Earlier this week, we reported that Google said we should expect a decline in the number of driving directions reported in the Google Business Profiles performance reporting tool. Well, the opposite happened. Everyone is seeing a significant increase in the number of driving directions reported in that Google tool.

Google wrote back then, and it still says this:

Starting in January 2024, you might see fewer direction requests. This is because Google is making updates to better protect people’s privacy and give you more accurate results.

But when you look at the report, you will see a huge spike in the number of driving directions starting on January 17, 2024. Here is what I see:

A Local Search Forum thread has several local SEOs seeing the same thing. In fact, one local SEO asked their Google rep who told them the increase is correct. He was told:

We are aware of the spike, I have reached out to our team and they have confirmed this is accurate. This is likely from improved detection and reporting from the performance metrics.

This is the exact opposite of what Google said would happen, no?

Here are some charts from the thread:

Do you all notice this as well?

Forum discussion at Local Search Forum.