Title: GM Block Bots
Author: mickmel
Published: <strong>March 22, 2015</strong>
Last modified: March 1, 2017

---

Search plugins

This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**.
It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when
used with more recent versions of WordPress.

![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/gm-block-bots.svg)

# GM Block Bots

 By [mickmel](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mickmel/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/gm-block-bots.zip)

 * [Details](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/gm-block-bots/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/gm-block-bots/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/gm-block-bots/#installation)
 * [Development](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/gm-block-bots/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gm-block-bots/)

## Description

This blocks semalt.com, buttons-for-website.com and others with a 403 Forbidden 
message so that they no longer show up in your Google Analytics stats. This won’t
block ghost referrals (no plugin can do that), but [this short video](http://www.greenmellenmedia.com/blocking-ghost-referrals-in-google-analytics/)
will walk you through that process in Google Analytics.

Once installed, this plugin will run automatically in the background; there is no
options panel or anything to see in your dashboard.

Other sites will be added to the block list over time via updates to this plugin.

For more information, visit us at [GreenMellenMedia.com](http://www.greenmellenmedia.com)
or find us on Twitter [@GreenMellen](http://twitter.com/greenmellen).

Current list of blocked bots: All sites ending in .xyz, 100dollars-seo.com, 4webmasters.
org, 7makemoneyonline.com, adviceforum.info, aliexpress.com, amazonaws.com, anticrawler.
org, avtlg.ru, bashtel.ru, best-seo-offer.com, best-seo-solution.com, bestsub.com,
bestwebsitesawards.com, blackhatworth.com, burger-imperia.com, buttons-for-website.
com, buttons-for-your-website.com, buy-cheap-online.info, chinese-amezon.com, clicksor.
com, copyrightclaims.org, corbina.ru, cpty.com, darodar.com, depositfiles-porn.ga,
domination.ml, e-buyeasy.com, ebin.cc, econom.co, erot.co, ertelecom.ru, event-tracking.
com, fix-website-errors.com, free-floating-buttons.com, floating-share-buttons.com,
free-share-buttons.com, free-share-buttons.top, free-social-buttons.com, free-video-
tool.com, get-free-social-traffic.com, get-free-traffic-now.com, ɢoogle.com, googlsucks.
com, guardlink.com, guardlink.org, hol.es, hongfanji.com, how-to-earn-quick-money.
com, howtostopreferralspam.eu, hulfingtonpost.com, hvd-store.com, ilovevitaly.*,
is74.ru, kabbalah-red-bracelets.com, kambasoft.com, kes.ru, keywords-monitoring-
your-success.com, lifehacĸer.com, magicdiet.gq, makemoneyonline.com, monetizationking.
net, mts.ru, mts-nn.ru, nationalcablenetworks.ru, netbynet.ru, o-o-6-o-o.com, pizza-
tycoon.com, pogodnyyeavarii.gq, pornhub-forum.ga, priceg.com, qualitymarketzone.
com, rank-checker.online, ranking2017.ga, rankings-analytics.com, rankscanner.com,
ranksonic.org/info, sanjosestartups.com, sashagreyblog.ga, savetubevideo.com, search.
myway.com, search.tb.ask.com, semalt.com, seo-platform.com, sexyali.com, simple-
share-buttons.com, site-16528012-1.snip.tw, site-auditor.online, sitequest.ru, snip.
to, social-buttons-*, social-s-*, success-seo.com, theguardlan.com, top1-seo-service.
com, torture.ml, traffic2money.com, trafficmonetizer.net, uni.me, uptime.com, video–
production.com, videos-for-your-business.com, webmonetizer.net, website-analyzer.
info, works.if.ua, wow.com, youporn-forum.ga, yourserverisdown.com

## Screenshots

 * [[
 * Activation link. There are no other screenshots, because the plugin works silently
   behind the scenes.

## Installation

 1. Upload the GM Block Bots plugin to your ‘/wp-content/plugins/’ directory.
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
 3. That’s it! No options to configure; semalt and their friends will start being blocked
    immediately.

## FAQ

  Installation Instructions

 1. Upload the GM Block Bots plugin to your ‘/wp-content/plugins/’ directory.
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
 3. That’s it! No options to configure; semalt and their friends will start being blocked
    immediately.

  Nothing changed on my site

That is by design. This is a silent plugin, and there are no options to configure.
Leave it enabled to block the bots, or disable it to let them back in.

  The bots are still getting through

This plugin only blocks them based on their http_referer, which may not catch everything.
In addition, some bots are “ghost referrals” that ping Google Analytics directly(
without ever visiting your site) and the only way to stop them is via filters in
Google Analytics. [This short video](http://www.greenmellenmedia.com/blocking-ghost-referrals-in-google-analytics/)
will show you how to set that up.

