Where are these "phantom visitors" and are they dangerous?

[TTR1]

My Google Analytics always shows visitors on my site that do not show up with a location.  They are always shown as being referred from "ads.google.com".  Our service is exclusively domestic in the U.S., yet my user location map will show 1 domestic visitor, but 19 total visitors.  PLease see attached linked image.   Is there some sort of malware that is being exploited on my pages somewhere that these people are accessing?  Is there some way of blocking them from my site?  Should I?  Aren't they skewing my Google Analytics results?  Are they potentially dangerous?  Thanks in advance for all replies.

mKEjs2H.jpg

[Martijn_Scheijbeler]

In Real-time reports, Google Analytics will not always be able to pinpoint the location (and in this case, it could be that the users aren't domestic, but that's hard to guess from just that screenshot). I would go into your Google Analytics account: Audience > Geo and look at the country/region reports in there to see where your traffic is coming from.

I wouldn't block any of these users from your site, in the end, the only thing they could hurt at massive volume is site speed. But I doubt that's an issue for you if you're at 19 visitors in real-time. Overall, there shouldn't be any dangers, and even if this data is not correct, you can always apply an Advanced Segment in Google Analytics to exclude these users if needed.

[R0bin_L0rd]

Yep, I agree with Martijn Scheijbeler, I'm marking this question as "Answered" but not closing it so you can continue to discuss if needed