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A 3 Minute Implementation Guide to Segmenting AI Traffic in GA4

Segmenting AI search traffic in GA4 allows you to see traffic trends from answer engines over time and analyze correlations between other traffic sources (for example, organic search). This change in Google Analytics is very straightforward and should not take more than 3 minutes to implement.

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Benefits of Tracking AI Traffic

      • Gain visibility into how much traffic is being driven from AI or answer engines
      • Compare trends over time against other channel groups
      • Compare conversion rates and users’ propensity to convert based on AI Search vs standard organic search 
      • Identify areas of opportunity for additional paid media support

How To Segment AI Traffic in GA4

1. CREATE A NEW CHANNEL GROUP

  1. In Google Analytics, navigate to the Admin panel (gear icon in lower left corner). Under Data Display, click Channel Groups.
  2. If you are not using custom channel groups, click the “Create new channel group” button and give it a name.
  3. If you already have a custom channel group for your property, click into the channel group that you want to edit.

2. ADD CHANNEL

  1. Click “Add new channel”.
  2. Give it a name like “AI Search” or “Answer Engines”.

3. ADD CONDITIONS

  1. Add a condition where “Source” matches regex.
  2. Add the following regex statement: .*(gemini|chatgpt|claude| perplexity|copilot).* Tip: Verify this against your real AI traffic sources to ensure the regex correctly captures all relevant AI traffic.
  3. Click “Apply” and then “Save Channel.”

4. REORDER

  1. Click the “Reorder” button next to “Add new channel”.
  2. Drag your new channel above Referral and Organic Search.
  3. Click “Save Group.”

5. WHAT’S NEXT

  1. Navigate to Reporting → Traffic Acquisition.
  2. You can now segment and filter your reporting by your new custom channel group using the field dropdown.

Things to Consider

AI platforms may emerge over time which will require updates to the RegEx statement used for the custom channel group.

Custom Channel groups do not change how data is processed and will not impact your historical data.

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