Recently, artificial intelligence platforms have rapidly gained popularity among users. ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI (Artificial Intelligence)-based tools are among the tools that are frequently preferred not only by individuals but also by businesses to facilitate their business processes. It is important to correctly analyze the traffic directed to your site from these platforms. This will not only help you understand current user behavior, but will also help you see more clearly the impact of artificial intelligence platforms on your marketing conversions.
For example, knowing how AI-generated traffic differs from other sources will allow you to develop strategies specific to these platforms in the future. In this article, we will walk you through how to effectively classify AI-generated traffic using the GA4 channel groups feature, so you can make your web analytics more comprehensive and optimize your marketing efforts based on this data.
AI Channel Group Will Affect Your Retrospective Data Too!
When you create a channel group in GA4, that group includes not only new data, but also all of your historical data. This is one of the biggest advantages of channel grouping. For example, if you define an AI-generated traffic channel today, this setting will automatically review and re-categorize all of your historical traffic. This gives you an instant analysis of users who were referred to your site from AI tools in the past.
This approach allows you to analyze your data without waiting for it to accumulate. Analyzing AI-generated traffic will help you measure the impact of not only today’s but also past user behavior on your marketing strategies. Using the right channel groupings, you can examine AI-generated traffic in detail and make more informed decisions for the future with the insights you gain from this data.
Steps to Create a New Channel Group in Google Analytics 4:
In GA4, channel groups are one of the most effective ways to organize traffic. You can define traffic from AI platforms as a separate channel group by following these steps:
Step 1:
First, log in to the GA4 admin panel and find the “Channel Groups” field under the “Admin” tab.
Step 2:
Here you can see your existing channel groups. Select a overseas chinese In australia data channel group that you are currently using. Click on the three dots to the right of the group and select “Copy to Create New” from the drop-down menu to begin the process of creating a new channel group.
Step 3:
Give your new channel group a meaningful name. For example, you can choose a name like “AI Traffic.” Then, click the “Add New Channel” button to open the field where you can add a new channel.
Step 4:
Choose a suitable name for the new channel you will add. This name will help you easily identify your channel.
Step 5:
Click the “Add Condition Group” button to add a condition group for the new channel. In the opened field, use the “Add New Condition” option to select the source field to specify which sources of traffic you will include in this channel.
Step 6:
Here, click on “Add a Condition” and select “matches regex” from the filtering criteria that opens. This option allows you to add multiple sources at once.
Step 7:
Paste the following regular expression (regex) into the “value” field:
.*chatgpt.com.*|.*perplexity.*|.*edgepilot.*|.*edgeservices.*|.*copilot.microsoft.com.*|.*openai.com.*|.*gemini.google.com.*|.*nimble.ai.*|.*iask.ai.*|.*claude.ai.*|.*aitastic.app.*|.*bnngpt.com.*|.*writesonic.com.*|.*copy.ai.*|.*chat-gpt.org.* This expression will help you identify traffic from ChatGPT, Gemini, OpenAI, and other popular AI platforms.
Step 8:
Once you have completed your conditions, save your channel group.
Step 9:
To reorder channel groups, click the “Reorder” button and move the newly created channel above the “Referral” channel. This way, GA4 will prioritize AI-based traffic and channel grouping will be done accordingly. Click the “Apply” button to complete your process.
Step 10:
Make sure you save any changes you make.
Step 11:
You can now open the “Traffic Acquisition” report by going to the “Reports” tab in your GA4 property.
Step 12:
In this report, select your new channel group as the primary dimension. If there is traffic coming to your site from AI tools, it will be displayed in this area. This way, you can easily track AI-sourced traffic and include this data in your strategic decisions. Finally, if you examine the channel group you have prepared as a second dimension with the Session source/medium breakdown, you can see the AI-based tools you receive traffic from.
