"These sidebar links within AI Mode are not passing any referrer. Traffic from these clicks will appear as direct, not Google. This means website owners cannot properly attribute traffic sources from Google AI Mode sidebar interactions, creating analytics tracking issues."
"John Mueller from Google replied over the weekend saying, 'Thanks - I'll pass a note on!' indicating that Google's Search team has been notified of the referrer data issue and will investigate the problem with sidebar links in AI Mode."
Google AI Mode has a technical issue where sidebar links do not properly pass referrer data. When users click these links, the traffic appears as direct traffic in analytics rather than being attributed to Google search. Tom Critchlow identified and reported this problem on LinkedIn, highlighting that the red-highlighted sidebar links within AI Mode lack referrer information. Google's John Mueller acknowledged the issue and indicated the Search team would investigate it. The problem affects how website owners track traffic sources from Google AI Mode interactions.
Read at Search Engine Roundtable
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