How to Identify AI-Referred Traffic in Google Analytics 4

How to Identify AI-Referred Traffic in Google Analytics 4

AI-driven traffic is on the rise, but what does that mean for your GA4 data? In this guide, we’ll show you how to identify chatbot traffic in Google Analytics and why it’s important to track and analyse this new source.

Written by

Preet Singh

Published

25 September 2024

Categories

Data

Marketing

Acquisition

Realistic robot pondering how to steal traffic with GA4 logo

Table of Contents

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What is AI-referred traffic in Google Analytics 4?

It’s inevitable that over time, a significant proportion of any website's traffic will be referred by AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, etc. This proportion will probably increase even more when fully functional AI agents are out in the wild, but that's a topic for another day.

In this article, we'll show you how to identify AI-referred traffic in GA4 and how to track it by setting up a dedicated channel.

Does AI drive traffic to your website?

Yes, AI-driven platforms like ChatGPT can refer traffic to your site. While the volume is currently modest, this trend is growing and offers marketing teams the opportunity to identify AI sources and develop optimisation strategies to capitalise on this.

How to identify AI-referred traffic in GA4

To find AI-referred traffic in GA4, head to the Acquisition section and use the Session source/medium dimension. This is where you’ll see referrals from AI chatbots like ChatGPT, with traffic sources typically labelled as “referral” or “direct.”

Screenshot of bot traffic in GA4
Go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition and search for any unusual traffic sources.

Indago's AI-referred traffic currently comes from the three sources shown in the screenshot above and we began noticing AI-referred traffic emerge for most of our clients around mid-August.

As users interact with a growing number of AI chatbots, we expect this list to expand over time.

Setting up a dedicated AI traffic channel in GA4

While this traffic appears in your GA4 acquisition reports, setting up a custom channel gives you a clearer view of all AI-referred traffic. By grouping this traffic into a single line item, you can easily track and manage it, ensuring more accurate insights.

1. Go to Admin > Data Display> Channel Groups and click Create New Channel Group

Screenshot of how to identify Bot Traffic in GA4

2. Click on Add new channel

Screenshot of how to identify Bot Traffic in GA4

3. Name your channel and add traffic sources

Make sure to name your channel something clear like "AI Chatbot Traffic” and add specific sources like "ChatGPT" or "Gemini" based on how they appear in your reports.

Screenshot of how to identify Bot Traffic in GA4

Once set up, you can view all your AI-referred traffic in the traffic acquisition report under the same custom channel.

Screenshot of how to identify Bot Traffic in GA4

Conclusion

Although new, AI-referred traffic is going to gain traction quickly and it’s essential to understand how and what you can do with this data.

Need help with GA4? The experienced team at Indatum is always available for any queries or discussions you might want to have.

Book a chat today!

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Written by

Preet Singh
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