As you get more advanced with Google Analytics, you realize that it's not always about the data that you can capture for your analysis, but it's often necessary to limit the data that you utilize in order to piece together the story of what happened with visitors to your site. We often achieve this through segmentation, secondary dimensions, filters, drilling down, etc. until we can find the information we need to tell our story.
Even with all of the advanced capabilities built into Google Analytics, I have found that there is still one area that is often overlooked when it comes to ensuring data quality in reports, and that is reviewing the Service Providers report in Google Analytics to make sure that the traffic coming to your site is 1) Human based traffic in your target market (that means eliminating “bot” traffic or filtering internal traffic from inside of your company) and 2) Reviewing who visited your site to see if there are any obscure sources that do not fit a standard profile.
Google Analytics Advanced Segment to Filter Common Internet Service Providers
Since the need to filter out service providers is common, I end up using this technique on about 25% of the Google Analytics accounts that I manage. Rather than rebuilding this analysis on each account, I have created an advanced segment in GA that allows you to filter out common Internet Service Providers.
I shared this segment with my good friend Josh Braaten, who included it in his comprehensive article on Search Engine Watch: 16 Secret Google Analytics Advanced Segments Worth Their Weight in Gold. For the rest of this post, I will detail the Common Service Providers listed in Google Analytics, since many of them are often a mystery to us as we view reports in Google Analytics.
This advanced segment is built around International service providers and is based on the traffic that I have received to Jeffalytics.
Common Service Providers in Google Analytics
Here is a list of the 100 most common Internet Service Providers that I have filtered out while using this advanced segment.
road runner holdco llc
United States based Broadband ISP (Cable)
comcast cable communications inc.
United States based Broadband ISP (Cable)
verizon online llc
United States based ISP
at&t internet services
United States based ISP
comcast cable communications holdings inc
United States based Broadband ISP
(not set)
The service provider is not set/not reported to Google for the visitor
ip pools
A collection of ISP's in the United Kingdom who resell DSL Broadband
cox communications
United States based Broadband ISP
deutsche telekom ag
German based phone provider
service provider corporation
United States based provider of IP Addresses to various phone providers
charter communications
United States based Broadband ISP
telefonica de espana sau
Spanish Telecommunications provider
shaw communications inc.
Canada based Broadband ISP
cox communications inc.
United States based Broadband ISP (Cable)
qwest communications company llc
United States based Broadband ISP (DSL)
comcast business communications llc
United States based Broadband ISP
internet service provider
Generic Internet service provider
sky broadband
United Kingdom based Broadband ISP
cellco partnership dba verizon wireless
United States based Mobile Phone Provider
telstra internet
Australia based Broadband ISP
tw telecom holdings inc.
United States based Business Ethernet provider
psinet inc.
United States based ISP
jazztel triple play services
Spain based Broadband ISP/Cable Provider
optimum online (cablevision systems)
United States based ISP
comcast cable communications
United States based Broadband ISP
virgin media limited
United Kingdom based Broadband ISP
single static ip addresses
Appears to belong to BT Public Internet Service in the United Kingdom
chtd chunghwa telecom co. ltd.
Taiwan based ISP – largest in Taiwain
sympatico hse
Canada based high speed Internet
telus communications inc.
Canada based high speed Internet
proxad / free sas
Apparently a French ISP well known for spamming (please let me know if this is incorrect)
uninet s.a. de c.v.
Mexico based ISP
comcast cable communications ip services
United States based Broadband ISP
clearwire us llc
United States based Broadband ISP
iinet limited
Australia based ISP – second largest in Australia
tpg internet pty ltd.
Australia based ADSL Broadband ISP
ziggo consumers
Netherlands based Broadband ISP
rcs & rds residential
Southern Europe ISP providing service to Romania, Serbia, Spain, Hungary, Slovakia, Italy, Czech Republic and Croatia
xo communications
United States based Business ISP
broadband multiplay project o/o dgm bb noc bsnl bangalore
Appears to be an India based ISP
opal telecom dsl
United Kingdom based Broadband ISP that recently changed their name to TalkTalk Business
rogers cable communications inc.
Canada based ISP
sprint nextel corporation
United States based Wireless/Mobile ISP
telstra
Leading Australian mobile/wireless provider
cpe customers nl
Appears to be a Dutch/Netherlands based ISP
global village telecom
Brazil based Telecommunications ISP
optus internet – retail
United States based ISP
videotron ltee
Canada based ISP located in Quebec
mediacom communications corp
United States based Broadband ISP
insight communications company l.p.
United States based Broadband ISP. Subsidiary of Time Warner cable.
yousee a/s
Largest Cable Provider in Denmark. Subsidiary of TDC telecom
integra telecom inc.
United States based ISP
abts (karnataka)
Hard to find information, but it appears that this is an India based ISP
level 3 communications inc.
