Confusing 'visitor' all day?

[lee_sufc]

I am a UK-based site, 90% of my daily visitors are from Europe.

However, all afternoon, I have had 4-5 visitors from Arizona, USA and they have been visiting pretty much every page on my site!?!

Anyone know what this could be?

I'm using Google Analytics.

[LifeinAsia]

Scraper?

Did you lookup the IP?

[lee_sufc]

No - don't think I can do that via Google Analytics, can I?

[LifeinAsia]

Don't you have access to your server logs?

[lee_sufc]

oh yes *DUH!*

I think I have found the IP address, and this, according to a Google search it takes me to a web hosting company...what else can I do to investigate further?

If it is a scraper, should I be worried?

Thanks in advance.

[not2easy]

Human visitors come from ISPs, robots come from hosted web space. You probably want to forbid that IP from visiting your site. For many websites it is simplest to do that using your Control Panel. If it is *nix/Apache hosting your site and if you are familiar with editing your .htaccess file, you can block the IP there. It usually makes more sense to block the entire range when you find a hosting site visiting, because the 'scraper' may use more than one IP. You may want to consult your host's documentation unless you control your server. There isn't a 'one size fits all' solution to just paste in, first you should find out the particulars for your hosting situation.

[lee_sufc]

Thanks for your advice. Have asked my hosts to block that ip address and the full range. Is this something I should be worried about?

[LifeinAsia]

Note- WebmasterWorld has several threads about server farm IPs (including web hosts) and blocking by IP. If you only have the occassional miscreant, it's not a major issue. But when you have dozens of scrapers hitting you for multiple IPS and proxies, it becomes a giant wack-a-mole that can suck all your time.

[tangor]

Sorry to say, that by the time you see it, the harm has already been done. That does not mean you don't take steps to protect anything new you put up... but whatever you had at the time of their visit has already been scraped.

For more info on this subject visit the search engine and spider identification forum here at Webmaster World.

Good luck!

[lee_sufc]

@tangor - that doesn't sound good! Is there anything else I need to do...how will I know if the content has been scraped?

[tangor]

As always, check the serps in your niche to see if your stuff is on another site, but can also use sites like copyscrape and the like. Sometimes you'll find out in GWT as "duplicate content", etc. or sudden drops in traffic (sucked away by the scrape(r) site(s) (usually mant). Remember Whack-A-Mole, the game? Welcome to the web version--on nuclear steroids...

The nightmare has only just begun.

Might check on "whitelisting", "blacklisting", deny,allow (that's Apache and other things such as .htaccess), your control panel (if you have one), etc.

Keeping bots and rippers out is part of the game. They always get the first bite... all you can do is shut them down AFTER you find them at work (see your LOGS). Or read the experiences of webmasters here at Webmaster World for a more proactive approach.

This is just part of the game and if you come to play, just bring your best, even if you have to learn hard along the way.

[lee_sufc]

Thanks tangor - not what I wanted to hear....

Can I just ask; should I expect to see the scraped content on the IP address that we were monitoring? Sorry if that's a silly question, however, I've never dealt with anything like this before.

[tangor]

Likely not on same IP address. It will be a web site out there... with your content in other window dressing. Been there, done that, learn about DMCA (look it up) for the Whack-A-Mole hammer.

I came back to edit this post with an additional thought.

Perhaps we are over thinking this. It JUST MIGHT BE that that IP in Arizona is a real true person who really likes your site. Keep that in the back of your mind as you go forwar wi th everythign else mentioned. Might try some of the other forums here at WW... those which deal with the "bad boys" and what some folsk are doing to deal with them.