AI-driven traffic is becoming an increasingly important source of referrals for websites, even though it currently lags behind traditional channels such as organic search, direct traffic, email, social, and paid.
As AI tools gain traction, new AI browsers enter the market, and search engines expand the use of AI-generated overviews in search results, understanding and tracking this traffic is becoming essential.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) does not automatically categorise AI traffic, making it necessary to implement customised solutions to identify these sources accurately.
Whether you’re looking to track AI traffic retrospectively through Explore reports, create a dedicated AI channel, or set up more advanced tracking using Google Tag Manager, this guide will walk you through the steps to capture and analyse traffic from AI-driven sources more effectively.
GA4 Explore report to track AI traffic
One of the easiest ways to track AI traffic is to set up an Explore report. This type of report is retrospective, which is handy if you want to see how much traffic has increased from AI sources over time.
To start, navigate to Explore in GA4 and then create a new Blank report. Name the report ‘AI Traffic’.
In Dimensions, add Source/Medium. Adding the Landing Page is also useful, as it helps to identify which pages are being cited by AI tools.
Next, add the Metrics you want to see (Sessions, Key Events, etc.)
You’ll then need to add this RegEx to the Filter. Select Source/Medium and then ‘matches regex’ from the drop-down list of Conditions, and enter the following in the field below that:
(?i)(.*gpt.*|.*chatgpt.*|.*openai.*|.*neeva.*|.*writesonic.*|.*nimble.*|.*outrider.*|.*perplexity.*|.*google.*bard.*|.*bard.*|.*edgeservices.*|.*gemini.*google.*)
Hit the Apply button, and you’ll now be able to see the vast majority of AI referral traffic.
Note that over time, as new AI tools and search engines are launched, this RegEx will need to be updated. I’ll periodically add updated RegEx to this document that you may want to consider including.
List of AI referrers – GA4 Regex
Setting up AI as a Channel in GA4
Another option is to set up AI sources as a Channel in GA4. Note that this will not be retrospective.
Begin by navigating to the Admin section, located at the bottom-left corner. Under Data Display, select Channel groups and create a new group, such as ‘AI Sources’.
Next, add a new channel and give it a name, for example, ‘AI Tools’.
Define the channel conditions by adding a condition group and selecting ‘Source’.
Choose ‘matches regex’ and enter the following:
(chatgpt|openai|neeva|writesonic|nimble|outrider|perplexity|bard|edgeservices|gemini|claude|grok|copilot)
Apply the changes to confirm.
To optimise attribution, consider reordering the channels. Move the ‘AI Tools’ channel above the ‘Referral’ channel and apply the changes before saving the group.
To view AI traffic in your reports, navigate to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition. At the top of the data table, change the dimension to your custom AI channel group, such as ‘AI Sources, to see traffic driven by AI tools as a separate line item.
Google Tag Manager to track AI Overview traffic (and more!)
Want to collect more data in GA4, not only for AI Overviews, but for Featured Snippets and People Also Ask, too?
I suggest checking out this excellent article from Dana DiTomaso, or watching the video tutorial below, which provides a simple step-by-step guide on how to implement this using Google Tag Manager.
As AI tools continue to reshape the digital landscape, tracking AI-driven traffic in GA4 is becoming essential for understanding how these sources contribute to overall website performance.
Staying proactive by updating your tracking methods as new AI tools emerge will help maintain visibility over these evolving traffic sources, allowing you to optimise your strategy and adapt to the changing search environment.
