Chris Klosowski

Pretty simple. Just blocks semalt.semalt.com with a 403.
If your web host uses a web server that doesn’t support .htaccess, then this plugin is for you.
If your host supports .htaccess, you should try https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-semalt, as this is the best method.

WP Block Semalt

Simply uses the HTTP_REFERER to determine if it's from 'Semalt', and blocks it with a nice 403 "Unauthorized" response.

supersoju

codestic

Block Referer Spam aims at blocking all (or most) websites that use Referer Spam to promote their – often somewhat dodgy – website content. This is accomplished by bots that simulate human behavior. They do this so well, that they even show up in Google Analytics. This plugin does not require any special configuration after installation. Once active and auto-update is enabled, you will barely see any of those nasty spammers any more.
From <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referer_spam" rel="nofollow ugc">Wikipedia</a>:
<pre><code>Referrer spam (also known as log spam or referrer
bombing) is a kind of spamdexing (spamming aimed
at search engines). The technique involves making
repeated web site requests using a fake referer URL
to the site the spammer wishes to advertise. Sites that
publish their access logs, including referer statistics,
will then inadvertently link back to the spammer's site.
These links will be indexed by search engines
as they crawl the access logs.

This benefits the spammer because the free link improves
the spammer site's search engine ranking owing
to link-counting algorithms that search engines use.
</code></pre>
Features
<ul>
<li>Automatic or manual updates of referer spam list</li>
<li>Option of adding custom referer spam hosts</li>
<li>Two methods of blocking: mod_rewrite or WordPress based</li>
</ul>
Pro Features
Pro plans start at only $2/mo. Visit <a href="https://blockreferspam.com" rel="nofollow ugc">BlockReferSpam.com</a> for more information.
<ul>
<li>Automatic syncing your of custom block lists across all of your sites</li>
<li>Additional curated block lists</li>
</ul>
Examples Blocked
<ul>
<li>semalt</li>
<li>buttons-for-website</li>
<li>floating-share-buttons</li>
<li>4webmaster</li>
<li>ilovevitaly</li>
<li>… and many more!</li>
</ul>
If you think you found a bug in Referer Spam Blocker, please contact us! Further, if you want to contribute, feel free!
Anything else, please get in touch!
support / supersoju.com
Cover photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@lukasbudimaier" rel="nofollow ugc">Lukas Budimaier</a>

Block Referer Spam

Blocks referer/referral spam from accessing your site and cleans up your Google Analytics in the process!

WP Block Semalt vs Block Referer Spam