Google Analytics vs Senthor: Why Your 'Direct' Traffic is Actually AI Traffic

If you're analyzing your traffic in 2026, you've probably noticed that your number one source is often "Direct" or "(none)". For a long time, marketers called this "Dark Social".

But today, a new blind spot is distorting your data: "Dark AI Traffic". Thousands of users click on links provided by AIs, but more importantly, thousands of bots scrape your content without you being able to see them in GA4.

Why is your client-side analytics stack incomplete? And why do you need server-side analysis like Senthor? Technical analysis.

The 3 Problems GA4 Cannot Solve

Google Analytics 4 is excellent at what it does: analyzing human behavior on your site. But there are three major blind spots when it comes to AI:

1. Scraping Bots Don't Execute JavaScript

When GPTBot (OpenAI) or Claude-Web (Anthropic) scrape your site to train their models, they don't load your GA4 script. They're server crawlers that extract raw HTML.

Result: Zero visibility in GA4. You don't know which pages are indexed, how often, or by whom.

2. Not All AIs Transmit Origin Information

ChatGPT adds UTMs to its links (e.g.: ?utm_source=chatgpt-shared), which allows GA4 to see that traffic. But Claude and Perplexity use strict security policies that often mask the referrer.

Without UTM or referrer, GA4 classifies these visits as "Direct" or "(none)", even though they came from an AI recommendation.

3. Client-side vs Server-side: An Architecture Question

GA4 works in JavaScript in the user's browser (client-side). If the bot doesn't load the script, or if the user has an ad blocker, GA4 sees nothing.

Senthor analyzes server logs (server-side). Every HTTP request is inspected before the page even displays, which allows detection of:

• Suspicious User-Agents (GPTBot, Claude-Web, etc.)
• Navigation patterns typical of bots
• IPs from AI data centers

The Result: GA4 only shows you part of the picture. You see ChatGPT traffic (with UTM), but you miss GPTBot scrapers, Claude traffic, and Perplexity without referrer. You lose complete attribution of your GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) strategy.

Comparison: Google Analytics 4 vs Senthor

GA4 is designed to track humans via their browser (Client-side). Senthor is designed to identify machines and flows via the server (Server-side).

Figure 1: Bot detection comparison between GA4 and Senthor

Why Senthor Doesn't Replace GA4 (The Winning Duo)

You shouldn't uninstall Google Analytics. Both tools answer different questions.

1. Keep GA4 for "Post-Click" (Humans)

Once the user is on the site, GA4 remains the best tool to know how long they stay, which pages they visit, and if they buy your product.

2. Use Senthor for "Pre-Click" and Attribution (AI)

Senthor acts upstream and in parallel.

• Unmask your visitors: Finally see that 15% of your "Direct" traffic actually comes from Perplexity.
• Protect your assets: Spot scrapers that steal your content without sending traffic.
• Monetize: Identify AI companies using your data to train their models.

Conclusion: Stop Flying Blind

The era when web traffic only came from Google Search and social networks is over. In 2026, AI assistants are the new gatekeepers.

If you rely solely on traditional analytics (client-side), you're underestimating AI's impact on your business. It's time to move to hybrid analytics.