You can now see visits from AI assistants in Google Analytics without any setup. GA4 has a default channel called AI Assistant, which Google defines as visitors arriving "from sources like ChatGPT, Gemini, Deepseek, Copilot, or Grok." Open Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition, and look for that row. ChatGPT also tags the links it shows with utm_source=chatgpt.com, and Bing Webmaster Tools reports how often Microsoft Copilot cites your pages. The one thing you cannot separate is Google's own AI Overviews and AI Mode, which Google counts inside ordinary search traffic. This guide walks through each report, then covers the part of AI search that no report captures and how to measure it anyway.
Why is AI traffic hard to see?
Because most of what an AI assistant does for your business leaves no trace on your website. Someone asks for a recommendation, reads the answer, and either clicks a link, types your name into Google later, or rings you from the number in the answer. Only the first of those arrives labelled. So tracking AI has two halves: the clicks you can measure, which the next four steps cover, and the influence you have to infer, which comes after.
Step 1: How do I see AI assistant traffic in Google Analytics?
Google added an AI Assistant channel to GA4's default channel group. Its definition reads: "AI Assistant is the channel by which users arrive at your site from sources like ChatGPT, Gemini, Deepseek, Copilot, or Grok. It excludes Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode." Behind the scenes, Google sets the medium to "ai-assistant" when "the referrer matches a list of AI Assistants."
To find it, follow Google's path to the Traffic acquisition report: "From the left menu, select Reports", then "Acquisition > Traffic acquisition". The table is grouped by session default channel group. Look for the AI Assistant row alongside Organic Search, Direct and Referral.
- To see which assistant, change the table's first column from the channel group to Session source / medium. Each assistant appears under its own domain.
- If there is no AI Assistant row, switch to Session source / medium and search for "chatgpt". Visits that were classed as referrals show up as chatgpt.com with a medium of referral. No row at all means no labelled visits in the date range, so widen the range before drawing a conclusion.
- Use the Traffic acquisition report, not User acquisition. Google notes that User acquisition "shows where new users come from", while Traffic acquisition covers new and returning visitors, which is what you want here.
Step 2: What does utm_source=chatgpt.com mean?
It is ChatGPT labelling its own links. OpenAI's publisher FAQ says: "ChatGPT automatically includes the UTM parameter utm_source=chatgpt.com in referral URLs, enabling clear tracking and analysis of inbound traffic from ChatGPT search results." If you have seen that tag on the end of a URL in your reports or your server logs, a person clicked a link to your site inside a ChatGPT answer.
The same FAQ sets the precondition: this applies to "publishers who allow OAI-SearchBot to access their content". If your robots.txt blocks OpenAI's search crawler, your pages cannot be summarised and cited in ChatGPT search in the first place, and there will be little to track. Our post on llms.txt and AI crawlers lists the crawler names to allow.
Step 3: Can I see Google AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search Console?
Not separately. Google's documentation on AI features says that "sites appearing in AI features (such as AI Overviews and AI Mode) are included in the overall search traffic in Search Console. In particular, they're reported on in the Performance report, within the 'Web' search type." There is no filter that isolates them, and as the GA4 definition above makes clear, Google Analytics files them under Organic Search, not under AI Assistant.
So for Google's own AI, the number you are looking for is already inside your organic search clicks and cannot be pulled out. Two things from the same Google page are worth knowing. First, there is nothing extra to switch on: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary." A page has to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, and that is all. Second, Google claims that when people click through from results pages with AI Overviews, "these clicks are higher quality (meaning, users are more likely to spend more time on the site)." That is Google's statement about its own product, not an independent measurement, but it is a reason to judge organic traffic by enquiries and not by click counts alone.
What you can usefully do in the Performance report is look at the queries themselves. Google says AI Overviews help with "a complicated topic or question" and that AI Mode suits queries needing "further exploration, reasoning, or complex comparisons", so the pages earning impressions for longer questions and comparisons are your best candidates for being used in AI answers. Make sure each one answers its question plainly near the top.
Step 4: How do I see when Microsoft Copilot cites my website?
Bing reports AI citations directly. Microsoft launched AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools as a public preview on 10 February 2026. It reports "how publisher content appears across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner integrations", including:
- Total citations: how many times your pages were displayed as sources in AI-generated answers in the period.
- Average cited pages: how many different pages from your site are cited per day.
- Grounding queries: which Microsoft describes as the "key phrases the AI used when retrieving content that was referenced in AI-generated answers". This is the closest thing available to seeing what the AI was looking for when it chose you.
- Page-level activity: citation counts for individual URLs.
On 16 June 2026 Microsoft added four more views in preview, including Citation Share, defined as "the percentage of citations attributed to your site out of all citations shown across all sites for that same grounding query." A citation is not a click, so treat this as a visibility report. If you have never set up Bing Webmaster Tools, you need to verify your site there first, and the report only fills from that point on.
