating-Share-Buttons.com Spam: Filter Method
I created the instructions below using both images and text to make it easier for you to understand and follow the guide. The important parts of the page that you need to click or interact with are marked with a red circle.
1. Go To The Google Analytics Website And Log Into Your Account
You can visit the website by clicking the URL in the heading or by clicking here.
2. Go To Your “Admin” Tab
The admin tab is right next to the ‘Customisation’ tab to the far right of the Google Analytics logo.
3. Click On “Filters” Under The “View” Section
Once you’re on the admin page, go to the 3rd column called “View” and click on “Filters”.
4. Click On “+New Filter”
There’s a big red button on the page that says “+New Filter”. It’s pretty hard to miss, so click it.
5. Enter The Information In The Image Below And Save
Normally, I would have an image here to show you how this would look in your Google Analytics Filters page, but since we’re going to be blocking 3 or more URLs, I’m going to skip the images and leave the instructions below:
- Click on ‘Create New Filter‘
- Under ‘Filter Information‘, click on ‘Custom‘
- Click the “Exclude‘ button
- Under ‘Filter Field‘, select ‘Campaign Source‘ from the drop-down list.
- Under Filter Pattern, enter ‘site1.Floating-Share-Buttons.com’
- If you were hit by multiple referrer spam URLs, separate each URL with “|” (without the quotes) so that the Filter Pattern looks similar to this: site1.Floating-Share-Buttons.com | site2.Floating-Share-Buttons.com | site3.Floating-Share-Buttons.com.
- Click on ‘Save‘.
- Repeat steps 1 through 6 for site2 and site3.
Wait about an hour for the filter changes to take effect and you should be able to see your real Google Analytics data without the referrer spam in it.
How To Block Floating-Share-Buttons.com Spam: Htaccess Method
In every article I’ve written about ghost referrer spam, I never recommended using this method or the following method if the referrer spam is indeed ghost referrer spam that never actually visits your site as this method and the subsequent method are more suited for protecting your site from any possible sessions in the future from these sources. If you find that the traffic is taking up your server resources or you think that it may be malicious, then try using the following code in your htaccess, which should block every variation of the URL from landing on your webstie.
# Referrer SPAM
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
# floating-share-buttons
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://([^.]+\.)*floating-share-buttons\.org [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.floating-share-buttons.org [R=301,L]
How To Block Floating-Share-Buttons.com Spam: Deflecting Method
This is not also not a recommended method, but you can create a text file called “deflector.map” and add the following code to it (be sure to include site2 and site3 in the code):
#
## deflector.map
##
##referer –> redirect target
http://site1.Floating-Share-Buttons.com http://site1.Floating-Share-Buttons.com
After that, you’re going to want to add the following code to your .htaccess
RewriteMap deflector txt:/path/to/deflector.map
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !=””
RewriteCond ${deflector:%{HTTP_REFERER}} =-
RewriteRule ^ %{HTTP_REFERER} [R,L]
Why Does Floating-Share-Buttons Referrer Spam Occur?
Unlike Trafficmonetize referral spam, Floating-Share-Buttons.org doesn’t direct to a malicious website. Instead, it directs to a website called Sharebutton.to, which is a pretty plain website with a background of a boardwalk and 2 boxes that allow you to copy a couple of codes that you could use on your website. However, considering this website is engaging is questionable advertising methods (i.e., spam), I would highly suggest that you do not copy and paste any of the codes on this site.
3 is ok… I was presented with these lovely FIVE
– floating-share-buttons.com
– site2.floating-share-buttons.com
– site3.floating-share-buttons.com
– site4.floating-share-buttons.com
– site5.floating-share-buttons.com
That sure is a lot! Your reply made me curious to see how many floating-share-buttons subdomains that sharebutton.to (the site that those subdomains redirect to) currently have, and they appear to have 10 active subdomains in addition to the floating-share-buttons domain redirecting to their main website.
Thanks for your guide!
Is it possible to place several TLD’s in the same filter? If so, how?
Hello, Baronen!
Yes, according to the Google Analytics support page, you can block multiple TLD’s in the same Exclude Filter by separating each pattern (URL) with ‘|‘. I’ve also just updated the main article to include these instructions for anyone else who would like to block multiple URLs in the same filter.
It is malicious on my site. Bandwidth has skyrocketed with their appearance.
In your case, it’s best to block them via .htaccess using the code below, which will prevent them from reaching your site and increasing your bandwidth any further.
## SITE REFERRER BANNING
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site1.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site2.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site3.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site4.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site5.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site6.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site7.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site8.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site9.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site10.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteRule .* - [F]
The same IP 104.254.244.128 has the below websites
free-social-buttons.com
site1.floating-share-buttons.com
site2.floating-share-buttons.com
site3.floating-share-buttons.com
site4.floating-share-buttons.com
site5.floating-share-buttons.com
www1.free-social-buttons.com
www2.free-social-buttons.com
www3.free-social-buttons.com
www4.free-social-buttons.com
www5.free-social-buttons.com
www6.free-social-buttons.com
www7.free-social-buttons.com
www8.free-social-buttons.com
www10.free-social-buttons.com
http://www.floating-share-buttons.com
http://www.free-social-buttons.com
thelobbylive.com
http://www.imfeelingdepressed.com
http://www.madtwibs.com
http://www.westernarkansashog.com
floating-share-buttons.com
Can we block the IP in FTP and Google analytics? How to block ?
Yes, you can exclude referrer spam from Google Analytics the same way you can exclude internal traffic by IP address, although it’s not as simple as entering the IP address. To block by IP, you have to enter the IP as a regular expression. So, for example, if you want to block 104.254.244.128, you would have to enter it as 104\.254\.244\.128.
Hello Guys,
what is this ?…site1.floating-share-buttons.com
http://www.site1.floating-share-buttons.com upto www10.free-social-buttons.com
Give me inform then i will study at part.
Hello! Those URLs are just subdomains of floating-share-buttons.com, which is a website that redirects to sharebuttons.to. Those websites are used as part of a referrer spam capmpaign launched by the site owner.
Great work Alistair, than you!
Hi! Thank you for your helpful explanation and instructions.
I already have the following in my .htaccess:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^index\.php/(.+)$ /$1 [R,L]
RewriteRule ^index\.php/?$ / [R,L]
If I simply add your list
## SITE REFERRER BANNING
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site1.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site2.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site3.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteRule .* – [F]
(shortened version)
, my rules don’t work anymore. I don’t know about your rules, as I can’t test them.
How do I add your list properly, so everything works?
Thank you in advance!
Yeah, I just tested my original code out and it resulted in a 403/500 error. You can try the following code out below to see if it works any better:
# Referrer SPAM
# floating-share-buttons
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://([^.]+\.)*floating-share-buttons\.org [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.floating-share-buttons.org [R=301,L]
You could also try this code below:
## REFERRER SPAM
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} floating-share-buttons.com
RewriteRule .* – [F]
Instead of putting all of those lines in your .htaccess file, can’t you just use a wildcard (*) to block every variation? example:
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} *.floating-share-buttons.com [NC,OR]
Admittedly, I’m not much of an Htaccess expert, but I believe you’re correct about being able to use a wildcard to block the variations. However, based on some research I did, I think the wildcard in Htaccess would look more like this:
# floating-share-buttons
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://([^.]+\.)*floating-share-buttons\.org [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.floating-share-buttons.org [R=301,L]
Regardless, I updated my article based on your suggestion.