SEO tip · Advanced
How to track traffic from ChatGPT and AI search in GA4
By the SEO Using AI Editorial Team · · 24-second video
Quick answer
GA4 files visits from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and other AI assistants under Referral or Unassigned, mixed in with everything else. To see them on their own, create a custom channel group with an AI assistants channel that matches those sources, and place it above Referral so it is checked first. Custom channel groups also apply to your past data.
Step 1. Create a custom channel group
In GA4, go to Admin, then Data display, then Channel groups, and click Create new channel group. Name it something like Channels with AI. It starts as a copy of the default channels, so everything else keeps working. Then click Add new channel and call it AI assistants.
Step 2. Match the AI sources with a regex
Set the channel's condition to Source, matches regex, and paste .*(chatgpt|openai|perplexity|gemini|copilot|claude).* This catches chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com and claude.ai. Add new names to the list as new AI tools appear.
Step 3. Move it above Referral and save
GA4 checks channels from top to bottom, and a visit gets the first channel it matches. Drag AI assistants above Referral, then save. In Reports, open Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition, pick your new channel group from the dimension menu, and add Landing page as a secondary dimension to see which pages AI tools send people to.
Why it works
AI referrals are still a small share of most sites' traffic, but they are growing and easy to miss inside Referral. Seeing which pages AI tools send people to shows what they trust you for, so you can build more pages like them.
Common mistakes
- Leaving the AI channel below Referral, so visits match Referral first
- Looking for an AI channel in the default channel group, which cannot be edited
- Expecting every AI visit to appear: when an app strips the referrer, the visit lands in Direct
- Never updating the regex as new AI tools launch
Questions
Does ChatGPT traffic show up in Google Analytics?
Yes. When someone clicks a link in ChatGPT, the visit usually arrives with chatgpt.com as the source. By default GA4 puts it in Referral, or Unassigned when the link carries a source tag but no medium, which is why a separate AI channel helps.
Do custom channel groups change past data?
Yes. Google applies custom channel groups to reports retroactively, so you also see AI visits from before you created the group. Audiences built on a channel group only change going forward.
Video transcript
Is ChatGPT sending you customers? Find out in three steps.
One. In GA4, create a custom channel group called AI assistants.
Two. Set the source to match ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and Claude.
Three. Drag it above Referral, so AI visits stop hiding there.
Now you can see which pages AI sends people to, and build more like them.
