How to know if ChatGPT sends you traffic
Referrers, utm_source and what AI assistants don’t tell you. And how to see AI traffic in one card.
Sep 23, 2026 · 2 min
Where AI traffic hides#
When someone clicks a link inside an AI answer, your analytics only knows what the browser tells it. There are two signals: the referrer, the site the visitor came from, and a utm_source parameter that the assistant may add to the link.
If neither is there, the visit looks exactly like someone typing your URL by hand. That’s why AI traffic is easy to under-count.
utm_source vs referrer#
https://yourapp.com/pricing?utm_source=chatgpt.comChatGPT usually adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to the links it cites as sources, so the source survives even when the browser sends no referrer. It doesn’t do it every time. Other assistants rely on the referrer instead, which only contains the site’s host (for example perplexity.ai), never the conversation.
| Assistant | How it usually shows up |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | utm_source=chatgpt.com on cited sources, often |
| Perplexity | Referrer perplexity.ai |
| Claude | Referrer claude.ai when the browser sends one |
| Gemini | gemini.google.com, or google.com when the link goes through a Google redirect |
| Copilot | copilot.microsoft.com, or bing.com from Bing |
What stays invisible#
- Links opened with
rel="noreferrer", from desktop apps, or copied and pasted: no referrer, no utm, so they count as Direct. - Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode arrive as
google.com, like a normal search. - No tool can see which prompt or conversation led to your site. Assistants don’t share it.
These limits apply to every analytics tool, cookies or not. What you can do is read both signals correctly and group them by assistant.
See it in Shipabase#
Since @shipabase/js 0.3.0, the SDK sends the traffic source of each page load: the utm_source when present, otherwise the referring site’s host. Never the full URL, never a query string. The overview then shows a Sources card, with visits from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and other assistants grouped and highlighted.
npm i @shipabase/js@latestNothing else to set up. Click a source to filter the whole dashboard by it. See the quickstart if you haven’t installed Shipabase yet.
FAQ
Can I see which prompt led a visitor to my site?
No. AI assistants never share the conversation. You only get the source: a host or a utm_source.
Does Google AI Overviews count as AI traffic?
Not separately. It arrives as google.com, exactly like a regular Google search.
Do I need cookies to track AI referrals?
No. The source is read once when the page loads and sent with the events. Nothing is stored in the browser.
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