--- title: "See Gemini traffic in Google Analytics: a 10-minute GA4 check" description: "Gemini links now carry a utm_source tag. Open GA4 Traffic acquisition and check Session source / medium to see which pages Gemini visitors land on." url: "https://webleveling.com/blog/gemini-utm-tags-track-ai-traffic-in-ga4/" lang: "en" published: "2026-10-01" modified: "2026-10-15" author: "Cal Hewitt" tags: ["generative-engine-optimization","ai-search","small-business"] image: "https://webleveling.com/og/blog-gemini-utm-tags-track-ai-traffic-in-ga4.jpg" alternates: es: "https://webleveling.com/es/blog/etiquetas-utm-de-gemini-trafico-de-ia-en-ga4.md" --- # See Gemini traffic in Google Analytics: a 10-minute GA4 check Gemini links now carry a utm\_source tag. Open GA4 Traffic acquisition and check Session source / medium to see which pages Gemini visitors land on. ![A small stack of blank paper tags and a closed notebook beside a pencil on a plain wooden desk.](https://webleveling.com/blog/gemini-utm-tags-track-ai-traffic-in-ga4/gemini-utm-featured.jpg) You open Google Analytics, see direct traffic sitting near the top, and wonder how much of it is a person who asked an AI assistant a question and clicked through to your site. Gemini traffic in Google Analytics has been hard to pick out, because a visit that arrives with no referrer gets filed as direct and nothing says where it came from. Site owners have now spotted links from Gemini that carry a utm\_source=gemini tag, which gives GA4 something to read. That does not mean every visit gets labeled, and it does not mean the number is large. It does mean you can open one report today and see whether any Gemini visits show up, which pages they land on and whether those visitors do anything useful. The check takes about ten minutes, costs nothing and leaves you with a view you can reopen every month. **Key Takeaways** **Check source, not just channel** Open Traffic acquisition, switch the primary dimension to Session source / medium and look for gemini. A tagged visit can show up there instead of hiding in direct. **One tag is confirmed** Links from Gemini have been seen with utm\_source=gemini. Read what your own landing URLs show before assuming any other value. **Small numbers are direction, not a rate** One or two conversions tell you which pages deserve a look. They do not give you a conversion rate to plan around. ## Update, October 15, 2026: ChatGPT visits may be showing as Direct in GA4 If your ChatGPT sessions dropped and Direct went up, the visitors may still be arriving without a label. Search Engine Land [reported on October 15, 2026](https://searchengineland.com/chatgpt-appears-to-drop-utm-tracking-making-ai-referral-traffic-harder-to-measure-496552) that ChatGPT links appear to have lost the \`utm\_source=chatgpt.com\` tag, and that referral information is missing too. Treat it as observed behavior rather than a confirmed policy change until OpenAI says more. What GA4 does with the result is documented. It reads campaign tags in the landing URL first, then the browser referrer. Google says a session is direct when [no information about the referral source is available](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11242841). So, a visit with no tag and no referrer lands in direct / (none), while a visit that keeps its referrer can still appear as a referral. Do this in order: 1. Compare the last 30 days with the 30 before. Look at ChatGPT sessions, Direct sessions and landing pages together. 2. If the ChatGPT row fell while Direct rose on the same landing pages, that pattern fits lost labels, not lost visitors. Also check Search Console clicks to rule out a real drop in Google traffic. 3. Make sure ChatGPT visits that still carry a label are grouped. Follow Google's [custom channel group steps](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/13051316) and match the sources \`chatgpt\` and \`openai\` in your AI Assistants channel, placed above Referral. 4. Accept the limit. A new channel group cannot relabel past visits that arrived with no tag and no referrer. ## Update, October 12, 2026: add Claude to your AI traffic report Claude sends visitors when its answers include source links, and Anthropic's help page on [web search in Claude](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/10684626-enable-and-use-web-search) says every response includes citations. When a visitor clicks one and the browser passes the referrer, GA4 can record the session with the source \`claude.ai\`. Google Analytics also added an AI Assistant channel in May 2026, described in its [default channel group help page](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9756891), which may place recognized assistants in one channel automatically. Claude is a small slice of AI referrals today, so treat this as a ten-minute addition to a report you already have. To add Claude: 1. Go to Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition, and set the date range to the last 28 days. 2. Switch the primary dimension to Session source and search for \`claude.ai\`. Note the sessions, engaged sessions and key events. 3. Check Session default channel group too. If Claude visits already sit under AI Assistant, nothing else is needed. 