Glossary · Measurement
AI Referral Source
The specific AI platform identified as the origin of a website visit — distinguishing, for example, traffic referred from chatgpt.com versus perplexity.ai versus Gemini.
How it works
When an AI platform does include a clickable link in its answer, that click typically carries a referrer string identifying the originating domain, which analytics tools can capture and report as a distinct source. This only captures traffic that came with a link — it doesn't cover cases where a user read the answer and searched the brand separately.
Why the granularity matters
Lumping all AI-driven traffic into a single "AI referral" bucket hides which specific platforms are actually sending visitors. Knowing the split by source is what lets a team weigh engine parity findings against real downstream traffic, rather than treating every AI platform as equally valuable.
See more terms in the full glossary, or read the AI Visibility 101 guide for the full picture.