If you're seeing unexpected spikes in "direct" traffic lately, you're not alone, and it's not your team’s fault.
Google just fixed a bug that misclassified AI Mode search traffic in Google Analytics. Instead of being labeled as "organic," it showed up as "direct." For marketers and agencies who rely on accurate data to drive decisions, this bug could have distorted performance insights for several days.
What Happened?
Google’s AI Mode began adding a security tag (rel="noopener noreferrer") to outbound links. While that’s a standard security practice, it had an unintended side effect: It broke referrer tracking. As a result, Google Analytics couldn’t tell that users came from Google Search; it just saw them as arriving directly.
That means all traffic from AI Mode was misattributed.
Why This Matters
Organic traffic is often a top channel in digital strategies. Mislabeling it as "direct" makes your SEO work look less effective than it is. This impacts:
- Performance tracking: SEO might look flat or declining.
- Conversion attribution: Conversions might be incorrectly credited to “direct.”
- Budget allocation: Poor data can misguide resource planning.
- Client reporting: If you report on channel performance, the error affects transparency.
Google's Response
Google acknowledged the issue quickly. John Mueller, Google's Search Advocate, confirmed it was a bug and would be fixed. Within days, the noreferrer attribute was removed, and traffic started showing correctly as “organic” again.
What You Should Do Now
Audit your data. Look at last week’s analytics. If you see unusual spikes in direct traffic, especially aligning with AI Mode usage, that was likely organic traffic mislabeled.
Annotate your reports. Add a note to internal dashboards or client-facing reports explaining the anomaly and its cause. This maintains transparency.
Plan for AI Mode visibility. Google will soon surface AI Mode traffic in Search Console. Prepare to segment and analyze this new traffic source as its presence grows.
Reassess performance. Revisit any conclusions or decisions made from last week’s data. If they were based on flawed attribution, you might need to course-correct.
The Bigger Picture
Google’s quick fix is good news. But the incident is a wake-up call. AI integrations in search are evolving fast, and analytics tools are still playing catch-up. This won’t be the last attribution issue marketers face.
At IMEG, we’re staying on top of these changes so our clients don’t have to. If you’re not getting clear, reliable data, or if your current reporting feels off, let’s talk.
