Products
Webtrends Analytics 9.x
Webtrends Analytics 8.x
Issue
Resolution
Activity from spiders and bots shows in reports even though the web logs are generated by the SmartSource Data Collector. The URL for the activity results when the NOSCRIPT section of the Webtrends JavaScript tag is triggered by the hit.
The NOSCRIPT section of the JavaScript tag can potentially trigger a response from a spider or bot because it is a simple .gif file request and this portion of the tag does not require the client to be able to process JavaScript. To resolve this issue, either remove the NOSCRIPT section from the tag or move it to the bottom of the page so spiders and bots are less likely to find it (assuming only part of a page is indexed). This will also have the effect of eliminating traffic from visitors who have disabled JavaScript in their browser. A robots.txt file can also be used to discourage this sort of activity, without removing valid visitor traffic.