Google Analytics has released an important update, resolving a bug that caused an over-attribution of sessions to direct traffic for users of its enhanced User ID mode. This bug, which impacted both new and existing users between late June and mid-July 2024, skewed traffic data and made it difficult for businesses to accurately assess the performance of their marketing channels.

The bug caused inflated direct traffic session counts, affecting users who enabled enhanced User ID mode with automatic data collection. This led to unreliable session attribution data, which could have resulted in flawed insights about the effectiveness of different marketing channels and campaigns.

Accurate session attribution is essential for marketers and analysts to understand which channels drive traffic. Misattributing traffic to direct sources can lead to incorrect decisions about budget allocation and campaign performance. With this fix, businesses can now rely on more accurate analytics data to guide their marketing efforts.

If you’ve been using enhanced User ID mode, it’s important to review your data from the affected period and reassess any reports or decisions based on this skewed data. A fresh analysis can help you better understand the true performance of your marketing campaigns.