GA4 Drop in direct traffic starting 2/1/24 on multiple sites

[JrussellDAS]

Is anyone else seeing a drop in direct traffic starting on 2/1/24? I'm seeing this on multiple websites and want to know if it's affecting others. Is this a GA4 issue others are seeing?

 

[ElizabethRule]

I actually saw the opposite on a national multi-location site recently, direct traffic is way up, and it doesn't align with traffic trends from other sources. Curious if others are seeing any weird fluxes in GA4 in February. Will post this on Twitter and see if we can get some input!

 

[ElizabethRule]

Curious too if this drop in direct traffic could be related to Google now showing competitor LSAs for branded seaches. A long shot, but worth looking into if you see competitors are running LSAs, they could be showing up for your branded searches

Why Is Google Local Services Showing Ads For a Different Location When Customers Search For Our Company Name? | Local Search

I'm an Air Conditioning Contractor, we are using Google Local Services( Google Guaranteed Ads) . When our existing customers use Google like a phone book, searching our company name, just to get our phone number, Google brings up a Local Services Ad, with us in the first position, if our ad is...

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Google tests Branded Local Service Ads with opt-out option

Marketers expressed concern about being unable to opt-out, but Google confirmed this functionality will be available for everyone.

searchengineland.com

 

[danaditomaso]

Is anyone else seeing a drop in direct traffic starting on 2/1/24? I'm seeing this on multiple websites and want to know if it's affecting others. Is this a GA4 issue others are seeing?

I haven't seen this specifically, but those are some odd spikes. Do you use a consent management system to show cookie notices?

 

[JrussellDAS]

I haven't seen this specifically, but those are some odd spikes. Do you use a consent management system to show cookie notices?

Not that I'm aware of.

 

[danaditomaso]

I checked a few properties at my end and nothing here. I would look at any sort of configuration change in your analytics since a steep drop like that is surprising. Also check the landing pages from Direct before the drop, I'm curious as to what those spikes are, they might give you a clue as to what happened.

 

[JrussellDAS]

I checked a few properties at my end and nothing here. I would look at any sort of configuration change in your analytics since a steep drop like that is surprising. Also check the landing pages from Direct before the drop, I'm curious as to what those spikes are, they might give you a clue as to what happened.

I'm starting to think that it has something to do with a vendor mis-coding. we've reached out to them. The spikes are related to that vendor as well.

 

[danaditomaso]

Please let us know what you find out! I'm very curious. (And are you able to share who the vendor is?)