Why Your Shopify Store Gets Visits from Council Bluffs Iowa

Are you a Shopify store owner puzzled by frequent visits from Council Bluffs, Iowa? You’re not alone. Many merchants have noticed this peculiar pattern in their analytics, often seeing 3 or more daily visits from this specific location. Let’s dive into what’s really happening and why you shouldn’t be concerned.

Understanding the Council Bluffs Phenomenon

The Source of the Visits

The mysterious Council Bluffs visits are actually coming from Shopify itself. These visits are part of Shopify’s Speed Report feature, which uses Google’s data center in Council Bluffs to run performance tests on your store.

How the Speed Test Works

Shopify’s speed test typically checks three pages of your store:

1. Your homepage
2. A popular collection page
3. A popular product page

These tests are run daily to provide you with up-to-date information about your store’s performance.

Why Council Bluffs?

Google has a significant data center located in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Shopify utilizes this center to conduct its speed tests, which explains why the visits appear to originate from this specific location.

Impact on Your Analytics

Skewed Data for Small Stores

For larger stores with thousands of daily visits, these additional 3 visits are negligible. However, for smaller stores or those just starting out, these visits can significantly impact analytics and conversion rate metrics.

Potential Issues

Some of the problems store owners might face include:

• Difficulty in accurately measuring genuine traffic
• Skewed conversion rates
• Misleading geographic data in analytics reports

Solutions and Workarounds

Filtering Out Council Bluffs Traffic

To get a more accurate picture of your store’s performance, you can filter out these visits in your analytics tools. For Google Analytics users, this can be done by setting up filters to exclude traffic from Council Bluffs.

Contacting Shopify Support

If these visits are causing significant issues for your analytics, it’s worth reaching out to Shopify support. Some users have reported success in having this feature adjusted or turned off for their stores.

Requesting Feature Improvements

Many store owners have expressed a desire for more control over when and how often these speed tests are run. Suggestions include:

• Manual testing options
• Weekly or monthly testing instead of daily
• The ability to opt-out of automatic testing

Understanding the Benefits

Performance Insights

Despite the potential analytics issues, the Speed Report provides valuable insights into your store’s performance. This information can help you optimize your site for better user experience and potentially improved search engine rankings.

Comparative Analysis

Shopify uses these tests to compare your store’s performance against similar sites, giving you a benchmark for improvement.

Future Outlook

Shopify’s Awareness

Shopify is aware of the concerns raised by store owners regarding these visits. They have acknowledged the issue and placed it on their development list for potential improvements.

Community Feedback

The more feedback Shopify receives about this issue, the higher priority it may become for their development team. Store owners are encouraged to communicate their experiences and suggestions to Shopify support.

Best Practices for Dealing with Council Bluffs Visits

Regular Analytics Checks

Make it a habit to regularly review your analytics, keeping an eye out for any unusual patterns or spikes in traffic from Council Bluffs.

Accurate Reporting

When analyzing your store’s performance or presenting data to stakeholders, remember to account for these automated visits to ensure your reports are as accurate as possible.

Leveraging Speed Insights

While the visits might skew some data, don’t overlook the valuable speed insights provided. Use this information to continually improve your store’s performance.

By understanding the nature of these Council Bluffs visits and how to manage them, you can ensure more accurate analytics for your Shopify store while still benefiting from the performance insights they provide. Remember, these visits are a normal part of Shopify’s efforts to help you maintain a fast, efficient online store.