THE RISE OF DARK TRAFFIC: WHY YOUR ANALYTICS ARE LYING TO YOU

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

Traditional attribution models are breaking down as buyer journeys increasingly begin in AI assistants before any measurable website interaction occurs. What appears as direct traffic often represents AI-influenced research that analytics can't properly trace, creating an illusion of brand strength while the actual preference formation happens elsewhere. B2B teams face particular challenges as buyers arrive pre-filtered with shortlists already formed through invisible AI-driven evaluations.