AI traffic analytics
Track AI referral traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini
Add one small script to your site and Rankry counts the people who click through from AI answers: which platform sent them, where they landed, how long they stayed and, for Perplexity visitors, the question they asked. A Pro feature.
7-day Base trial · No card needed
AI Traffic
Last 30 days1,240visits+18%
AI visits vs the previous 30 days
- ChatGPT712
- Perplexity298
- Gemini131
- Claude99
Sample data
In short
AI traffic analytics in Rankry counts real visitors who reach your website by clicking a link in an AI answer. A small async script, under 5 KB and without cookies, recognises visits referred by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Copilot and other AI platforms, and Rankry turns them into a dashboard: visits, platforms, countries, devices, engagement, top landing pages and real queries from Perplexity visitors. AI Traffic is a Pro feature.
Setup
How do I track traffic from ChatGPT to my website?
Setup is one script tag. It works on any site where you can edit the head or use Google Tag Manager.
- 01
Open AI Traffic
In Rankry, go to Analytics, then AI Traffic, and click “Get script”. AI Traffic needs a Pro plan.
- 02
Copy the tag
It is one line: <script async src="https://rankry.ai/t.js" data-project="…"></script>, with your project filled in.
- 03
Add it to your site
Paste it into your site’s <head>, or add it in Google Tag Manager as a Custom HTML tag that fires on all pages.
- 04
Let visits arrive
The script stays idle on ordinary visits. It records visits with a known AI referrer, or a supported AI source tag when the referrer is missing.
- 05
Read the dashboard
Choose the last 7, 30 or 90 days. Every figure is compared with the previous period of the same length.
Sources detected
Which AI platforms does Rankry detect?
The script checks the referrer against these AI platforms first. If the referrer is missing, it also recognises an exact platform name or domain in utm_source, such as chatgpt.com.
| Platform | Referrer it looks for | Query captured |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | chat.openai.com, chatgpt.com | No |
| Perplexity | perplexity.ai | Yes, when the link carries it |
| Claude | claude.ai | No |
| Gemini | gemini.google.com | No |
| Grok | grok.com, x.ai | No |
| Copilot | copilot.microsoft.com | No |
| Bing Chat | bing.com/chat | Yes, when the link carries it |
| You.com | you.com | Yes, when the link carries it |
| Phind | phind.com | Yes, when the link carries it |
| Poe | poe.com | No |
AI Traffic detects visits from these platforms. It is separate from the AI engines Rankry asks your prompts: You.com, for example, is detected here but is not one of the tracked answer engines.
Dashboards
What does the AI Traffic dashboard show?
Four tiles at the top, “AI visits”, “AI platforms”, “Countries” and “Avg. engagement”, then these panels.
AI visits
Total visits from AI platforms in the period, with the change against the previous period of the same length.
Traffic by platform
How visits split between ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and the rest, so you can see which assistants send people to you.
Visitor geography
The top 20 countries your AI visitors come from.
Languages
The browser languages of AI visitors, a quick check on which markets AI sends you.
Devices
The split between mobile and desktop visitors arriving from AI answers.
Engagement
“How long AI visitors stay”: bounces, visits up to 10, 30 and 60 seconds, and deep visits beyond that.
Top landing pages
The 40 pages AI visitors land on most: the content AI answers actually link to.
User queries
“Real prompts from Perplexity visitors”: the question asked, read from the link that brought them.
Recent AI visits
The latest 500 AI visits, one row each, for a close look at what just happened.
Attribution
Why does ChatGPT traffic show up as direct?
Analytics tools attribute a visit by its referrer, the address the browser reports the visitor came from. When someone clicks a link in an AI answer in a web browser, the platform’s domain usually arrives as the referrer and the visit can be attributed. When the link opens from a desktop or mobile app, gets copied and pasted, or the platform withholds the referrer, the visit arrives with no referrer and lands in “Direct”.
Rankry uses the referrer first. When it is missing, the script checks for a supported AI platform name or domain in utm_source, such as utm_source=chatgpt.com. That lets it count tagged links opened from ChatGPT’s desktop or mobile app. A source tag never overrides an existing referrer. Visits with neither a recognised AI referrer nor a supported source tag cannot be attributed to AI.
This is also why AI referral numbers look small next to AI visibility. Most people read the answer and never click. The visits you do see are the moments an AI answer sent someone to your page, which makes the landing pages list one of the most useful views here.
