How to Track AI Traffic in Google Analytics (GA4)

May 25, 2025

Why Track AI Traffic?

As AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot become more popular, more people are using them to search for information, compare products, and visit websites — without ever going to Google.

This change affects how people arrive at your site. And many businesses aren’t tracking this yet.

We’ve seen this traffic show up in real client data—anywhere from 0.5% to 10% of all website visits. It’s still relatively small, but growing fast.

To keep up, it's important to track AI referral traffic so you can see how AI tools are impacting your visibility and engagement.

This step-by-step guide will show you how to track AI referral traffic in Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Once set up, you'll be able to monitor traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other LLMs, and understand what those users do on your site.

Benefits of Tracking AI Traffic to Your Website

When you track AI referral traffic, you get insights that help you:

  • Understand how AI is sending people to your site

  • See which AI tools drive the most visits or conversions

  • Learn what those users are doing once they arrive

  • Make content decisions that help improve visibility in LLMs

It’s still early, but AI tools are already influencing user behavior online. Setting up this report now helps you stay informed and ready for future growth.

Step 1: Create a New Exploration in GA4

  1. Log into your Google Analytics (GA4) account.

  2. Click “Explore” on the left-hand side.



  3. Click “Blank” to start a new exploration.

This report will help you analyze traffic from LLMs and AI platforms directly.

Step 2: Set Up Your Report

Rename the Report

Click on “Untitled Exploration” and name your report something like:
Track AI Referral Traffic – GA4

Add Dimensions

Dimensions help you understand where the traffic comes from. You’ll need two:

  • Session Source/Medium – shows where the traffic came from

  • Page Referrer – shows the specific page or link that referred the visitor

To add these:

  1. Click the “+” sign in the Dimensions section.

  1. Search for Session Source/Medium and Page Referrer.

  1. Click Import.

Add Metrics

Metrics show what people do once they arrive.

You’ll want to track:

  • Sessions – total visits from LLMs

  • Key Events – actions or conversions that matter to you

To add metrics:

  1. Click the “+” sign in the Metrics section.

  1. Search for Sessions and Key Events.

  2. Click Import.

You can also add other metrics like Engagement Time or Conversions, depending on what matters for your business.

Step 3: Filter for LLM Referral Traffic

To properly monitor AI-generated website traffic, you need to filter your data.

Set the Segment

Choose the All Users segment so that GA4 includes all traffic in your report.

Add a Page Referral Filter

This filter will isolate visits coming from AI platforms.

  1. Drag Page Referrer into the Filters section.

  2. Choose “Matches Regex” and enter the following expression:

^.*(ai|\.openai|copilot|chatgpt|gemini|gpt|neeva|writesonic|nimble|outrider|perplexity|bard|edgeservices|astastic|copy\.

This will help you track ChatGPT traffic in GA4, along with referrals from other AI tools.

Step 4: Review the Data

Once your report is set up, you’ll see how many people came from LLMs and what they did.

You can also choose how to view the data:

  • Table view – shows all referral sources clearly

  • Line graph – shows changes over time

  • Bar chart – compares traffic across different LLMs

Tip: Add Date as a breakdown to see traffic by day, week, or month.

Step 5: Save and Share the Report

Click Save to keep your report in GA4. You can also click Share to generate a link or export the data as a PDF or CSV file.

This lets you regularly return to your report and keep others on your team informed.

Final Thoughts

Tracking AI-driven traffic in GA4 helps businesses understand how people are finding their website through tools other than search engines.

By doing this, you can:

  • See how visible your brand is in AI tools

  • Understand which AI tools are sending traffic

  • Learn what actions those visitors take on your site

  • Start planning how to improve content for AI discovery

It’s still early days, but AI traffic is growing fast. Setting up this simple report now will help you stay ahead.