Why your traffic shows as Direct
A large block of Direct traffic almost never means people typed your address into a browser. It means the source was never recorded, and your tool filled the gap with its catch-all value. This article shows you how to tell which of the five causes you have, and what to do about each.
Before you start
You need one tool connected and its first sync finished, so MarqIQ can read your source field.
Tip
Open Source truth on the Analysis screen before you read on. It tells you which of the causes below you actually have, so you can skip the four that do not apply.
First, find out how big the problem is
Before changing anything, get the real number. A quarter of your database showing as Direct is a tracking gap. Ninety per cent is a field that was never wired up at all, and the fix is completely different.
Open Analysis and choose your CRM.
Open the Source truth tab.
Read the first two figures: how many people carry a blank source, and how many sit in a catch-all bucket.
MarqIQ counts these separately on purpose. A blank field and a field holding the word "Direct" are different faults with different fixes.
Note
Every figure on that screen states the number of records it was measured on. If it says 4,812, that is 4,812 real records you can open — not an estimate or a sample.
The five causes, most common first
Work down this list. The first one that matches is almost certainly yours.
Almost everything is Direct, including people you know came from a campaign
Why: Nothing is writing a source onto new records at all. The field exists, so your tool fills it with its default, and the default is Direct or Offline Sources. This is the commonest cause by a wide margin.
Fix: Install the tracking script and add MarqIQ's hidden fields to your forms. The script records where somebody came from on their first visit and the hidden fields carry it into your tool when they fill anything in.
People who came from a campaign show as Direct, but only sometimes
Why: The person arrived weeks before they filled anything in, and by the time they converted the original referrer was long gone. A browser only tells you the immediately preceding page.
Fix: This is what first-touch capture is for. MarqIQ stores the first visit against that browser and keeps it through the whole buying cycle, so a form filled in ten weeks later still carries the campaign that started it.
A record had the right source last month and says Direct now
Why: Something is overwriting the field — usually an automation, an import, or the tool's own "most recent source" behaviour, which is designed to replace the value every visit.
Fix: Open Field discipline on the Analysis screen. It names the field, shows you which records changed, and tells you what made each change — a workflow, an import, an integration or a person. Then write first touch into a second field that nothing else touches.
Paid traffic shows as Direct, organic looks fine
Why: Your ad links have no tracking parameters on them, or the ad platform strips them. Without a parameter there is nothing for either tool to read.
Fix: Build the links in UTM Builder so every campaign link is tagged the same way. Consistent tagging is what lets one channel stop appearing under four different names.
One channel appears several times under slightly different names
Why: Not a Direct problem, but it usually turns up in the same review: "LinkedIn", "linkedin", "LinkedIn Ads" and "li" are four values to your tool and one channel to you.
Fix: Source truth groups the variants and shows you the real total. The rename is a bulk update in your own tool, and Fix one channel spelled five ways takes you through it.
What good looks like afterwards
You will not get to zero, and you should not try to. Some people genuinely do arrive by typing your address or clicking a link in a private message, and no tool can see that.
- Under 15% unattributed is healthy for most businesses.
- 15% to 30% usually means one channel is untagged — often paid social or email.
- Over 30% means capture is not working, not that your buyers are mysterious.
Take care
Be careful reading history. Fixing capture today does not fill in the people who arrived last year. Those records stay unattributed, and any report covering that period will still show the gap. MarqIQ says which period it is measuring so you do not mistake an old gap for a current one.
If it did not work
You installed the script and new records still say Direct
Why: The hidden fields are usually missing from at least one form. There is always an old landing page nobody remembers.
Fix: Open Tool Operations, pick your tool, and open Hidden Form Fields. It lists every form it can see and whether the tracking fields are on it, so you can spot the one that was missed.
The script is live but nothing is recorded at all
Why: Most often the snippet sits in a block that never runs, or a content security policy is blocking it. If your workspace has switched on Wait for consent before sending anything to MarqIQ, a banner that never reports a decision will also hold everything back — that setting is off unless somebody turned it on. Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track are honoured as an opt-out either way.
Fix: Open Script and read Setup & diagnostics. It says whether the script loaded, whether this workspace is waiting for consent, and what it recorded.
Next steps
Related articles
Was this article helpful?