What can none of these tools show you?
- Mentions without clicks. If an assistant names your business and the person phones you, no analytics tool records where they heard of you.
- The later brand search. Someone reads an AI answer on Monday and types your business name into Google on Thursday. That visit is recorded as organic search or direct.
- Visits with no referrer. GA4 assigns the AI Assistant channel by matching the referrer. If an app opens your site without passing one, there is nothing to match, and the visit will generally be counted as Direct.
Three habits close most of that gap, and none needs new software:
- Ask every new customer. Add "AI assistant (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot)" as an option on your "How did you hear about us?" form field, and ask the same question on the phone. It is the only measurement that catches the mention without a click.
- Watch your brand searches. In Search Console's Performance report, filter queries by your business name. A steady rise in people searching for you by name, without a matching rise in your other marketing, is a sign that something upstream is recommending you.
- Test the assistants yourself. Once a month, ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot the questions your customers ask, and write down who gets named. Our AI recommendation guide explains what moves those answers.
Should I count visits or enquiries?
Enquiries, always. A channel report that shows sessions tells you people arrived. It does not tell you whether any of them contacted you. In GA4, mark your contact form submission and phone link clicks as key events, and the Traffic acquisition report will show key events per channel, including AI Assistant. Whatever the size of that row, judge it by what it produced. Our guide to telling whether your website is working covers how to set those events up, and if you later test paid placements, our post on ChatGPT ads in New Zealand explains how to tag those clicks so they do not blur into the organic ones.
We are deliberately not quoting a figure for how much traffic AI assistants send a typical small business. We have not found one with a source we can verify for New Zealand small businesses, and your own report now answers the question for your own site.
Do this today
- Open GA4, go to Reports, Acquisition, Traffic acquisition, and set the date range to the last 90 days
- Find the AI Assistant row, then switch to Session source / medium to see which assistants
- Check your contact form and phone clicks are marked as key events
- Check robots.txt is not blocking OAI-SearchBot
- Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools so the AI Performance report starts collecting
- Add an AI assistant option to your "How did you hear about us?" question
Where we come in
Our Growth plan includes a monthly performance report, and the Pro plan adds conversion tracking and analytics, so the channel reports show enquiries and not only visits. Our SEO service includes the AI search work covered in this series: structured data, answer-first content, crawler access and consistent business details. If you would rather start by seeing where your current site stands, the free website audit checks the technical foundations that both Google and AI assistants rely on, and a conversation with us costs nothing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I see ChatGPT traffic in Google Analytics?
Open GA4 and go to Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition. Look for the AI Assistant row in the session default channel group, which Google defines as visitors arriving from sources like ChatGPT, Gemini, Deepseek, Copilot or Grok. Change the first column to Session source / medium to see each assistant separately. If the row is missing, search the source list for chatgpt.com.
What does utm_source=chatgpt.com mean?
It is a tracking tag that ChatGPT adds to the links it shows. OpenAI's publisher FAQ says ChatGPT automatically includes the UTM parameter utm_source=chatgpt.com in referral URLs so that website owners can track inbound traffic from ChatGPT search results in tools such as Google Analytics. Seeing it in a report means a person clicked through to the site from a ChatGPT answer.
Can I see Google AI Overview or AI Mode traffic separately in Search Console?
No. Google's documentation says sites appearing in AI features are included in overall search traffic in Search Console, reported in the Performance report within the Web search type. There is no separate filter. In Google Analytics, visits from AI Overviews and AI Mode are counted as Organic Search, because Google's AI Assistant channel explicitly excludes them.
Does Bing show when Copilot cites my website?
Yes. Bing Webmaster Tools has an AI Performance report, launched as a public preview on 10 February 2026, that shows total citations, average cited pages per day, grounding queries and page-level citation counts across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner integrations. It measures citations, not clicks, and requires the site to be verified in Bing Webmaster Tools.
Why does some AI traffic show up as Direct?
Google Analytics assigns the AI Assistant channel by matching the visit's referrer against a list of AI assistants. When an app or browser opens a site without passing a referrer, there is nothing to match, so the visit is generally counted as Direct. Phone calls and later brand searches prompted by an AI answer are also invisible, which is why asking new customers how they found the business still matters.
The bottom line
The tools finally caught up. Google Analytics labels AI assistant visits, ChatGPT tags its links, and Bing shows citations. Google's own AI features stay folded into organic search, and the recommendation that ends in a phone call stays invisible unless you ask. Spend ten minutes in the Traffic acquisition report, make sure enquiries are tracked as key events, add one option to your enquiry form, and you will know what AI search is doing for your business instead of guessing.