4. If they do not, open Admin, then Data display, then Channel groups, and follow Google's [custom channel group steps](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/13051316). Copy the default group and add a channel named AI Assistants. Use the condition Session source contains \`claude.ai\`, then add \`gemini.google.com\`, \`chatgpt.com\` and any other assistant domains you see in your own data. 5. Drag the new channel above Referral so it claims those visits first, then save. 6. Write down your starting numbers and repeat the check next month. Gemini links carry a UTM tag, while Claude visits are read from the referrer, so the two work differently in the same report. Keep them as separate rows, as the sections below suggest. Crawler visits, such as ClaudeBot reading your pages, show up in your server logs rather than in GA4. As with Gemini, a click from an app that sends no referrer lands in direct, so a modest Claude number is a floor. ## How do I see Gemini traffic in Google Analytics 4? You can do this in about ten minutes with the account you already have. Everything below sits in the standard reports, so there is nothing to install and nothing to buy. 1. Open GA4 and go to **Reports**, then **Acquisition**, then **Traffic acquisition**. 2. Set the date range to the last 28 days. 3. Change the primary dimension from the default channel group to **Session source / medium**. 4. Search the table for \`gemini\`, \`gemini.google.com\` and \`ai-assistant\`. Then try \`chatgpt\`, \`perplexity\`, \`copilot\` and \`claude\`. 5. Add the columns for **Landing page + query string**, **Engaged sessions**, **Engagement rate** and **Key events**. If you sell online, add revenue too. 6. Write down each source value you find, the pages those visitors entered on, and whether they did anything on the site. 7. Save the report so you can reopen the same view next month. Google's own help page for the [Traffic acquisition report](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/12923437) describes these session-level reports, and its page on the [scopes of traffic-source dimensions](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11080067) explains why Session source and Session medium describe the visit that started on your site. ![A closed laptop beside a small stack of blank index cards and a pencil on a worn wooden desk.](https://webleveling.com/blog/gemini-utm-tags-track-ai-traffic-in-ga4/gemini-utm-closed-laptop-index-cards.jpg) Ten minutes, one report and a few notes are enough for a first look. If the table shows nothing for Gemini, that is a result you can use. It means no tagged Gemini visit reached you in that window, and it is worth repeating the check next month rather than assuming the answer stays the same. ## What did Gemini change, and what does it mean for my reporting? Site owners noticed that links from Gemini now carry \`utm\_source=gemini\`, and the first public mention was around September 28, 2026 in a [Reddit thread on r/SEO](https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO/comments/1wsf8tv/google_gemini_utm_to_results/). Google's John Mueller replied in that thread, "Nice. I see it too," and [Search Engine Journal reported the change](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-gemini-adds-utm-parameters-for-referral-attribution/591754/) on October 1, 2026. For your reporting, that has one practical effect. A UTM tag travels with the link, so a visit that would have been filed as direct can now arrive with a source of gemini. Treat \`utm\_source=gemini\` as the only value you can rely on today. Look at the landing URLs in your own data, and let those tell you whether a medium or campaign value is attached, rather than guessing at one. The tag may not appear the same way on every surface. Desktop web, the Gemini mobile app and Android assistant handoffs can behave differently, so a month with a few tagged visits and a month with none can both be normal. ## Why do some Gemini visits still show up as direct? A tag only helps when it survives the trip. A visit is filed as direct when GA4 has no source to read, and several ordinary things strip the source before the page loads. Why a Gemini visit can still land in direct | What happened | What GA4 may show | What you can do | | --- | --- | --- | | The visitor copied the link and pasted it elsewhere | Direct or another source | Nothing; note it as a limit on the count | | An app handed the visitor to a browser without a referrer | Direct or unassigned | Compare with how customers say they found you | | A privacy setting removed the referrer | Direct | Nothing; the tag may still be present | | A redirect or link rewrite dropped the query string | Direct, with the tag lost | Test your redirects with a tagged link | | A consent tool delayed GA4 until after the page changed | Missing or misattributed session | Test the page with consent given and declined | A custom channel group cannot rebuild what never arrived. It can group the sources you can identify, but a visit with no source, no referrer and no tag stays unidentified. So, the useful move is to test the part you control: load one of your pages with \`?utm\_source=gemini\` added to the address, click through your site's usual redirects, and watch whether the tag is still in the URL when the page settles. ![A