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You must first define your internal IP addresses in the Data Stream settings, and then actively activate the 'Internal Traffic' Data Filter in the Admin property settings to actually block the hits.
Your developers and QA team browsing the site can massively artificially inflate your engagement metrics and session counts, especially on lower-traffic B2B sites.
GA4 has a built-in feature to exclude this traffic, but it is a confusing two-step process. Most marketers complete step one (defining the IP address) but forget step two (activating the filter), meaning the traffic is still recorded.
Go to Admin > Data Collection > Data Streams > Configure tag settings > Show all > Define internal traffic.
Create a rule with your office/home IP address and set the parameter value to internal.
Crucial Step: Go back to Admin > Data Settings > Data Filters.
Click on the 'Internal Traffic' filter and change its state from 'Testing' to 'Active'.
Save. From this moment on, your IP will be dropped at the server level.
Instead of clicking through settings yourself, the audit checks this exact issue (and 30 others) on your GA4 property — then keeps watching every night.
Run the GA4 audit