How to Exclude Internal Traffic in GA4
Keeping track of your website analytics is crucial to learn more about your customers and give you the insight you need to make smart business moves.
But what if the data you’re collecting is inaccurate?
Did you know your Google Analytics reports might be skewed because they include traffic from your own team or contractors?
This can lead to inaccurate data, making it harder to make informed business decisions.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through how to exclude internal traffic from your reports—a best practice to ensure your analytics reflect only external audience activity.
If you’re new to Google Analytics, check out our blog The Ultimate Guide to Google Analytics GA4 Setup for Beginners for setup instructions. Already have GA4 but need to finish setup? See How to Complete GA4 Setup in Google’s Setup Assistant.
Alright, let’s jump in! 👇
Step 1: Identify Internal Traffic
First, we’ll identify your internal traffic by adding IP addresses for your team members, contractors, or anyone else accessing your site from within your organization.
Log in to your Google Analytics account and click the Admin Gear in the bottom-left corner.
2. Navigate to:
+ Data collection and modification > Data streams, then select the stream for your website.
3. Under the Google Tag section, click Configure tag settings.
+ In the Settings section, click Show more and then Define internal traffic.
4. Click Create and configure as follows:
+ Rule name: “Internal Team - [NAME]”
+ traffic_type value: Leave as “internal”
+ Match type: Select IP address equals
5. Add your IP addresses:
+ For your IP address: Follow the instructions linked under “What’s my IP address?”
+ For your team: Share the same link with your team members and gather their IP addresses. Eith IPv6 or IPv4 can be used.
6. Click the blue Create button to finalize.
Note: Each property only allows 10 data filters, so plan accordingly.
Step 2: Create a Data Filter
Now that we’ve defined internal traffic, let’s create a filter to exclude it from your reports.
1. Go back to Data streams, then click Data filters and select Create filter.
2. In the Create data filter window:
+ Filter Type: Choose Internal Traffic
+ Data Filter Name: “Internal Traffic”
+ Filter operation: Leave as “Exclude”
+ traffic_type Parameter Value: Leave as “internal”
3. Keep the Filter State as Testing to validate before making the changes permanent.
4. Click the blue Create button to finalize.
Note: Testing ensures the filter works correctly before applying it permanently.
Step 3: Validate the Filter
After 24–36 hours, test the filter to confirm it’s working properly.
1. In left side menu in GA4, go to Explore and create a Free form exploration.
2. Configure as follows:
+ Exploration Name: “Internal Traffic”
+ Technique: Free form
+ Visualization: Table (default)
+ Rows: Remove City. Then click the + plus sign next to Dimensions and search for Test data filter name. Check the box and click the blue Confirm button. Now drag the Test data filter name and Event name from the Dimensions section.
+ Columns: Remove Device category
+ Values: Remove Active users and add Event Count from the Metrics section.
+ Filters: Click the + plus sign and select Test data filter name, Conditions “contains”, Enter expression “Internal Traffic”
3. Review the data. If you see data showing in this report and internal traffic is being excluded correctly, proceed to the next step to activate the filter.
Step 4: Activate the Filter
1. Go back to Admin > Data collection and modification> Data filters and open the “Internal Traffic” filter you created.
2. Change the Filter State to Active and click Save.
That’s it! Your internal traffic is now excluded from your reports.
For more detailed information, see the official Google Analytics documentation here.
What’s Next?
Head to our blog post all about the top four GA4 reports small business owners should be paying attention to, and then make yourself a note to stay on top of these tasks:
Onboarding New Team Members: Add their IP addresses during the onboarding process.
Offboarding: Remove IP addresses for team members who leave.
Need Help?
If this feels overwhelming or you’d rather focus on your business, let us help! Schedule a call with us—we’d love to assist with your strategy, finance, or marketing needs.
More soon,
Jessica
MARKETING + OFFICE COORDINATOR
P.S.
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