Track All AI Chatbot Traffic in GA4 with One Filter (Complete Guide)

You've created seven different filters in GA4. One for ChatGPT. One for Perplexity. One for Gemini. Another for Claude.

Each time a new AI platform launches, you're back in GA4 settings, creating another filter, updating your reports, fixing broken links.

There's a better way.

One comprehensive filter that captures traffic from all major AI chatbots. One custom channel group that segments AI traffic from regular referrals. Set it up once, and you're done.

This guide shows you exactly how to track ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity AI, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, Grok, and emerging platforms—all with a single regex pattern.

Why AI Traffic Needs Its Own Channel

By default, GA4 lumps all AI chatbot traffic into the generic "Referral" channel alongside thousands of other websites. This creates three problems:

Problem 1: Invisible insights. You can't see how much traffic comes from AI versus regular referrals without manually filtering every report.

Problem 2: Engagement comparison. AI traffic often behaves differently—users from ChatGPT spend an average of 16 minutes on technical content, while regular referrals average 2-3 minutes. But you'd never know this without proper segmentation.

Problem 3: Future-proofing. New AI platforms launch monthly. DeepSeek went from zero to 2.74 billion visits in 18 months. Grok grew 1.3 million percent year-over-year. Manual tracking can't keep up.

The solution is a custom channel group that automatically categorizes AI traffic separately, using a comprehensive regex pattern that captures current and emerging platforms.

The Complete AI Traffic Regex Pattern

Here's the copy-paste regex that tracks all major AI chatbots:

(chatgpt|openai|anthropic|deepseek|grok)\\.com|(gemini|bard)\\.google\\.com|(perplexity|claude)\\.ai|(copilot\\.microsoft|edgeservices\\.bing)\\.com|edge\\scopilot

What this captures:

• ChatGPT & OpenAI: chatgpt.com, openai.com
• Google Gemini: gemini.google.com, bard.google.com (legacy)
• Perplexity AI: perplexity.ai
• Claude AI: claude.ai, anthropic.com, edgeservices.bing.com
• Microsoft Copilot: copilot.microsoft.com, edge copilot
• DeepSeek: deepseek.com
• Grok AI: grok.com, grok.ai

This pattern uses escaped periods and specific domain matching to avoid false positives while capturing traffic from all major platforms.

Method 1: Create a Custom Channel Group (Recommended)

Custom channel groups let you segment AI traffic permanently across all GA4 reports. Here's how to set it up:

Step 1: Navigate to Admin Settings

In GA4, click the Admin gear icon in the bottom left. Under "Data display," select "Channel groups."

Step 2: Copy the Default Channel Group

Don't edit the default group directly—copy it first. Click the three dots next to "Default channel group" and select "Create a copy." Name it something like "Default + AI Chatbots."

Step 3: Add New AI Channel

Click "Add new channel" and configure:

• Channel name: AI Chatbots
• Condition: Session source matches regex
• Regex pattern: Paste the complete regex from above

Step 4: Reorder Channels (Critical)

GA4 evaluates channel rules top to bottom. If "Referral" appears above your new "AI Chatbots" channel, AI traffic will be assigned to Referral first.

Click "Reorder" and drag "AI Chatbots" above "Referral" in the list. This ensures AI traffic gets categorized correctly before falling into the generic referral bucket.

Step 5: Save and Apply

Click "Save" and apply this channel group to your reports. It may take 24 hours for historical data to reprocess.

Method 2: Create Filtered Reports

If you don't want to modify channel groups, create filtered versions of your key reports:

Step 1: Open Traffic Acquisition Report

Navigate to Reports → Acquisition → Traffic acquisition.

Step 2: Click "Customize report"

In the top right corner, click the pencil icon to customize.

Step 3: Add Session Source Dimension

If not already present, click "Add dimension" and select "Session source / medium."

Step 4: Apply Regex Filter

Click the filter icon next to "Session source / medium." Set:

• Match type: Matches regex
• Pattern: Paste the complete regex pattern

Step 5: Save as New Report

Click "Save" and choose "Save as new report." Name it "AI Chatbot Traffic" so you can access it quickly from your report library.