  Can you also block another bot?

Absolutely! We’d love to add more to the list of bots being blocked. Please email
us at plugins@greenmellenmedia.com and we’ll look into it.

## Reviews

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/84c26f4b3cc423576ec0ffb33a47382b8878d1d5a308388e479bfd3f66fa3fe6?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Works great](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/work-great-15/)󠁿

 [Jaro](https://profiles.wordpress.org/pixtweaks/) August 14, 2017

Works great, only lacking updates or automatic fetching new spammers.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/84ee9f5419bd352e802ae68a14c69573266798df04f8d4e792370abf2e497e94?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[One of My Core Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/one-of-my-core-plugins-2/)󠁿

 [mrtechnique](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mrtechnique/) September 3, 2016

Until Google solves the spam traffic issue, I’ll be using this plugin on every WordPress
website. Does it take care of all of the spam traffic? No. It takes care of the 
spam bots that visit your site. There are ghost referrers that need to be taken 
care of as well, and no WordPress plugin can do that. Ghost referrers never visit
the site with the Google Analytics code. For that, you need to set up a Google Analytics
filter that includes only valid host names. If you want to read more about how to
solve the spam traffic issue, here is a detailed article on getting rid of the spam
in Google Analytics.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/12b26208e732d40e3ea5b66291ab9417cdadc4b11a9ef59a9524e29d042b5be2?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Stops those bots butt cold](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/stops-those-bots-butt-cold/)󠁿

 [BlogAid](https://profiles.wordpress.org/blogaid/) September 3, 2016

I LOVE this plugin!!! Works exactly as advertised and doesn’t load the site in doing
it. The best part is, it’s kept up to date with the latest spam crawl bots. Now 
I don’t have to play a never ending whack-a-mole game. This plugin takes care of
it for me.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4c4da75fc9796b34ef5708e788881a6e2398fda7b3f88dd30bf06f7a39a5b236?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Doesn't work](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/doesnt-work-1511/)󠁿

 [BrendanRog](https://profiles.wordpress.org/brendanrog/) February 8, 2017

Still seeing a ton of spam referrals. Fix it and I’ll up my review.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/3823bf464adaec994404c60e21947050087cd1a4eeeee998b505e4e47df82774?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Smote those little buggers!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/smote-those-little-buggers-2/)󠁿

 [Anna_erishkigal](https://profiles.wordpress.org/anna_erishkigal/) February 8, 
2017

I was getting an increasing number of trackbacks from places like buttons-for-websites
and a couple of other bots and they kept crawling through my site and messing up
my stats. This plugin was really easy to use. Just download, upack, and it took 
about 24 hours for the bots to disappear. No going into the source code and rewriting
stuff.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d62caff4da1273a61dda564d2959eda857ed32c4f15f1e911415f64ac66d9326?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Sick of semalt!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sick-of-semalt/)󠁿

 [peachiemama](https://profiles.wordpress.org/peachiemama/) February 8, 2017

Glad to have something to fix that stuff.

 [ Read all 18 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gm-block-bots/reviews/)

## Contributors & Developers

“GM Block Bots” is open source software. The following people have contributed to
this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ mickmel ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mickmel/)
 *   [ ashlealanier ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ashlealanier/)

[Translate “GM Block Bots” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/gm-block-bots)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/gm-block-bots/), check
out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/gm-block-bots/), or subscribe
to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/gm-block-bots/) 
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/gm-block-bots/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 2.0.2

Fixed a bug that may have caused tracking issues for a very small percentage of 
sites.

#### 2.0.1

We’ve now blocked from the following TLDs:
 .ru .ua .cf .ga .ml .re .tk .kz .ro .
pl In addtion, we added approximately 200 more sies to the list, which are not listed
here because it’s getting a bit crazy. You can view the source code of the main 
gm-block-bots.php file to see them all.

#### 2.0.0

We made the decision to block ALL sites on the .xyz TLD, as they are simply coming
in too quickly to keep playing whack-a-mole.
 In addition, we also added pogodnyyeavarii.
gq, free-share-buttons.top, cpty.com, ɢoogle.com, lifehacĸer.com Note that ɢoogle.
com is the one using the strange Unicode “G” and lifehacĸer.com uses the odd Unicode“
K”

#### 1.3.0

Added some simple regex for repeat offenders, such as social-buttons-*, social-s-*,
ilovevitaly.* and *-flummox.ml
 Also added ranking2017.ga and magicdiet.gq

#### 1.2.23

Added pizza-tycoon.com, hvd-store.com, burger-imperia.com, ebin.cc and site-auditor.
online

