[UPDATE] ChatGPT referral traffic drop in analytics appears to be a tracking issue, not lost visits
Search Engine Journal reported that GA4 sessions credited to ChatGPT fell sharply from Oct 9 because inline links in answers began opening without the utm_source tag or a referrer, so visits were counted as Direct. Adobe's Cedric Huesler measured about 31,000 fewer ChatGPT visits a day against about 26,000 more Direct visits a day. Huesler said OpenAI confirmed to him on Oct 14 that it was a bug, with a fix rolling out Oct 15, but OpenAI's release notes do not mention it. Attribution is central to the economics of AI-referral optimization, so the thing to watch is whether tagged ChatGPT clicks return to their earlier levels. This item rests on one publisher.