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You asked

Why does branded search inflate performance?

Brand demand is being mistaken for marketing impact.

Symptom

At 42% and climbing, direct traffic share is one of the most reassuring numbers on the dashboard.

Cause

The mechanism is a two-step attribution gap.

Impact

When source displacement accumulates at scale, the economic consequence is misallocated acquisition spend.

Full diagnostic context

Brand demand is being mistaken for marketing impact.

At 42% and climbing, direct traffic share is one of the most reassuring numbers on the dashboard.

The mechanism is a two-step attribution gap.

When source displacement accumulates at scale, the economic consequence is misallocated acquisition spend.