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Recently read somewhere that some sites are starting to see Lycos.com (yes, the one that fell off the face of the earth a decade ago) pop up as a main referer for them according to G Analytics. I'm not seeing ANY traffic at all from them, but was wondering if anyone else has and I'm just in the wrong niche?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by joncmac

Dani AI

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Short summary of the thread: asked why Lycos shows up as a top referrer; noted Lycos has been reshaped by its owners; reported an ~1100% spike since late May and very high AdSense conversions, and has already filed a report with Google.

Quick diagnosis checklist (how to tell real visits from analytics spam):

  • Check the Hostname column in Google Analytics for those Lycos sessions. If Hostname is not the site domain (or is "(not set)"), those are almost certainly ghost/referrer spam.
  • Cross-check server access logs for matching timestamps and IPs. Real visits appear in server logs; ghost hits do not.
  • Look at Behavior metrics: extremely low session duration or 100% bounce on lots of sessions is another sign of fake traffic. Service Provider, Network Domain and Country dimensions can also show suspicious patterns.

Immediate mitigation steps (non-destructive first):

  • Keep an unfiltered backup view. Then create a new view and add an Include filter on Hostname that matches only valid domains for the site (this filters out most measurement-protocol/ghost spam going forward).
  • If the traffic is actually hitting the server, block obvious referrers or user agents at the webserver level. If it is ghost spam, server blocks do nothing — use analytics filters instead.

Sample filter pattern (use in an Include filter for Hostname):

example\.com|subdomain\.example\.com

Sample lightweight .htaccess rule to block requests that actually carry a Lycos referrer:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} lycos\.com [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

If AdSense clicks seem fraudulent, keep detailed evidence (GA screenshots, server logs, click timestamps) and follow AdSense invalid-traffic reporting. Google will investigate and may credit invalid activity. See Google guidance on analytics spam and AdSense invalid traffic for specifics: and .

Note: confirm whether Lycos referrals are legitimate before blocking — if Lycos has relaunched portal content or ad placements (as suggested), some traffic could be real.

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Member Avatar for Member #949455

Recently read somewhere that some sites are starting to see Lycos.com (yes, the one that fell off the face of the earth a decade ago) pop up as a main referer for them according to G Analytics. I'm not seeing ANY traffic at all from them, but was wondering if anyone else has and I'm just in the wrong niche?

I haven't anyone mention Lycos for years. The last time I check my email from there was in college back in 1999.

The reason is that Ybrant Digital is doing something really different with Lyco.

Ybrant Digital is doing something like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Location-based_advertising

You can said it's the next Baidu but Lyco is not there yet.

Member Avatar for joncmac

Yes, I am seeing it. Since late May about ~1100% increase, granted from a low base. It is also on about 3 keyword phrases and is converting very high on adsense. It is coming from hundreds of cities so can't isolate the IP addresses. I am actually very concerned and reported it to google. I think it is some sort of adsense "click bomb". I am starting to see more reports of increased Lycos traffic as well and am putting questions out there. Is anyone seeing this, and in particular converting very high on adsense?

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