AI Traffic Attribution

Claude Traffic Attribution

Q: What referrer does Claude pass?

Claude.ai, the web interface, passes claude.ai as the referrer. The Claude mobile app may or may not pass a referrer depending on how the link is opened. Third-party applications built on the Claude API pass their own domain as the referrer, not claude.ai.

Q: If a product uses Claude under the hood, does that traffic count as Claude traffic?

No. If a third-party product is built on the Claude API and that product sends a visitor to your site, the referrer identifies the third-party product, not Claude. The attribution correctly reflects where the user actually came from (the product), not the underlying AI model.

Q: How does Claude traffic compare to ChatGPT traffic in volume?

For most sites, ChatGPT sends more referral traffic than Claude by volume, reflecting its larger user base for web browsing tasks. Claude traffic tends to be lower in volume but often shows strong engagement metrics, consistent with its use pattern for substantive research and writing tasks.

How Claude sends traffic to websites, what referrer information it passes, and the characteristics of Claude-originated traffic in attribution reports.

Quick Answer

Does Claude send traffic to your website?

Claude sends traffic to websites when users click links cited in conversations. The referrer header identifies the source as claude.ai. Server-side attribution classifies these visits as AI Referrer traffic. Claude also powers Claude.ai projects and the API used by many third-party applications. Traffic originating from API-powered Claude applications typically does not carry a referrer identifying Claude as the source.

Claude is Anthropic's AI assistant. Its referral traffic comes primarily from claude.ai and the Claude mobile app.

Attribution challenges specific to Claude

Challenge

Claude API traffic is not attributable to Claude

Many products are built on the Claude API. When those products display links and users click them, the referrer identifies the product, not Claude. A product built on the Claude API that sends visitors to your site will appear in your attribution data as referral traffic from that product's domain, not from claude.ai.

The effect

Claude's influence on traffic is broader than the claude.ai referrer volume suggests. API-powered citations are not captured in the claude.ai referrer data.