small tray holding a few unmarked brown envelopes, one set slightly apart from the rest.](https://webleveling.com/blog/gemini-utm-tags-track-ai-traffic-in-ga4/gemini-utm-unmarked-envelopes-tray.jpg) A visit with no source is like an envelope with no return address; a tag is what gives it one. If your numbers look broken rather than small, work through [what to check when Google Analytics shows zero or wrong visitors](https://webleveling.com/blog/google-analytics-showing-zero-or-wrong-visitors/) before you read anything into the Gemini rows. ## How do I group AI assistant visits into one report? Google Analytics already has a place for this. Its [May 13, 2026 update](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9164320) describes an AI Assistant channel, where a visit gets the medium \`ai-assistant\` when the referrer matches a recognized assistant and the campaign shows as \`(ai-assistant)\`. That classification works from the referrer, so it is separate from the UTM tag, and the two can overlap or differ on the same visit. That is why the table in step 4 matters. Look at the source and medium rows, and also at the default channel group, and report what each one shows without merging them. If you want your own grouping, Google's page on [custom channel groups](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/13051316) shows the route: **Admin**, then **Data display**, then **Channel groups**. Add a rule for the AI assistant sources you care about and place it above Referral, or the visits are claimed by the Referral rule first. Other assistants appear in different ways: ChatGPT links have been seen carrying \`utm\_source=chatgpt.com\` in a [SearchPilot reference sheet](https://www.searchpilot.com/hubfs/pdfs/ai-traffic-source-reference.pdf), while Perplexity and Copilot usually show up by their own domains when the referrer comes through. ![Three small cardboard boxes in a row on a shelf, each with a blank paper tag tied to it.](https://webleveling.com/blog/gemini-utm-tags-track-ai-traffic-in-ga4/gemini-utm-tagged-boxes-shelf.jpg) A channel group sorts the visits that already carry a label. It cannot add labels that are missing. For a sense of how the big assistants compare as senders of clicks, see [the BrightEdge numbers on ChatGPT and AI referral traffic](https://webleveling.com/blog/chatgpt-ai-referral-traffic-brightedge/). ## What should I look at each month, and how do I read small numbers? Once the report is saved, [the monthly job](https://webleveling.com/blog/is-ai-search-bringing-you-customers/) is short: open it, read it and write down three things. The point is to learn whether AI visitors reach useful pages and take useful actions, not to chase a bigger total. Gemini rows may be small for a while, so the reading matters more than the count. The four checks below cover each visit. ### Which pages do they land on? Sort by Landing page + query string and note the pages that appear most for Gemini and AI Assistant visits. Those are the pages an assistant sends people to, and they deserve to be clear, current and easy to act on. Check that each one has a visible way to call, book or buy. ### Do they engage and convert? Look at engaged sessions, engagement rate and key events for the same rows. A form submission, a booking or a purchase marked as a key event is worth far more than a session count. If key events are missing or not marked, fix that first, because a visit you cannot connect to an action tells you little. ### How do I treat one or two conversions? Treat them as direction. Note which page they came from and what the visitor did, and keep watching. Compare month to month only when there are enough sessions to make the comparison fair, and do not turn a handful of conversions into a rate you plan around. ![A paper calendar page with a few unreadable pencil marks, a small clock and a closed notebook on a desk.](https://webleveling.com/blog/gemini-utm-tags-track-ai-traffic-in-ga4/gemini-utm-monthly-calendar-notebook.jpg) A fixed day each month turns a few small numbers into a record you can compare. ### What stays out of this report? A person can see your name in a Gemini answer and never click. A crawler can fetch your pages without ever running GA4. Neither one is a session. Keep citations, crawler requests and human visits as separate things, and describe session source and medium as the start of one visit, not every influence on a customer. A visitor may come back later by direct, search or another route. Your monthly Gemini check | Look at | Where | What it tells you | | --- | --- | --- | | Sessions for gemini and ai-assistant | Traffic acquisition, Session source / medium | Whether tagged or recognized assistant visits arrived | | Landing page + query string | Same report, added column | Which pages assistants send people to | | Engaged sessions and engagement rate | Same report | Whether those visitors stayed and read | | Key events and revenue | Same report | Whether they took an action that matters | | Direct sessions | Same report | A rough marker of visits GA4 could not identify | ## When does it make sense to pay someone for this? Not for the basic check. You can read Session source / medium yourself, and nothing about Gemini requires a paid tool to see it. Do that first, for one or two months, so that anyone you hire starts from your real numbers. Paid help starts to make sense when the setup itself is the problem: redirects or consent tools that strip query strings, key events that are missing or misconfigured, several domains or an online store, or a need to tie GA4 visits to leads in a CRM. Those are jobs for someone who can test and fix the plumbing. They can show you identifiable AI visits and the pages those visits reach. They cannot prove every AI-influenced customer, and they cannot promise future Gemini traffic. **Quiz: Can you read your Gemini traffic?