AI search attribution: measure the customers AI assistants send you
People now ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Copilot who to hire and where to buy. AI search attribution connects those recommendations to the leads, bookings and revenue they produce, with evidence for each one.
What is AI search attribution?
AI search attribution is working out which of your customers came from an AI assistant, and what they were worth. It’s the step after AI visibility. Visibility tells you whether ChatGPT mentions you. Attribution tells you whether ChatGPT sent you customers.
| AI visibility | AI search attribution | |
|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | Does AI recommend us? | Did AI send us customers, and what were they worth? |
| Measures | Mentions, citations, share of voice in AI answers | Visits, leads, bookings, sales and revenue from AI |
| Data comes from | Asking AI tools questions | Your website, your forms, your CRM, your customers |
| Good for | Knowing where you stand | Knowing what AI is worth, and proving it |
You want both (the full comparison). Which AI Sent does attribution and includes a weekly visibility check, so you can see the answer ChatGPT gives next to the customers it sent.
Why normal analytics undercounts AI
- The click often never happens. Someone asks ChatGPT for a good dentist nearby, gets three names, then searches yours on Google and calls. Analytics credits Google.
- The source gets dropped. Visits from AI apps on phones often arrive with no referrer and land in “Direct”.
- Google’s AI looks like Google. Clicks from AI Overviews and AI Mode are recorded as ordinary search.
- Sessions aren’t customers. Even when analytics sees the AI visit, it rarely knows whether that person became a paying customer.
How to attribute customers to AI, honestly
Good AI attribution uses more than one signal and says which one it used. Which AI Sent labels every lead with the evidence behind it:
| Label | Evidence required | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmed | The visitor arrived from an AI tool (referrer, or an AI-added UTM like utm_source=chatgpt.com) within 90 days before contacting you | Clicked a link in ChatGPT, browsed, filled in your form a week later |
| Declared | The customer named an AI tool when asked “How did you first hear about us?” | “I asked Gemini for plumbers in Austin and you came up.” |
| Assisted | Written evidence that AI shaped the choice while another channel completed it | Came in through Google, but said on the call that ChatGPT had shortlisted you |
| Everything else | No AI evidence | Google, Facebook, Yelp, referrals, direct, reported just as clearly |
If there’s no evidence, there’s no AI credit. That makes every AI figure a minimum. We’d rather undercount than overclaim.
Which AI assistants can be tracked?
Visits and leads from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Copilot are each reported separately. Meta AI, Grok, DeepSeek, Mistral, You.com, Phind and Poe are grouped as “other AI”. Google AI Overviews and AI Mode can’t be separated from Google search by any tool, so they stay under Google unless the customer says otherwise.
Guides for each: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude, Copilot and the rest. If you only need visit counts, GA4’s AI Assistant channel covers part of it for free: see AI traffic in GA4.
What an AI attribution report shows
- Revenue, bookings and leads from AI, and AI’s share of the total
- A breakdown by assistant: ChatGPT vs Gemini vs Perplexity vs Claude vs Copilot
- How much of the AI revenue is Confirmed, Declared and Assisted
- How often “How did you hear about us?” was asked, so you know how complete the picture is
- Click any number to see the customers behind it and the visit-by-visit evidence
- Traffic by source every day: AI next to Google, direct, social and ads (AI referral analytics)
Setting it up
- Connect your website. One click for WordPress and Wix: approve on the platform’s own screen, no code. Google Tag Manager and any other site take a one-line snippet. All platforms.
- Ask one question. Add “How did you first hear about us?” to your contact forms (we can do it for you) and log phone leads in a click.
- Close the loop on revenue. Mark leads won in the dashboard, or connect your CRM so won deals come back automatically.
Who uses AI search attribution
- Service businesses (movers, trades, clinics, law and accounting firms), where most AI customers phone rather than click.
- Online stores that want AI-sourced orders and revenue, not just sessions.
- Agencies selling AI visibility or GEO work, who need to show clients what it’s worth in dollars. The Agency plan gives each client a private dashboard and a monthly report.
AI search attribution questions
Is AI search attribution the same as GEO?
No. GEO (generative engine optimisation) is the work of getting recommended by AI. Attribution measures what those recommendations produce. Attribution is how you tell whether GEO is paying off.
Can’t Google Analytics do this?
GA4 can show AI visits it can identify. It can’t see customers who read an AI answer and then searched your name or phoned, and it doesn’t tie visits to revenue unless you build that yourself. See Which AI Sent vs GA4.
How accurate is it?
Confirmed leads are backed by a tracked AI visit. Declared leads rely on what the customer said. Every figure is a minimum, and the report shows how often the source question was asked so you can judge completeness.
Does it store personal data?
No IP addresses are stored, no advertising cookies are set, and nothing is sold. See Data & tracking.
See what AI is already sending you
Connect your website in one click, add one question to your form, and see AI leads and revenue with the evidence for each.