Add this report to one of your report collections through the Library menu at the bottom left.

Method 3: Exploration Reports for Deep Analysis

For one-time analysis or custom breakdowns, use Explorations:

Step 1: Create Blank Exploration

Navigate to Explore → Create new exploration → Blank.

Step 2: Add Dimensions

From the variables panel, add these dimensions:

• Session source
• Session medium
• Landing page
• Device category
• Country

Step 3: Add Metrics

Add these metrics:

• Sessions
• Engaged sessions
• Average engagement time
• Conversions
• Conversion rate

Step 4: Apply AI Traffic Filter

In the tab settings, add a filter:

• Dimension: Session source
• Match type: Matches regex (RegExp)
• Value: Paste the complete regex pattern

Step 5: Analyze

Drag dimensions and metrics into rows and columns to analyze AI traffic patterns. Save this exploration for future use.

What You'll Discover About AI Traffic

Once you've segmented AI traffic properly, expect to find:

Higher engagement rates. AI chatbot referrals typically show 3-5x longer average session duration compared to general referrals. Users arriving from AI tools are actively researching, not casually browsing.

Lower bounce rates. AI citations tend to link directly to relevant content, resulting in bounce rates 40-60 percent lower than social media referrals.

Different conversion patterns. AI traffic often has lower immediate conversion rates but higher return visitor conversion rates. Users research via AI, then come back directly to convert.

Platform concentration. ChatGPT dominates with 85 percent of AI referrals, but Claude shows the highest engagement time at 16 minutes per session.

Geographic differences. DeepSeek traffic concentrates in Asia-Pacific regions, while Perplexity shows strong adoption in academic and research sectors.

Maintaining Your AI Traffic Filter

As new AI platforms emerge, update your regex pattern to include them. Here's the structure for adding new platforms:

existing-pattern|newplatform\\.com

Simply append the new domain to your existing pattern with a pipe character. The beauty of this approach is you update once in your custom channel group, and all reports reflect the change automatically.

Common Tracking Limitations

Mobile app traffic. When users tap links in mobile AI apps (ChatGPT iOS, Gemini Android), traffic often appears as Direct because mobile apps don't always send referrer headers. This limitation affects all analytics platforms, not just GA4.

Copy-paste behavior. If users copy URLs from AI responses and paste them into browsers, these sessions appear as Direct traffic with no referrer. About 20-30 percent of AI-influenced traffic falls into this category.

Privacy settings. Users with strict browser privacy settings may block referrer headers, causing AI traffic to appear as Direct even when clicking links.

These limitations mean your AI traffic numbers represent a floor, not a ceiling. Actual AI-influenced traffic is likely 20-40 percent higher than what GA4 captures.

FAQ

How much AI traffic should I expect?

Recent studies show 63 percent of websites now receive measurable AI chatbot traffic. Volume varies dramatically by industry—technical documentation sites see 5-10 percent of total traffic from AI, while general consumer sites see 0.5-2 percent.

Will this slow down my GA4 reports?

No. Custom channel groups and regex filters are processed server-side by Google and don't impact report performance. The filtering happens during data processing, not at query time.

Can I track AI traffic in Universal Analytics?

Universal Analytics has been sunset. These instructions are specific to GA4. If you're still using UA, you need to migrate to GA4 to access these features.

Should I exclude AI traffic from conversions?

Probably not. AI traffic represents real users discovering your content through modern search methods. Excluding it would undercount your actual audience and make conversion rates appear artificially high.

How do I see AI traffic in real-time?

Custom channel groups don't apply to real-time reports. For real-time monitoring, use the Exploration method with live data, or create a custom segment based on session source matching your AI regex pattern.

What if I only want to track specific AI platforms?

Use a simplified regex with only the platforms you care about. For example, to track only ChatGPT and Perplexity: (chatgpt|openai)\\.com|perplexity\\.ai

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Related guides:

• Why ChatGPT Traffic Shows as Direct in GA4
• How to Track Perplexity Referrals in GA4
• Claude AI Traffic: The High-Engagement Source You're Missing