** 1. Where in GA4 do you look for tagged Gemini visits first? - Admin, then Property settings - Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition, with Session source / medium as the dimension **(correct answer)** - The Realtime report only - Audience settings 2. Which parameter value can you rely on for Gemini today? - utm_source=gemini **(correct answer)** - Any utm_medium you choose to expect - A fixed utm_campaign - All three together 3. Your month shows two Gemini conversions. How should you read it? - As a stable conversion rate to plan around - As proof that Gemini is not worth any attention - As direction about which pages and actions to keep watching **(correct answer)** - As a reason to cut your other traffic sources ## Frequently Asked Questions About gemini traffic google analytics **Does Gemini add UTM tags to website links?** Links from Gemini have been seen carrying \`utm\_source=gemini\`. Check the landing URLs in your own GA4 data before assuming any other parameter is attached. **Where do I see Gemini traffic in GA4?** Go to Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition. Switch the primary dimension to Session source / medium and search for gemini and ai-assistant. **Will every Gemini visit appear as Gemini?** No. Referrers and query strings can be stripped by apps, copied links, redirects or privacy settings, and those visits may show as direct, referral or unassigned. **What is the AI Assistant channel in GA4?** It is a channel Google added in 2026 for visits whose referrer matches a recognized AI assistant. Those visits get the medium ai-assistant. **Can a custom channel group recover missing AI traffic?** No. It can group sources you can already identify, but it cannot supply a source that was never recorded. **How often should I review it?** Once a month is enough. Open the same saved report and note sessions, landing pages, engagement and key events. ## Wrapping Up Start with the ten-minute check: Traffic acquisition, Session source / medium, and a search for gemini and ai-assistant. Note the pages those visitors enter and whether they reach a key event. Keep in mind that a visit with no referrer and no tag still lands in direct, so a quiet month for Gemini is a result, not a failure. Over a few months you build something more useful than a single number: a record of which pages AI assistants send people to, and whether those people act. That record tells you where to improve a page, where to fix tracking and when a paid review would help. At [Web Leveling](https://webleveling.com/), we work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas on how their sites show up in AI answers and how to measure the visits that follow. If your redirects, consent setup or key events are getting in the way of this report, [contact us about measuring AI traffic](https://webleveling.com/contact/) and we will look at your setup. You can also read how [generative engine optimization](https://webleveling.com/services/generative-engine-optimization/) fits with the rest of your search work. ## Terms Terms used in this post Tap a term to see what it means. **UTM tag.** A short label added to the end of a link's address, such as utm\_source=gemini, that tells your analytics where a visit came from. **Session source / medium.** A GA4 dimension that pairs where a visit started with the kind of link it came through. **Traffic acquisition.** The GA4 report that groups sessions by how they arrived at your site. **AI Assistant channel.** A GA4 channel for visits whose referrer matches a recognized AI assistant, with the medium ai-assistant. **Key event.** An action in GA4, such as a form submission or purchase, that you mark as important. **Referrer.** The page or app a visitor came from, passed to your site when the browser sends it. - [ChatGPT search can read your pages if OAI-SearchBot is allowed](https://webleveling.com/blog/chatgpt-search-cloudflare-pilot-more-pages/): OpenAI's search crawler is OAI-SearchBot. Check robots.txt and Cloudflare settings so public pages stay readable. Access does not guarantee a citation. - [Google AI answer links move up: what your site can control](https://webleveling.com/blog/google-ai-answers-links-and-official-site-section/): Google says it is showing inline links higher in AI Mode and AI Overviews. It is testing an official-site section, and no owner can claim a spot in it. - [See How Your Business Shows Up in Google AI Mode](https://webleveling.com/blog/see-how-your-business-shows-up-in-google-ai-mode/): Open Google's Generative AI performance report, run a repeatable Google AI Mode for business check, and fix what Google says matters. Steps for owners.