AI traffic · Google AI Mode
Google AI Mode traffic: what your log can prove, and what it can't
Google AI Mode traffic can be told apart only when Google marks the click with udm=50. Skald shows those visits as google.com (AI Mode), and says plainly what nobody can see.
Google AI Mode traffic is the visits from people who clicked a link in Google's AI Mode answers. When the click's address carries AI Mode's udm=50, Skald labels it google.com (AI Mode), still under search engines. A click without it, and any click from an AI Overview, looks exactly like an ordinary Google click.
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"GET /services/" ref "https://www.google.com/"search engine · google.com"GET /services/" ref "https://www.google.com/"search engine · google.comthe same line: not measurable apart"GET /services/" ref "https://www.google.com/search?udm=50&q=…"search engine · google.com (AI Mode)
A mock results page with sample lines. Of three clicks, only the one that carries udm=50 can be told apart.
[01] one parameter decides
Your analytics says google.com. Was it AI Mode?
Google's AI Mode puts udm=50 in its addresses. When a click carries it, on the referrer (the address of the page the click came from) or on the page it lands on, Skald labels the visit google.com (AI Mode). Without it, nothing is guessed. Pick a click, or type your own, and print the label Skald would give it. AI Mode is one road in AI traffic tracking.
the rule, in the order Skald runs it
- A citation first. A referrer from an AI assistant, or a utm tag naming one (a utm_source= label on the link), makes the visit AI assistant. Gemini is one.
- Then the host. Gmail is email, not search. Any google.<country> search domain is a search engine.
- Then udm=50. Only on a Google search referrer, read on the referrer or on the landing address, and only the value 50. The mark is " (AI Mode)" after the host.
- Never a guess. A bare google.com stays google.com, whatever it really was.
The label maker runs the same tests as Skald's own source rules, for a site whose own host is example.com.
[02] said plainly
One click came from an AI Overview. Find the difference.
A person who clicks a link inside an AI Overview arrives with a bare google.com referrer, like any other Google click. No parameter, no header, no marker. Tap each part of the two log lines and compare. Skald shows no figure for AI Overviews, and says why.
an ordinary result
198.51.100.73 - - [23/Oct/2026:09:14:02 +0000] "GET /services/ HTTP/2.0" 200 18234 "https://www.google.com/" "Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 18_0 like Mac OS X) … Safari/604.1"no #:~:text= here
a link in an AI Overview
203.0.113.88 - - [23/Oct/2026:09:14:40 +0000] "GET /services/ HTTP/2.0" 200 18234 "https://www.google.com/" "Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 18_0 like Mac OS X) … Safari/604.1"#:~:text= stayed in the browser
Parts that say "AI Overview": 0
Sample lines. So the click is counted where it lands, as google.com, and the AI Overview figure is "not measurable", never 0 and never an estimate.
[03] where you see it
AI Mode gets its own row in Sources. On the Search tab it is Google.
The label travels with the visit, so AI Mode is a row you can filter, compare and follow to a lead. The Search tab sorts by engine to sit beside Search Console, so there AI Mode joins Google. Switch the view and watch ten sample visits move.
Search engine · google.com
Search engine · google.com (AI Mode)
Search engine · google.de
Search engine · google.de (AI Mode)
Search engine · bing.com
AI assistant · gemini.google.com
Email · mail.google.com
Bing
Paid · an ad click id
Other
not a search visit
Ten sample visits, each shown by its landing page. Sources keeps the label; the Search tab counts engines by the referring host, with a paid click apart. A later page that arrives from plain google.com starts a new visit. A lead keeps its source with first and last touch. AI Mode has been told apart since version 2.10.0.
[04] seven Google names
Not everything from Google is search. Gemini is an assistant.
Google's Gemini app is an AI assistant, so its clicks and its fetches are filed like ChatGPT's. Googlebot is a search crawler, checked against Google's own lists. And Google-Extended never appears at all. Pick a name and read the sign.
"GET /services/" ref https://www.google.com/
People · search engine · google.com
A person clicked an ordinary result.
[05] google's own numbers
Search Console beside real visits
For queries, impressions and position, Google's Search Console is the source. Skald syncs it every 6 hours and sets Google's clicks beside its own visits from Google search. The two are never forced to match, and a flag shows when the ratio between them moves.
What it does not do
- It does not see a click from an AI Overview apart. It looks exactly like an ordinary Google click.
- It does not find AI Mode clicks that arrive without udm=50. Those look like any Google click, so the AI Mode figure is a floor.
- It has no figure for Google's AI training. Google-Extended is only a robots.txt line, and no request carries it.
- It does not replace Search Console for queries and rank.
keep reading
More on Google AI Mode traffic
questions
Google AI Mode traffic FAQ
Straight answers, including what Skald does not do.
Can I track traffic from Google AI Mode?
Partly. A Google click whose referrer or landing address carries udm=50 comes from AI Mode, and Skald labels it google.com (AI Mode) under search engines. An AI Mode click without udm=50 looks like any Google click, so the AI Mode figure is a floor.
Can Skald see Google AI Overviews?
No. A person who clicks a link inside an AI Overview arrives with a bare google.com referrer, byte for byte the same as an ordinary search click. There is no parameter, header or marker, so Skald shows no figure for them and never guesses.
What is udm=50?
udm=50 is the parameter in Google's AI Mode addresses. When it is on the referrer or on the page the visitor lands on, Skald knows the click came from AI Mode. It works for every Google domain, so google.de reads google.de (AI Mode).
Is Google AI Mode counted as an AI assistant?
No. It stays a search engine visit, because it came from Google Search, with its own referrer label so you can see it apart. A click from gemini.google.com is different: Gemini is an AI assistant, and those visits count under AI assistants.
Does Skald see Google's AI training crawl?
No figure exists for it. Google-Extended is a robots.txt switch, not a crawler: no request ever carries it. Skald shows Googlebot as a search engine and suggests the robots.txt line for Google-Extended if you block training.
$ tail -f access.log | skald
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