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Search Engine Roundtable says GPT-6 drops UTM parameters from ChatGPT links, altering referral counts

Search Engine Roundtable says GPT-6 began opening links that strip ?utm_source=chatgpt.com when it launched. The outlet reports that the change coincided with sharp drops in measured ChatGPT referral traffic to some sites and an increase in OAi search bot traffic.

AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 2 outlets' reporting · Full text read from 1 of 2 outletsHow it's made

2 outletsLatest reporting 2 min read
Coverage: Too few ratedL 0 · C 1 · R 0 · 1 unrated
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What happened

Key facts

  • Search Engine Roundtable attributes the change to the release of GPT-6, which it says 'opens links with window(.)open(url, “_blank”, “noopener,noreferrer”) and drops ?utm_source=chatgpt(.)com.' (per seroundtable.com).
  • Search Engine Roundtable reports that some pages lost 'direct rose on 2 in 3 pages that lost ChatGPT traffic' and that the week before it was a coin flip, with search on those same pages rising on 45% (per seroundtable.com).
  • Search Engine Roundtable reports that Chatgpt-user robot traffic dropped while OAi Search bot traffic increased starting 'sinc october 7th.' (per seroundtable.com).
  • Search Engine Roundtable's account is reflected in Search Engine Land's headline that ChatGPT appears to drop UTM tracking, making AI referral traffic harder to measure (per seroundtable.com, searchengineland.com).

The brief

Search Engine Roundtable reported that the rollout of GPT-6 appears to have changed how ChatGPT opens links, removing UTM tracking parameters that many sites use to record referral traffic. Barry Schwartz’s piece cites a LinkedIn post from Cedric Huesler describing GPT-6 opening links with window.open(url, “_blank”, “noopener,noreferrer”) and dropping the ?utm_source=chatgpt.com parameter from URLs. The outlet says the behaviour began roughly a week after GPT-6's release. According to Search Engine Roundtable, the change in link handling coincided with measurable shifts in web analytics for some publishers. The site reports that on two-thirds of pages that lost ChatGPT traffic, direct traffic rose, while in the prior week the pattern had been inconsistent — described as a 'coin flip' — and search on the same pages rose on 45%. The article quotes Huesler as saying he saw a sharp drop in ChatGPT human traffic beginning 'Since octobre 9th' and a concurrent drop in 'Chatgpt-user robot traffic.'

Search Engine Roundtable also reports that, in the same period, OAi Search bot traffic increased, with Huesler noting the increase began 'sinc october 7th.' The article frames these timing notes as observed correlations in analytics rather than as definitive proof of intent from OpenAI. The outlet presents the technical detail about window.open and the removal of the utm parameter as the proximate mechanism that could explain why some referral counts attributed to ChatGPT declined, citing Huesler’s LinkedIn description. Search Engine Roundtable does not report a statement from OpenAI in the article text, and it frames the account as started by community observation after GPT-6 appeared. Search Engine Roundtable’s reporting was echoed in a Search Engine Land headline that said ChatGPT appears to drop UTM tracking, making AI referral traffic harder to measure. Both items present the same core claim as an observed change in how links opened from ChatGPT are recorded by web analytics tools. The article limits its claims to the observations and the quoted LinkedIn post, describing shifts in analytics that various site owners and trackers reported after GPT-6’s release. It does not provide independently verified aggregate traffic metrics, nor a direct attribution from OpenAI in the supplied text.

Why it matters

  • Website owners that rely on UTM parameters to measure referral traffic could see reported declines in ChatGPT-sourced visits, affecting measured referral counts for specific pages (Search Engine Roundtable reports two-thirds of affected pages saw a rise in direct traffic).
  • Publishers and analytics teams risk misattributing traffic shifts between 'direct' and 'search' channels because the reported removal of ?utm_source=chatgpt.com changes how visits are categorized in tracking tools (Search Engine Roundtable cites Huesler's analytics observations).
  • Entities that monitor bot versus human traffic may face measurement distortions, as Search Engine Roundtable reports simultaneous drops in ChatGPT human and Chatgpt-user robot traffic while OAi Search bot traffic rose.

What to watch next

  • Whether OpenAI publishes a technical explanation or statement about GPT-6's link-handling behaviour that confirms or denies the removal of ?utm_source=chatgpt.com (no such OpenAI statement appears in the supplied text).
  • Whether analytics from additional publishers corroborate Search Engine Roundtable's report that two-thirds of affected pages saw direct traffic rise and that search rose on 45% of those pages the prior week.
  • Whether OAi Search bot traffic trends tracked by site owners continue to increase after the dates Huesler cited ('sinc october 7th') and whether ChatGPT human traffic measurements remain reduced after 'octobre 9th.'

How it's being covered

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2 source articles · 2 unique outlets
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How we got here

Search Engine Roundtable documented on October 7, 2026 that ChatGPT-related robot traffic patterns and an increase in OAi Search bot activity began on that date. Web analytics have relied on UTM campaign parameters since Google acquired Urchin Software in 2005 and popularized ?utm_source-style tags for referral attribution.

The HTTP Referer header has been part of web standards since the HTTP/1.0 specification (RFC 1945, 1996), and browsers have implemented mechanisms that can suppress or modify referrer data. OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022, establishing large-scale conversational link-sharing between AI assistants and websites.

Original sources

2 articles from 2 outlets

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