Google Analytics added an Include option for hostname data filters on September 21, 2026, letting a property specify the web hostnames from which it accepts events. Search Engine Journal reported the change the next day. The option allows administrators to maintain a list of approved hostnames, with an exception for events sent through Measurement Protocol.
Google expressly exempts events sent through Measurement Protocol. Those events remain outside the hostname Include filter, rather than being rejected because they did not originate from an approved web hostname. Events with an empty hostname take a different path: the Include filter blocks them. Google associates a missing hostname with spam or abnormal traffic, but the release entry describes a rule based on the field's presence, not an independent determination of the intent behind each event.
Google introduced hostname-based exclusions within the data-filter controls in Admin on June 11. With the September addition, an operator can define approved hostnames instead of maintaining an expanding collection of unwanted ones. Google says the option reduces the upkeep required when new sources of spam appear.
The effect also differs from hiding rows in a report. Google's data-filter overview says filters operate from their creation onward and do not alter historical records. Data excluded at this stage is never processed into Analytics and does not become available in BigQuery. The loss is permanent for the affected events. A report filter, by contrast, can hide information in selected reports without imposing that same permanent exclusion from processing.
There is an ordering rule when several filters are active. Google says active Include-only filters are combined as a union and evaluated before active Exclude filters, which are then applied sequentially. The outcome therefore depends on the property's collection of active rules, not simply on one hostname being mentioned in one setting. Inclusion in the first group does not remove the later exclusion stage described by the documentation.
Search Engine Journal's September 22 article summarizes Google's setup guidance. Citing Google's instructions, it reports a Testing state that marks matching events with the Test data filter name dimension instead of discarding them. It also reports Google's stated application delay of 24 to 36 hours.
The publication also recorded a documentation gap. As of September 22, the setup page and general data-filter overview still described hostname filtering in exclude-only terms, although the dated release entry had announced Include support. The report noted that the release entry did not explain matching for subdomains or properties collecting from several hostnames, and did not give rollout details.