Where the source comes from
When navigating, a browser may send information about the previous page. Referrer-Policy governs what it includes; some policies send no referrer at all. The source is therefore not always available even after an actual click. A link in a saved answer confirms citation, but without an event on the destination website it does not confirm a page load. Keep these data alongside each other in reports with distinct names and units rather than combining them into an invented visitor stream.
What AURA GEO recognizes
The server matches the available source against a domain table, such as chatgpt.com or perplexity.ai. A supported source tag may also be used for classification. The educational address https://example.com/guide?utm_source=chatgpt.com illustrates a tag format recognized in the current implementation; it is not an actual visit or evidence of a recommendation. An arbitrary tag value is not necessarily recognized as the intended AI. First check the integration rules on your installed tracker and separate test events from customer outcomes.
Do not redistribute unknown visits
The direct and other categories cannot automatically be divided between ChatGPT and Gemini in proportion to detected citations. The user may have opened a bookmark, copied an address, arrived from another app or used a browser with a different policy. A separate unknown-source category is a normal measurement boundary. Do not add a presumed prompt: AURA does not receive a buyer's question from a normal referral and cannot calculate global query volumes from a visit to your page.
Installation and the first check
Your own statistics require an installed tracker on a verified domain. MCP can return instructions, but the owner or an agent with actual access to files and hosting places the code. After installation, check event receipt, the page path and the recognized category. This is technical acceptance testing, not a new customer. Then examine ordinary observed events separately from your own audits and test requests to avoid inflating marketing metrics.
Reading a useful report
AURA provides groupings by platform, page and day, with dates and retention limitations. The counter measures load events rather than unique people: one person may open several pages. Check the available period, installation operation and potential source loss. The next useful question is which page receives recognized referrals and whether it helps visitors take action. That requires separately configured goals, not a bolder interpretation of referrers.
Conditions and limitations
- AURA does not reconstruct unknown sources or count unique buyers from tracker events.
Explore the details
An understanding of the measurement unit, available coverage and a specific action for obtaining actual data.
Open referral analytics