Connect GA4 and read the overview
OAuth, picking a property and the overview.
In shortTo connect Google Analytics 4, open Analytics → Google Analytics 4 → GA4 overview, click the settings icon at the top right, choose Connect Google Analytics and approve read-only access in the Google pop-up. Then pick an account and a property in the two drop-downs. The overview shows users, page views, sessions, a traffic chart and the AI sources that sent you visits. Reading it costs nothing.
What the GA4 overview is for
Google Analytics 4 is where most sites keep their traffic data. Connecting it to AI Rank Lab lets you read that data next to your AI visibility work, ask questions about it in plain English and run three focused analyses (revenue leak, anomaly engine and spam purger). The overview is the first page you land on and the quickest way to check that the connection works.
Use it when you want a quick read of the last week to three months: is traffic going up or down, and are AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini sending you visitors at all?
Before you start
- A Google account that can see the GA4 property. Viewer access on the property is enough to read it.
- Pop-ups allowed for airanklab.com. Google's consent screen opens in a small pop-up window.
- A GA4 property that already collects data. AI Rank Lab reads your data; it does not install GA4 for you.
AI Rank Lab asks Google for the analytics.readonly scope only. It can read reports and list your properties, but it cannot change your GA4 settings, channel groups or filters.
Connect GA4 step by step
- Open the GA4 overviewIn the sidebar, go to Analytics → Google Analytics 4 → GA4 overview. The toolbar at the top says Analytics Dashboard. Before you connect, the page shows No Property Selected.
- Open the connections dialogClick the settings icon (the sliders icon) at the right end of the toolbar. A dialog called Google Analytics Connections opens. With no accounts it says No accounts connected yet.
- Approve access in the Google pop-upClick Connect Google Analytics. A Google window opens. Choose the Google account that can see your property and approve access. When it finishes you see Connection successful!, the pop-up closes and the dashboard reloads.
- Pick an account and a propertyBack in the toolbar, use Select Account to choose the Google account and Select Property to choose the GA4 property. The first property of the first account is picked for you; change it if it's the wrong site. Your choice is remembered in this browser.
- Choose a date rangeThe overview loads for Last 30 Days. Use the date drop-down to switch to Last 7 Days, Last 28 Days or Last 90 Days, and the refresh button to reload.
How to read the overview
| Panel | What it shows | Read it as |
|---|---|---|
| Total Users, Page Views, Sessions | Totals for the date range | A quick size check. See the warning below before comparing with GA4. |
| Traffic Distribution | Sessions from AI sources vs all other sessions | The share of sessions whose source looks like an AI assistant. |
| Top AI Sources | Up to five AI sources by sessions | Which assistants actually send visitors, by session source. |
| Traffic Overview | Users per day | The shape of the trend: steady, rising, falling or spiky. |
The AI split works on GA4's session source. A session counts as AI when its source contains one of these words: chatgpt, openai, claude, anthropic, gemini, bard, perplexity, bing, copilot or grok. The lesson Track AI referral traffic in GA4 explains how to build the same view inside GA4 itself.
Total Users adds up each day's active users, so a person who visits on three days counts three times; GA4's own user total for the period will be lower. The Sessions card counts all sessions, even though its caption says "engaged". And the donut labels AI sessions as AI Bots, but these are people who clicked a link in an AI answer. Because "bing" is on the list, ordinary Bing search visits are counted as AI too.
The property list is saved when you connect. If you create a GA4 property later, or get access to a new one, it won't appear until you connect the same Google account again from the connections dialog.
What it costs
Connecting GA4 and reading the overview are free. You only spend credits when you send a message in Analytics chat or run one of the three GA4 analyses, and those pages show the price before you run them.
Disconnecting
To remove a Google account, open the connections dialog and click the bin icon next to it. To revoke access completely, also remove AI Rank Lab from your Google account's third-party access settings.
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