{"id":25317,"date":"2026-01-06T14:36:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T09:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/?p=25317"},"modified":"2026-01-15T11:59:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T06:29:52","slug":"shopify-traffic-from-iowa-council-bluffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/shopify-traffic-from-iowa-council-bluffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Shopify Traffic from Iowa Council Bluffs &#8211; How to Fix?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are a Shopify store owner, you may have recently panicked after seeing a massive spike in traffic from <strong>Council Bluffs, Iowa<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The pattern is always the same:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A sudden surge in visitor sessions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Zero<\/strong> sales from that location.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An abysmal conversion rate that makes your marketing look like it&#8217;s failing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before you block IPs or change your passwords, take a deep breath. <strong>You are not being hacked.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is exactly what is happening and the fixes you need to clean up your data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Are You Getting Traffic from Council Bluffs?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Council Bluffs, Iowa, is home to one of Google\u2019s largest data centers. When you see traffic from this location, it is almost never a human being. It is a server-side activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This traffic usually comes from two harmless sources:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Shopify\u2019s Speed Tools:<\/strong> Shopify periodically runs automated performance tests on your store (using Google Lighthouse) to measure your site speed. These tests run from Google Cloud servers in Council Bluffs.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Google Bots:<\/strong> Google crawlers indexing your new product pages or blog posts often route through this data center.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Is it safe?<\/strong> Yes. <strong>Is it annoying?<\/strong> Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It inflates your visitor count and dilutes your conversion rate, making it hard to see how your <em>real<\/em> customers are behaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Stop Shopify Traffic from Iowa Council Bluffs (Without Ruining Your SEO)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You cannot &#8220;block&#8221; this traffic. If you try to block the IP addresses from Council Bluffs, you risk blocking Google\u2019s crawlers, which will delete your store from search results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, the &#8220;fix&#8221; is to <strong>filter your reporting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Method 1: The &#8220;Clean View&#8221; in Shopify (Recommended)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can create a custom segment in your Shopify Analytics to ignore these bots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Go to <strong>Analytics<\/strong> in your Shopify Admin.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Open your <strong>Sessions by Location<\/strong> <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"331\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Sessions_by_Location_Feature-1024x331.png\" alt=\"Sessions by Location Report in Shopify\" class=\"wp-image-25370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Sessions_by_Location_Feature-1024x331.png 1024w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Sessions_by_Location_Feature-300x97.png 300w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Sessions_by_Location_Feature-768x249.png 768w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Sessions_by_Location_Feature-1536x497.png 1536w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Sessions_by_Location_Feature.png 1999w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Click the <strong>Filter<\/strong> icon.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In <strong>Session<\/strong> <strong>City<\/strong> select <strong>is not<\/strong> > <strong>Council Bluffs<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"541\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Add_filter_is_not_Council_Bluffs_in_Shopify-1024x541.png\" alt=\"Add filter in the Shopify session report \" class=\"wp-image-25367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Add_filter_is_not_Council_Bluffs_in_Shopify-1024x541.png 1024w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Add_filter_is_not_Council_Bluffs_in_Shopify-300x159.png 300w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Add_filter_is_not_Council_Bluffs_in_Shopify-768x406.png 768w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Add_filter_is_not_Council_Bluffs_in_Shopify-1536x812.png 1536w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Add_filter_is_not_Council_Bluffs_in_Shopify.png 1999w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Save this report<\/strong> as &#8220;Clean Traffic Report&#8221; or any desired name.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Use this saved report for your daily check-ins instead of the default dashboard.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Method 2: The &#8220;Human Only&#8221; Filter (New Feature)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shopify has recently rolled out better bot detection. Check if your store has access to the &#8220;Human or bot&#8221; dimension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Go to <strong>Analytics > Sessions by Location <\/strong>or any report that you want to analyze\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click the <strong>Filter<\/strong> icon<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Add a new dimension and search for the <strong>\u201cHuman or bot session\u201d<\/strong>, then select &amp; apply.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"559\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Human_Only_Filter_Feature-559x1024.png\" alt=\"Shopify Human Only Filter Feature\" class=\"wp-image-25368\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Human_Only_Filter_Feature-559x1024.png 559w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Human_Only_Filter_Feature-164x300.png 164w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Human_Only_Filter_Feature.png 602w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 559px) 100vw, 559px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This will automatically strip out known crawler activity from Council Bluffs and other data centers (like Ashburn, Virginia).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"865\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Human_Only_Filter_Report.png\" alt=\"Shopify Human Only Filter Report\" class=\"wp-image-25369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Human_Only_Filter_Report.png 865w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Human_Only_Filter_Report-300x216.png 300w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Shopify_Human_Only_Filter_Report-768x554.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Method 3: Trust Google Analytics (GA4) Instead<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you use Google Analytics 4, you might notice that it <em>doesn&#8217;t<\/em> show this traffic spike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Why?<\/strong> GA4 is much better at automatically identifying and excluding known bot traffic than Shopify\u2019s native analytics.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Fix:<\/strong> If Shopify says you had 1,000 visitors but GA4 says 600, <strong>trust GA4<\/strong>. It has likely already filtered out the Council Bluffs bots.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Don&#8217;t Panic:<\/strong> It\u2019s not a bot attack or a click farm.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Don&#8217;t Block:<\/strong> Blocking Iowa IPs can kill your SEO.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Do Filter:<\/strong> Use &#8220;City is NOT Council Bluffs&#8221; to get the truth about your store&#8217;s performance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are a Shopify store owner, you may have recently panicked after seeing a massive spike in traffic from Council Bluffs, Iowa. The pattern&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shopify"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25317"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25371,"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25317\/revisions\/25371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}