How do I see ChatGPT traffic in Google Analytics?

A parent tells your tuition centre in Puchong she "asked ChatGPT" before she called. You open Google Analytics to see how many others did, and nothing on the screen says ChatGPT.

In Google Analytics 4, go to Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition, and look for the "AI Assistant" row, then search the sources for "chatgpt" and "openai". Some visits from ChatGPT land as Direct or Unassigned, so whatever you find is a minimum.

Watch the label: OpenAI says the ChatGPT app tags links "chatgpt.com", yet in our API tests nearly every cited link was tagged "openai".

Where do I find ChatGPT traffic in Google Analytics 4?

You find ChatGPT traffic in Google Analytics 4 in the Traffic acquisition report, which shows where visitors came from¹:

1. Sign in to Google Analytics and pick your website's property.
2. Open Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition. The table starts grouped by channel.
3. Look for the "AI Assistant" row. Google added this channel in May 2026 for visits "from sources like ChatGPT, Gemini, Deepseek, Copilot, or Grok"^2,3.
4. Switch the first column to "Session source / medium" by clicking the drop-down in that column's header.
5. Type "chatgpt" in the search bar above the table, then try "openai" and "perplexity".
6. Set the date range to last month.
7. Add "Landing page + query string" as a second column with the + next to the drop-down. You'll see whether AI visitors land on your English, Malay or Chinese page.

Check your clock too. Under Admin, then Property details, set the reporting time zone to Malaysia⁴, or late-night visits land on the wrong day. The change only affects new data⁵.

What names does ChatGPT traffic show up under in Google Analytics?

ChatGPT traffic shows up in Google Analytics under several names, depending on how the visitor arrived.

OpenAI's publisher FAQ says: "ChatGPT automatically includes the UTM parameter utm_source=chatgpt.com in referral URLs"⁶.

The API is different. In our API tests, 1,608 of 1,610 citations carried "utm_source=openai".

Our reading: a chatbot built on OpenAI's API that shows those links unchanged sends visits tagged "openai". With no medium, they probably land in Unassigned, Google's label when "there are no other channel rules that match"². Our own logs can't record that tag, so we haven't checked real visits.

How do I group all AI traffic together in Google Analytics?

To group all AI traffic together, build a custom channel group with one extra channel for AI assistants⁷. Google places a visit in its own AI Assistant channel when the referrer matches its list². Your own channel can also catch sources that list may miss, such as "openai".

1. Go to Admin, then Data display, then Channel groups. You need Editor access or above.
2. Click "Create new channel group" and name it, say, "With AI".
3. Click "Add new channel" and call it "AI assistants".
4. Click "+ Add condition group", choose Source, then "matches regex", and paste: .*(chatgpt|openai|perplexity|gemini\.google|copilot|claude).*
5. Click "Save channel", then "Reorder", drag "AI assistants" to the top of the list and click "Apply". Each visit goes to the first channel it matches, and the copied list already has Google's own "AI Assistant" channel.
6. Click "Save group".

Keep the .* at each end: Google Analytics uses "full regex" by default, so without them it matches only a source spelled exactly that way⁸. Then pick "With AI" in the Traffic acquisition drop-down; it applies to past data too.

Why does some ChatGPT traffic show as Direct in Google Analytics?

Some ChatGPT traffic shows as Direct in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) because GA4 files any visit without a clear referral source as "(direct) / (none)". Google lists the usual causes⁹:

• The link arrived with no tracking tags, or a redirect stripped them, and no referrer came with it.
• The person typed your address into the browser.
• An ad blocker got in the way.

Other routes that hide ChatGPT's part, such as Googling you, are in our ChatGPT testing guide.

Does ChatGPT traffic in Google Analytics show whether ChatGPT recommends my business?

ChatGPT traffic in Google Analytics doesn't show whether ChatGPT recommends your business; it only counts people who clicked. ChatGPT can name you in an answer that nobody clicks. Measuring mentions is a separate job: ask customers' questions, repeat them, and count how often you're named.

Google Analytics also leaves out ChatGPT's crawlers: Google says "traffic from known bots and spiders is automatically excluded"¹⁰.

In just over two days of our own server logs, between 27 and 30 September, OpenAI's crawlers visited easyfound.co at least 42 times. The same logs recorded one visit referred by ChatGPT, possibly one of our own team.

What can't Google Analytics tell me about ChatGPT traffic?

• What the customer asked. You see the visit, not the question or the answer.
• Visits that lost their tag. Direct, Unassigned and Organic Search hide some of them.
• Whether the ChatGPT app tags every link. Our figure covers the API only.

How do I start tracking ChatGPT traffic and mentions for my business?

A small AI Assistant number is just your starting line.

1. Request EasyFound's free check. See what ChatGPT says about your business, then go through it with us on a free call.
2. Write down last month's AI Assistant visits and the pages they landed on.
3. Add the "AI assistants" channel group above, so every AI source sits in one row.
4. Check again at the start of each month, same report, same date range.

Google Analytics counts clicks; EasyFound, an AI SEO service for Malaysian businesses, tracks the answers behind them in six AI tools, in English, Malay and Chinese, and fixes the pages they draw on. The free check below is where it starts.