# Junk traffic is skewing your numbers

> Junk traffic, like bots, zero-engagement sessions and checkouts with throwaway emails, makes conversion rate look worse than it is. Connect Google Analytics and Shopify to Claude and ask it to find these signs over 60 days and estimate real conversion and checkout completion without them. Filter junk out of reports before deciding anything.

Type: Leak (something broke or wastes money)
Run it: Weekly
Source: https://gooseworks.ai/playbooks/bot-traffic-skewing-conversion-rate

## 1. Connect

Give your AI assistant read-only access to Google Analytics and Shopify.

## 2. Ask

```text
Look for signs of bot or junk traffic in the last 60 days: sessions with zero engagement time, spikes from a single city or source, and Shopify checkouts started with throwaway email addresses. Estimate how much it changes my conversion rate and checkout-completion rate once it's removed.
```

## 3. Act

Filter junk out of your reports before making any decision from them.

## Steps

1. Connect Google Analytics and Shopify to Claude read-only, through a connector or MCP server if available, or upload a GA4 sessions export and a Shopify abandoned checkouts report.
2. Run the prompt so Claude flags zero-engagement sessions, single-source spikes and checkouts with throwaway emails.
3. Ask Claude to recompute conversion and checkout completion rates with the junk removed.
4. Set up filters or segments in your reports so junk stays out of future decisions.
5. Run this weekly, and always before any other conversion playbook.

## What it tends to find

Checkout starts tripled overnight, all from throwaway emails. Real completion hadn't moved. (Illustrative example, not a result from a named store.)

## Watch out

This is the check. Run it before any conversion playbook.

## FAQ

### How can I tell bot traffic from real visitors?

Bots tend to show zero engagement time, sudden spikes from one city or source, and checkouts with throwaway email addresses. Real shoppers browse, view products and come from a mix of sources.

### Why run this before other conversion checks?

Junk traffic changes the numbers every other check relies on. If bots inflate sessions, conversion rate looks like it fell when real sales did not move. Clean the data first, then diagnose.

### Will this work in ChatGPT, Grok or Muse?

Yes, as long as the assistant can see your Google Analytics and Shopify data. Connect them, or export your sessions and checkout reports and upload the files with the same prompt.

### Does junk traffic cost me money?

It can, if it comes from paid sources or leads you to change things that were working. Often the bigger cost is a bad decision made from skewed numbers, like cutting a channel that was fine.