Referral Attribution

Structurally, AI-originated clicks carry a referrer header like any other external link. The difference is that Referrer Attribution classifies them as AI Referrer rather than generic Referral, because AI platforms have a distinct intent profile and their traffic is worth measuring separately. In analytics tools without an AI taxonomy, chatgpt.com appears as a referral source rather than as an AI channel.

Some referral traffic comes from sources that may not be obvious: syndicated content, embeds, iframes from your own domain set up as a subdomain, email clients that pass their web interface domain as a referrer, and social platforms that sometimes pass a referrer. Reviewing the source breakdown within the Referral channel shows which domains are actually sending traffic.

Yes. The self-referral exclusion list can include any domain you do not want classified as a referring source. Commonly excluded domains include your own staging environment, partner domains, and known tools that generate referral traffic as a side effect.

Referral traffic quality varies widely by source. Press coverage from a relevant publication tends to send high-intent visitors. Directory listings may send lower-engagement traffic. Analysing referral traffic by source within the reports view, and comparing it against conversion data in Pro, shows which referral sources are genuinely valuable.