Google AI Assistant Default Channel Group in GA4

With surprisingly little fanfare for such an anticipated development, Google rolled out a new default channel called AI Assistant. As of June 7, Google has now globally updated GA4 to group together traffic from recognized AI referrers. 

What It Means

You have less to set up to find out traffic data from LLMs. No more setting up custom filters to see your AI-referred traffic.  

What this also means—AI traffic is now meaningful enough for Google to include in a default channel. The last time they did this was in 2022 with Cross-network. This won’t be a surprise to many marketers, but does signify a shift from an industry giant that clients need to be aware of if they’re not already on board with making their marketing strategy AI-ready.

Here’s What You Need to Know About the Report

The data is only from LLMs with referrers. And this traffic is well-earned. Here’s a look at the journey it took to get included in this report: 

1. Something got cited on an AI platform
2. The user deemed the information worthwhile and clicked
3. The click carried a refferer
4. It wasn’t in AIO/AI Mode

It doesn’t capture AI traffic without referrers, which AI sessions that arrive without referrer data land in Direct, coming from in-app browsers, mobile apps, and copy-pasted links. The report is also not retroactive. 

Here’s What We Still Don’t Know 

This is an exciting development, but keep in mind this is a small shift, and it’s early in the world of AI reporting. There are plenty of things we still don’t know, such as: 

• Traffic from Google AI Overview and AI Mode. That information is still categorized under Organic, leaving us in the marketing community still patiently (or not so patiently) waiting to get full reporting for Google’s AI Overview and AI Mode. 
• Where dark traffic is coming from. Noticing your Direct traffic spiking recently? Yeah, us too. It’s likely largely from traffic via AI without referrers.
• What the AI assistant said about your brand. We’re only measuring clicks here, not the content the AI assistant actually cited. 

Key Takeaways

As I was reviewing this update in a client’s GA4 dashboard, one thing that caught my eye above all else was the 20% conversion rate from AI assistants. The traffic count wasn’t incredibly high (see dark traffic comments above), but that conversion rate is *chef’s kiss*. 

Let’s put it in perspective; in this instance, it outperformed a healthy paid search campaign. Only by a little, but it’s still there. Although anecdotal, this supports research we at Xponent21 have been seeing about how well traffic from LLMs converts, like this study from Microsoft. Because of its extensive abilities for personalization, AI traffic can bring your brand gold-level quality prospects. 

We’ll be watching as AI reporting, particularly with Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, expands—we’ve been told it’s coming—and answer engine optimization gets more personalized. 

You can still be ahead of the curve with these industry developments. Make sure your brand and your online presence are prepped for all things AI by scheduling a call.