Referrer Spam Blocker

Abstract

1. Introduction

Apache, Nginx, IIS, uWSGI, Caddy, Varnish, HAProxy & Lighttpd blacklist + Google Analytics segments to prevent referrer spam traffic

.htaccess is a configuration file for use on web servers running Apache. This file is usually found in the root “public_html” folder of your website. The .htaccess file uses two modules to prevent referral spam, mod_rewrite and mod_setenvif. Decide which method is most suitable with your Apache server configuration. This file is Apache 2.4 ready, where mod_authz_host got deprecated.

Add referral-spam.vcl to Varnish 4 default file: default.vcl by adding the following code right underneath your default backend definitions

2. Objective

Apache, Nginx, IIS, uWSGI, Varnish, HAProxy & Lighttpd blacklist + Google Analytics segments to prevent referrer spam traffic 🤖

This project demonstrates how VCL can be applied to a real-world Digital Marketing & SEO problem.

4. Technology Stack

5. System Requirements

General requirements for this technology stack — check the README for exact versions.

• See the project README for exact requirements
• Git (to clone the repository)

6. Installation & Setup

git clone https://github.com/Stevie-Ray/referrer-spam-blocker.git
cd referrer-spam-blocker

use StevieRay\Generator;

$generator = new Generator('/path/to/output');
$generator->generateFiles();
$generator->generateSpecificConfigs(['apache', 'nginx']);
$stats = $generator->getStatistics();

Full setup instructions are in the project README.

7. Future Enhancements

Suggested extensions you can add to make this your own project.

• Export reports to Google Sheets or PDF
• Schedule weekly automated reports
• Add competitor comparison

8. Viva / Review Questions

Common questions examiners ask for projects in this domain.

1. Which marketing or SEO problem does this tool solve?
2. Which data sources or APIs does it use (Search Console, Analytics, social platforms)?
3. Which metrics or KPIs does it report and how are they calculated?
4. How could the output help a business make decisions?
5. How would you schedule it to run automatically?

9. Source Code & License

This project is developed by Stevie-Ray and published on GitHub under the MIT License. Please follow the license terms and credit the original author when you use or modify this code.