GA4 too
How do I track AI referral traffic in GA4 as well?
Rankry and Google Analytics 4 can run side by side. To group AI referrals in GA4, add a custom channel. This is a GA4 setting, not part of Rankry.
- 01
Open channel groups
In GA4, go to Admin, then Data display, then Channel groups, and create a new channel group based on the default one.
- 02
Add an “AI referrals” channel
Set the condition to Source matches regex, with a pattern such as chatgpt|openai|perplexity|claude|gemini|copilot|grok|you\.com|phind|poe
- 03
Place it above Referral
GA4 assigns each session to the first channel it matches, so the AI channel must sit above the default Referral channel.
- 04
Compare the two
Use the new channel in acquisition reports, and Rankry for landing pages by platform and the questions Perplexity visitors asked.
Privacy
What does the AI Traffic script collect?
The script loads asynchronously and weighs under 5 KB. It records a visit when the referrer matches a known AI platform, or when the referrer is missing and a supported AI source tag is present. Other visits are ignored.
It sets no cookies and doesn’t follow visitors across sites. For each AI visit, Rankry records the page and its title, the hostname, the referrer and any UTM fields, the country, city, region and timezone, the browser language, screen size, whether the device is mobile, a shortened user agent, and the IP address hashed on the server so repeat hits can be de-duplicated. Engagement comes from small heartbeats at 10, 30 and 60 seconds.
The script does not store a visitor identifier in the browser. Include its use and the visit data it collects in your website’s privacy notice.
Limits
What doesn’t AI Traffic track?
AI Traffic does one job, counting human click-throughs from AI answers. These are outside it.
- Conversions, sign-ups or revenue
- AI crawler or bot visits: it counts people, not GPTBot or ClaudeBot
- Questions from ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini visitors, which those platforms don’t pass on
- More than 90 days of history
- Visits before your plan includes AI Traffic: they aren’t recorded
- Visits with neither a recognised AI referrer nor a supported AI source tag
Explore Rankry
Related features
Which plans include AI Traffic?
AI Traffic is a Pro feature. On other plans the page explains that it is a Pro feature, and visits sent by the script are not recorded, so data doesn’t build up before you upgrade. Install the script once you are on Pro.
Will the script slow down my site?
It is designed not to. The script loads asynchronously, so it doesn’t block your page, weighs under 5 KB, and records visits only with a known AI referrer or, when the referrer is missing, a supported AI source tag. Other visits trigger nothing beyond the download.
Does the AI Traffic script use cookies?
No. It sets no cookies and doesn’t follow visitors across sites. For each AI visit, Rankry stores the page and its title, the hostname, the referrer and any UTM fields, the location down to city and timezone, the browser language, screen size, whether the device is mobile and a shortened user agent. The IP address is hashed on the server to de-duplicate repeat hits.
Can I see what people asked ChatGPT before visiting my site?
No. ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini don’t include the question in the link they send. Rankry shows real queries only when the referring link carries them, which is the case for Perplexity, and also for Phind, You.com and Bing Chat.
How far back does AI Traffic go?
Up to 90 days. You can view the last 7, 30 or 90 days, and each range is compared with the previous period of the same length.
Does it track AI crawlers like GPTBot?
No. AI Traffic counts people who click through from AI answers, not bots that crawl your site. To check which AI crawlers your robots.txt allows, such as GPTBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot and ClaudeBot, use Rankry’s AI Readiness audit.
Can I install it with Google Tag Manager?
Yes. Add the script as a Custom HTML tag that fires on all pages, or paste it into your site’s head directly. Either way, the tag carries your project, so visits land in the right Rankry project.
Why are my numbers different from Google Analytics?
The two count differently. Rankry uses known AI referrers and, when there is no referrer, supported AI source tags. GA4 has its own attribution and session rules, and browser blockers affect each tool in their own way. Use Rankry for AI-specific detail, such as Perplexity queries and landing pages by platform.
How does AI traffic relate to AI visibility?
AI visibility measures how often AI answers name you; AI traffic measures how often those answers send someone to your site. Compare your top landing pages with the prompts where you are named, and ask Rankry Brain “What do AI users ask before visiting my site?” to connect the two.
See who AI sends to your site
Start a 7-day Base trial to track your AI visibility, then move to Pro and add one script to count the visitors AI answers send you.
7-day Base trial · No card needed