"As AI-powered browsers Perplexity Comet and ChatGPT Atlas reshape how users discover and interact with content, their influence is beginning to surface in web analytics. Understanding how these emerging traffic sources appear in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is essential for accurate measurement and attribution. The challenge is that these browsers pass referral data in different ways, creating gaps and inconsistencies in reporting."
"Testing both browsers across multiple websites shows variable results. In some cases, sessions appear in GA4 or Microsoft Clarity in real time, while in others they fail to register entirely, both in live tracking and in retrospective data. These differences make it difficult to assess how reliably traffic from either AI browser is captured. Referrer data may not appear in analytics platforms for several technical and privacy-related reasons."
GA4 records sessions using referrer and session data, but different AI-powered browsers handle outbound links differently, affecting how referral information is transmitted. Perplexity Comet clicks typically register in GA4 with a source like perplexity.ai and medium referral, making identification straightforward. ChatGPT Atlas often strips or blocks referrer headers, causing sessions to appear as Direct or (not set) in source/medium and reducing visibility into its discovery role. Tests across sites show inconsistent capture in GA4 and Microsoft Clarity, with some sessions recorded in real time and others missing entirely. Referrer blocking stems from embedded environments and privacy controls.
Read at MarTech
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]