Massive surge in views?
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I just experienced a huge jump in views: from an average of 100/day to a whopping 5000/day and about 1000 the following day. When I checked, 99% of the views were of my archived content – tags and categories.
The only thing I can think is that WordPress has allowed some AI to scrape all my content…WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!
Has anyone else had this issue and have you had any luck getting a response from the Misery Muppets? Apparently you only get human support if you’re on a paid plan…and I’m not.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi,
What’s most likely happening here is that automated traffic (bots) hit your site and weren’t fully filtered out — which can create spikes in views without a matching increase in unique visitors . Bots often crawl sites to gather information, and this type of spike typically isn’t a cause for concern unless it happens repeatedly.To identify if this spike is caused by a bot using Jetpack stats, you can:
- Check Your Site’s Referrers: In Jetpack, go to the “Traffic” section to see where your visitors are coming from. If the spike is from a particular referrer or looks unfamiliar, it might be a bot.
- Look for Unusual Activity: Bots can sometimes create unusual patterns, like multiple visits from a single IP address or very short visit durations. You can compare this to your normal traffic patterns.
- Review the Time of the Spike: Crawlers often operate during off-hours or in bursts, so if you notice traffic spikes at odd times, that’s another sign it could be a bot.
If you don’t see this spike again or notice repetitive patterns, there’s no need to worry. However, if it continues, let us know to investigate further.
For more details, here’s a guide on understanding your site’s traffic: View your site’s traffic.
Let me know if that helps or if you have any other question. -
I’m curious. What does ‘…fully filtered out’ mean? And was it a WordPress bot that wasn’t …fully filtered out?
If the bot was not a WordPress bot, and given that it went through every single post I’d published in almost 15 years – all of them protected by copyright – I’d be really interested in knowing how WordPress is protecting my blog from such data mining.
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Great questions — I can clarify this a bit.
When we say traffic wasn’t “fully filtered out,” it means that Jetpack Stats usually detects and excludes known bots and crawlers from your site’s view counts, but sometimes automated traffic can slip through and appear as page views. That’s why you saw a spike without a matching increase in unique visitors.
To your other point: this traffic is very unlikely to be from a WordPress bot. Most crawlers on the internet are from search engines or third-party services indexing or scanning sites. This is common across all websites, not just WordPress.com.
As for protection, WordPress.com can’t block all automated crawlers on public sites (since legitimate search engines also use them), but your posts remain protected under copyright. If you ever find your work copied elsewhere without permission, you can file a DMCA request.
The good news is that these bot spikes are usually temporary and not harmful to your site or your content. If you notice repeated or unusual activity, you’re welcome to share details so staff can take a closer look.
Here’s a helpful guide for more context: Understanding your site’s traffic.
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Thank you. I was not aware of the role Jetpack plays. I haven’t had another spike but a number of others who read my blog post have reported similar spikes so perhaps it’s a ‘new’ bot.
Cheers
Meeks
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