Google Analytics Audit Test #

93

Production Data is Free of Developer/Testing Traffic

Why It Matters:

Critical to maintaining clean data in your Google Analytics and marketing performance reports.

Industries:

All

Checks For:

Accuracy

How accurate is your recent data?

Insight Category:

Attribution

Can you tell which marketing efforts are working?

Google Analytics Audit logo

Background

A GA4 audit is essential for uncovering missing insights—key data points that organizations don't yet know and can act upon. A well-done audit evaluates both behavioral tracking and traffic attribution, ensuring each is accurate and useful. It also assesses whether the data collected truly supports business decisions and reporting.

Test Detail

This test ensures that Google Analytics production data is not contaminated by internal, developer, staging, or QA traffic.

When test users trigger real conversions, revenue events, or sessions, it leads to:

  • Inflated performance metrics
  • Artificially high conversion rates or revenue
  • Skewed funnel data
  • Misinformed optimization decisions

Even a few test sessions with purchase events or lead submissions can distort weekly and monthly reporting—especially for smaller businesses or during low-traffic periods.

Check This Test for Free! Instantly.

Our free instant audit tool checks for 90 issues in 90 seconds.

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Google Analytics audit test results.

How to Conduct This Test

Basic Tests

  • In GA4 > Explore, create a Free-form report with:
    • Dimensions: Page location, City, Device category, or User ID
    • Metrics: Sessions, Conversions, or Revenue
    • Filter or segment by known developer IP ranges, test email domains, or staging URLs (e.g., dev.domain.com, staging.domain.com)
  • In BigQuery, check for:
    • Transactions with “test,” “fake,” or “qa” in the user fields
    • Sessions with very low engagement time but high-value events
  • Look for internal traffic from HQ or developers triggering high-value actions unnaturally

Automated, Free Audit

Want an automated scan for test or developer sessions? Run our Instant Audit

Or hire a pro to clean your dataset and protect your KPIs.

How To Fix

  • Use Google Analytics filters to exclude internal traffic by:
    • IP address, where available
    • Developer-specific user properties (e.g., user_type = "tester")
    • Custom dimensions tied to testing tools or environments
  • Implement an environment variable or data layer flag (e.g., is_test = true) and filter out that traffic in Google Tag Manager
  • Never trigger production purchase, generate_lead, or similar conversion events in dev or staging environments
  • Use separate Google Analytics properties or test environments for development work whenever possible
  • Create an “Exclude Testing Traffic” segment for reporting use even if you can't filter it at collection
  • Hire a pro to help you segment, clean, or exclude internal noise—and ensure you’re making decisions based only on real users.

Tips from a Google Analytics Consultant

Focus on Insights

Every Google Analytics audit should result in a plan for more insights.

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An insight is:

  • something you don't know
  • and can act on to improve performance

The Goal

Identify and remove insight blockers. Don't get tempted to track things you can't act on!

Hire a Google Analytics Consultant
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