AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini are quickly becoming new discovery channels for online stores. Shoppers now ask these tools for product ideas, comparisons, and recommendations and many of those answers link directly to ecommerce stores.
That means making your Shopify store visible to AI search engines is becoming just as important as traditional SEO. If your products appear in AI-generated answers, you can attract entirely new streams of qualified customers.
However, Shopify doesn’t currently make this traffic easy to track. It’s buried inside the “Sessions by referrer” built-in report, which makes it hard to see how much of your traffic is coming from AI search platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini.
This quick tutorial shows you how to track AI search traffic directly inside your Shopify Analytics dashboard, without installing an app or writing any code. You don’t need to know SQL or have any technical background. All you need is access to your Shopify Analytics tab.
By the end, you’ll have a live AI Visibility Tracker inside Shopify Analytics that shows exactly how many sessions your store receives from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and other AI search engines.
Let’s set up your store’s AI Visibility Tracker step by step.
Your AI Visibility Tracker
In this tutorial, you’ll create three simple reports inside Shopify Reports:
- AI Search Traffic Over Time (Bar Chart): Shows if you’re getting traffic from AI search engines and whether that traffic is growing over time.
- Top AI Traffic Sources (Donut Chart): Identify which AI platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, etc.) send your Shopify store the most visitors.
- Top AI-linked Pages (List Report): Find out which product or page URLs are being recommended most often by AI tools.
You can do all of this directly inside Shopify Analytics. There are no apps to install, no setup fees, and no coding required.
Step 1: Open ShopifyQL Editor
Before we start creating reports, let’s open the tool we’ll be using ShopifyQL.
ShopifyQL is built into Shopify Analytics and lets you generate custom reports with simple commands. You don’t need to know SQL or have any technical background; you’ll just copy and paste the queries I share below.
Here’s how to open it:
- In your Shopify Admin, go to Analytics → Reports → New exploration → ShopifyQL.
- A blank editor window will appear where you can type or paste queries.
- Once you run a query, you can save it as a report.
Now that you know how to open the editor and save a report, let’s build the first one.
Step 2: Create a Chart for “AI Search Traffic Over Time”
This chart helps you see if your AI-driven sessions are growing each month.
FROM sessions
SHOW sessions, bounce_rate, pageviews_per_session, average_session_duration,
added_to_cart_rate, conversion_rate
WHERE referrer_name IN ('openai', 'chatgpt', 'chat.openai', 'perplexity',
'claude', 'anthropic', 'gemini', 'copilot')
GROUP BY month WITH TOTALS, PERCENT_CHANGE, CURRENCY 'USD'
TIMESERIES month
SINCE startOfMonth(-12m) UNTIL endOfMonth(-1m)
COMPARE TO previous_period
ORDER BY month ASC
LIMIT 10000
VISUALIZE sessions TYPE barOnce you run this, you’ll see a bar chart like the one below showing your AI search traffic month by month.
If the bars are rising, it means your store is being mentioned or linked by AI search tools more frequently.
Click on “Save as new” and name the report as a “AI Search Traffic Over Time”.
Step 3: Create a Donut Chart for “Top AI Traffic Sources”
This report shows which AI tools send you the most traffic. It’s a quick way to compare ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and others.
FROM sessions
SHOW sessions
WHERE referrer_url IN ('grok.com', 'chat.deepseek.com',
'copilot.microsoft.com', 'gemini.google.com', 'claude.ai',
'chatgpt.com', 'www.perplexity.ai')
GROUP BY TOP 5 referrer_name WITH TOTALS, PERCENT_CHANGE, CURRENCY 'USD'
SINCE startOfDay(-90d) UNTIL today
COMPARE TO previous_period
ORDER BY sessions DESC
LIMIT 1000
VISUALIZE sessions TYPE donutAfter running this query, you’ll get a donut chart showing which platforms send the most visitors.
Use it to see where your traffic is coming from and how that mix changes over time.
Click on “Save as new” and name the report as a “Top AI Traffic Sources”.
Step 4: Create a “Top AI-Linked Pages” Report
Now that you’ve seen how much AI traffic your store is getting and which platforms send it, the next question is simple: Which pages on your Shopify store are AI search engines actually linking to?
This report shows the exact pages and products that AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini mention or send visitors to.
It helps you understand which parts of your site are already visible in AI results, so you can focus your optimization efforts there.
Create a new “New exploration” inside the Shopify Reports and copy and paste this query:
FROM sessions
SHOW sessions
WHERE referrer_url IN ('grok.com', 'chat.deepseek.com',
'copilot.microsoft.com', 'gemini.google.com', 'claude.ai',
'chatgpt.com', 'www.perplexity.ai')
GROUP BY TOP 10 landing_page_url WITH TOTALS, PERCENT_CHANGE, CURRENCY 'USD'
SINCE startOfDay(-90d) UNTIL today
COMPARE TO previous_period
ORDER BY sessions DESC
LIMIT 1000
VISUALIZE sessions TYPE list_with_dimension_valuesYou’ll see your top landing pages listed along with the number of sessions each received from AI sources.
Now you can identify which products or pages are trending in AI search tools and optimize them with better copy or visuals.
Step 5: Add All Three Reports to Your Shopify Analytics Dashboard
Now that you’ve created your three reports, let’s bring them together into one view inside your Shopify Analytics dashboard.
Here’s how to do it:
- Go to Analytics in your Shopify Admin.
- Click the pencil icon at the top right of your Analytics dashboard. This will open the editing mode where you can rearrange or add new reports.
- Create a new section to keep them organized:
- Click Add section, name it AI Search Sessions, and place your three reports inside it.
- On the left side of your screen, you’ll see a search bar and a list of available reports. Type the names of the reports you just created:
- AI Search Traffic Over Time
- Top AI Traffic Sources
- Top AI-Linked Pages
- Once they appear in the list, drag and drop each one into your dashboard.
When you’re done arranging your layout, click Save in the top-right corner.
Now your Shopify Analytics dashboard will include a live AI Visibility Tracker, showing how much traffic comes from AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot.
FAQ: Tracking AI Traffic in Shopify Analytics
1. Why is AI search visibility important for Shopify stores?
AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are now recommending products directly inside AI conversations. If your store appears in those recommendations, you reach new customers who may never visit through Google or social ads.
2. Where does ChatGPT traffic show up in Shopify?
It appears under “Referrals” in your Shopify Analytics, often labeled as openai, chat.openai, or chatgpt.com.
3. How can I see ChatGPT traffic in Shopify Analytics?
Use the ShopifyQL queries above — they filter by referrer_name or referrer_url that match ChatGPT and other AI engines.
4. Does Shopify track AI referrals automatically?
Yes, but they are mixed into your general referral data. This method separates them into custom reports.
5. How do I track Perplexity or Gemini traffic?
Include www.perplexity.ai and gemini.google.com in your referrer filters as shown in the queries.
6. Can I use this without installing an app?
Yes. Everything runs natively inside Shopify Analytics.
7. Do I need to know SQL?
No. ShopifyQL uses simple readable commands — you just paste and run.
8. What is “AI visibility” in Shopify?
It means monitoring how visible your store is inside AI search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini.
9. Can this help with SEO?
Yes. Knowing which pages are linked or mentioned by AI engines helps you understand your AI SEO footprint.
10. What if I want to compare AI traffic to Google or Meta?
You can duplicate your reports and adjust the referrer_name filters to include google, meta, instagram, etc.
11. How can I monitor new AI search engines sending traffic?
Add new referrers to your list. For example, copilot.microsoft.com or chat.deepseek.com.