#### 1.2.22

Added fix-website-errors.com and law-enforcement-check-five.xyz

#### 1.2.21

Added law-enforcement-bot-ii.xyz, cookie-law-enforcement-dd.xyz, and social-buttons-
gg.xyz

#### 1.2.20

Added social-buttons-ii.xyz and monetizationking.net

#### 1.2.19

Added social-traffic-*.xyz (covering all of those) and uptime.com

#### 1.2.18

Added free-video-tool.com, keywords-monitoring-your-success.com and works.if.ua

#### 1.2.17

Added rank-checker.online

#### 1.2.16

Added website-analyzer.info

#### 1.2.15

Added share-buttons.xyz, traffic2cash.xyz and site-16528012-1.snip.tw

#### 1.2.14

Added rusexy.xyz

#### 1.2.13

Added top1-seo-service.com

#### 1.2.12

Added amazonaws.com, snip.to

#### 1.2.11

Added copyrightclaims.org

#### 1.2.10

Added rankings-analytics.com

#### 1.2.9

Added best-seo-software.xyz, seo-platform.com

#### 1.2.8

Added free-floating-buttons.com, how-to-earn-quick-money.com, qualitymarketzone.
com

#### 1.2.7

Added video–production.com, rankscanner.com, yourserverisdown.com

#### 1.2.6

Added sexyali.com, get-free-social-traffic.com, chinese-amezon.com, erot.co, hongfanji.
com

#### 1.2.5

Added webmonetizer.net, trafficmonetizer.net, e-buyeasy.com, traffic2money.com

#### 1.2.4

Added ertelecom.ru, corbina.ru, floating-share-buttons.com, mts-nn.ru, kes.ru, bashtel.
ru, is74.ru, netbynet.ru, avtlg.ru, mts.ru, nationalcablenetworks.ru, videos-for-
your-business.com, success-seo.com

#### 1.2.3

Added sanjosestartups.com, 100dollars-seo.com, howtostopreferralspam.eu

#### 1.2.2

 * Added event-tracking.com, free-social-buttons.com, kabbalah-red-bracelets.com,
   guardlink.org

#### 1.2.1

 * Added uni.me, sashagreyblog.ga, search.myway.com, guardlink.com

#### 1.2

 * Added hol.es, domination.ml and free-share-buttons.com
 * Confirmed compatibility with WordPress 4.2

#### 1.1.9

 * Added pornhub-forum.ga, depositfiles-porn.ga, theguardlan.com, torture.ml, youporn-
   forum.ga

#### 1.1.8

 * Added best-seo-offer.com, buttons-for-your-website.com and googlsucks.com

#### 1.1.7

 * Added buy-cheap-online.info and get-free-traffic-now.com
 * Added strtolower to make sure oddly cased referrals (such as Get-Free-Traffic-
   Now.com) are still blocked.

#### 1.1.6

 * Added search.tb.ask.com, wow.com, adviceforum.info, makemoneyonline.com and best-
   seo-solution.com

#### 1.1.5

 * Added o-o-6-o-o.com and sitequest.ru

#### 1.1.4

 * Added 4webmasters.org, anticrawler.org and bestsub.com

#### 1.1.3

 * Added blackhatworth.com, econom.co, hulfingtonpost.com, kambasoft.com, priceg.
   com, ranksonic.org/info and savetubevideo.com

#### 1.1.2

 * Added bestwebsitesawards.com and aliexpress.com

#### 1.1.1

 * Minor update for compatibility with older versions of PHP

#### 1.1

 * Added simple-share-buttons.com, clicksor.com, 7makemoneyonline.com and ilovevitaly.
   com

#### 1.0

 * Initial Release, blocking semalt.com, buttons-for-websites.com, darodar.com and
   social-buttons.com

## Meta

 *  Version **2.0.2**
 *  Last updated **8 years ago**
 *  Active installations **900+**
 *  WordPress version ** 3.0 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **4.7.33**
 *  Language
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/gm-block-bots/)
 * Tags
 * [botnet](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/botnet/)[bots](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/bots/)
   [semalt](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/semalt/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/gm-block-bots/advanced/)

## Ratings

 4.4 out of 5 stars.

 *  [  13 5-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gm-block-bots/reviews/?filter=5)
 *  [  1 4-star review     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gm-block-bots/reviews/?filter=4)
 *  [  0 3-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gm-block-bots/reviews/?filter=3)
 *  [  0 2-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gm-block-bots/reviews/?filter=2)
 *  [  2 1-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gm-block-bots/reviews/?filter=1)

[Add my review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gm-block-bots/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gm-block-bots/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ mickmel ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mickmel/)
 *   [ ashlealanier ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ashlealanier/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gm-block-bots/)