United States based ISP in my home state of Minnesota
rcn corporation
United States based Telecom ISP
central + migration to 21cn
UK Telecommunications Company
telia network services
Swedish Mobile ISP
emirates integrated telecommunications company pjsc (eitc-du)
United Arab Emirates ISP
telecom italia s.p.a. tin easy lite
Italian Telecom ISP
abts delhi
Indian ISP
easynet ltd
UK ISP
frontier communications of america inc.
United States based ISP
telefonica germany gmbh & co. ohg
German ISP
telmex colombia s.a.
ISP in Columbia and Ecuador
wind telecomunicazioni s.p.a
Telecom Company in Italy
arcor ag
German Telecom
upc magyarorszag kft.
Hungarian ISP
wayport inc.
US Broadband Provider
tvcabo-portugal cable modem network
Portugal Cable Network
mtnl cat b isp
Indian ISP
bend cable communications llc
Broadband Provider in Oregon, USA
comcast cable communications inc
US Based ISP
customers ie
Irish ISP
embarq corporation
US ISP
tata communications internet services ltd
Indian ISP
cablevision s.a.
Argentina ISP
upc polska sp. z o.o.
Polish ISP
btc broadband service
US Based ISP
gesti n de direccionamiento uninet
Mexico ISP
pt telkom indonesia
Indonesian Telecom
teksavvy solutions inc.
Canadian ISP
vtr banda ancha s.a.
Chilean Telecommunications Company
upc telekabel
Austrian ISP
telefonica uk limited
UK Telecom
singnet pte ltd
Singapore Based ISP
telecom italia s.p.a.
Italian Telecom
02 online (uk)
UK based Telephone provider
cbeyond communications llc
United States based Broadband ISP
dial-up and adsl pool
Dynamic IP Pool
etb – colombia
Colombian Telephone Company
fpt telecom company
Telecom Company in Vietnam
provider
Unknown Provider
telecommunication services of trinidad and tobago
ISP in Trinidad and Tobago
t-mobile usa inc.
United States based Mobile Phone Provider
telefonica de espana sau (ncc#2008052974)
Spanish Mobile provider
addresses ip for home clients
Dynamic IP Address Pool
opera software asa
Opera Web Browser
tdc bb-adsl users
Denmark Based ISP
ya.com internet factory
Spanish ISP
adsl-go-plus
Belgium based ISP
sonic.net inc.
California Based ISP
net servi os de comunica o s.a.
Brazil Based ISP
I hope you find this reference handy! I know it will save me quite a bit of time to have all of these providers listed in one place. Hopefully it helps you too!
If you have any ISP's you would like to see added. Please contact me or leave a comment below.
Hi Jeff,
Do you happen to know why here are multiple instances for Comcast or Cox for example? I’m based in Phoenix and see a lot of traffic for both Cox Communications and Cox Communications INC, which I usually just roll up together as Cox Subscribers, but there ought to be some reason there is a different segment on the Google analytics side.
Best,
Rex
Hi Rex – my guess is that it’s either different services (business broadband, residential, etc.) Could be speed levels. Could be different markets they operate within (they sometimes have different operating entities in different cities through their various acquisitions). I don’t know exactly, but those are my guesses. Same company, different division.
Jeff – this is awesome, although I need to a do one of these with a comprehensive UK list : )
Any thoughts on an efficient way to map pages visited by service provider? In other words… service provider ‘x’ viewed pages ‘a, b, c’ etc.
Alister I would simply apply the advanced segment to your account and it should give you what you are looking for. Also note that most major UK service providers have been filtered out of the segment I provided. It is filtering out all global providers I have come across in the past.
In this blog they have explained how to filter common internet service providers using advanced analytics segment,Really nice post to read,Thanks.
Sip Trunking toronto
Great post! Very helpful. Any thoughts on why Facebook would be listed as a service provider? We saw a crazy spike in visits that had Facebook listed as the service provider last month. These visits had a region of (not set), 0 time on site, and an extraordinarily high bounce rate. Is this a bot of some sort? It’s rather alarming.
Sounds like not traffic, possibly Facebook ads or a crawler on your website. I would filter out this traffic since it’s likely not part of your marketing audience.
Hi Jeff. I’m assuming that you are excluding traffic from these ISPs. We’re trying to do similar exclusions to separate out any type of bot traffic from our numbers. I’m in the US. Why would I want to filter out traffic from Comcast, Verizon, or other US ISPs?
This post is about removing common service providers to find leads from corporations. Comcast, Verizon, etc. get in the way of seeing your corporate visitors. We do not exclude traffic from the ISPs through filters. Just an advanced segment.
Another recent post of mine does show you how to filter bot traffic and you should read that one.
Thanks Jeff! I searched through your articles, but didn’t seem to find the specific one where you talk about filter bot traffic. I’ll continue to look, but could you post the link?
Here you go – https://www.datadrivenu.com/8-steps-eliminating-bad-data-google-analytics/
Hi jeff,
Very interesting article. What about customer allocation – internet service ? Is it possible that costumers ie may be a bot? and customer allocation – internet service?
Thanks,
Oscar
Hi Jeff.
Can you please tell me how to *use* it? I already imported these “segments” but what now? I’d like to use in in API.
Great article! It was really useful.