A client calls and says: "I asked ChatGPT for a bilingual marketing consultant in Greater Vancouver, and it mentioned you." You open your analytics to see where that lead came from, and you find nothing. No "ChatGPT" line, no "AI" channel. That is normal: by default, your tools do not know how to name this traffic. Yet it is already there, and it is growing faster than any other channel. Before you work on getting recommended by AI, you first need to measure what AI is sending you.
Why this traffic is invisible
When someone clicks a link inside an answer from ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI overview, their browser lands on your site with no clear "label". Google Analytics 4 then often files these visits under Referral or Unassigned, mixed in with the rest. The result: you know people are coming, but you do not know AI is the one sending them. And what you do not measure, you cannot improve or defend in a budget.
What the numbers say
This is no longer a niche trend. In a study published in April 2026 covering more than 50,000 sites and 17 industries, Semrush found that AI traffic grew 66 percent in 2025, faster than any other channel. It is still small in volume (about 0.14 percent of total web traffic), but it grew in 16 of 17 industries, with dramatic jumps in retail (up 343 percent) and apparel (up 319 percent).
And this traffic is not empty volume. Visitors sent by AI arrive with mature intent: they view around 2.3 pages per session, close to double organic search. Several analyses of Google Analytics 4 accounts also show a higher conversion rate than non-branded organic search. In other words: few visits, but visits that count.
| Channel | Share of web traffic (2025) | Growth in 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Direct | 64.7% | Declining |
| Organic search | 16.0% | +2.4% |
| AI traffic | 0.14% | +66% |
Source: Semrush, "How AI is reshaping traffic channels", April 2026.
Which sources to watch
AI traffic hides behind a handful of domain names. Before you configure anything, keep this list handy: these are the sources you will want to group.
| AI tool | Domain to spot |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | chatgpt.com, openai.com |
| Perplexity | perplexity.ai |
| Google Gemini and AI overviews | gemini.google.com |
| Microsoft Copilot | copilot.microsoft.com |
| Claude | claude.ai |
On its own, ChatGPT accounts for around 78 percent of AI referral traffic today, well ahead of Perplexity. But positions move quickly: it is wiser to track the whole set rather than a single tool.
How to measure AI traffic in Google Analytics 4
Good news: you do not need a paid tool. Here is the process, accessible even if you are not an analyst.
- Open the admin settings. In Google Analytics 4, go to "Admin", then "Channel groups", and create a custom channel group.
- Create a channel called "AI". Add a rule that captures visits whose source or referrer matches an expression like: chatgpt|openai|perplexity|gemini|copilot|claude.
- Move that channel to the top. Order matters: the "AI" channel must come before "Referral" to catch these visits first.
- Back it up with an exploration. Under "Explore", build a table filtered on session source containing those same domains. This is useful for analysing the past, since channel groups do not always apply retroactively.
- Connect it to your conversions. Tie this channel to your key events (contact form, booking, download) so you see not just visits, but results.
- Track the trend, not the daily number. This traffic is still small and irregular. Watch how it evolves month over month rather than on a single day.
If you also run campaigns, remember to tag your own links with UTM parameters so you do not confuse your ads with the spontaneous traffic AI sends you.
The local and bilingual reflex, not to be forgotten
Measuring is also about understanding who sends you these visits and on which questions. When an AI recommends "a bilingual marketing consultant in Greater Vancouver", it draws on your local presence and on your pages in both French and English. By tracking AI traffic by landing page, you see which content makes you citable, and you know where to invest next. This is exactly the work I do for my clients in Greater Vancouver: make the brand visible to AI, then prove, with numbers, that it pays off.
Frequently asked questions
How do I see ChatGPT traffic in Google Analytics 4?
By default, Google Analytics 4 files these visits under Referral or Unassigned, without grouping them. To isolate them, create a custom channel group or a filtered exploration on sources that contain chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com or copilot.microsoft.com.
Does AI traffic convert well?
Often better than average. Visitors sent by AI arrive with intent already formed: they view around 2.3 pages per session and convert at a higher rate than non-branded organic search, according to several analyses published in 2025.
Will AI traffic replace Google?
Not in the short term. In 2025, AI traffic was only about 0.14 percent of total web traffic according to Semrush, but it is the fastest-growing channel, up 66 percent over the year. So measure it now, before it becomes large.
Want clarity on your traffic and your AI visibility in Greater Vancouver?
Book a discovery callSource for the figures cited: Semrush, "We analyzed billions of web visits: How AI is reshaping traffic channels" (2026).