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Module 9 · Lesson 9.3 · From leads back to AI: the tour operator case · 3 min

Track the leads that come from ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude

Lesson 9.3 of the free AEO and GEO course: how a real Italian luxury tour operator tracked the quote requests that came from ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, with the referrer recorded in the request form, and how to do the same on your own site with GA4 and your contact form.

The video for this lesson is coming soon to YouTube. Meanwhile, the full transcript is right here.

Transcript

0:00Introduction

Lesson 9.3: from leads back to AI. The tour operator case.

0:08The right question

Citations and visits matter. But in the end, a business owner asks just one question: did it bring me customers? For the Italian luxury tour operator, that was exactly the measure: quote requests that came from AI, month by month and engine by engine. Not impressions.

0:27The request form

Step one: the quote request form. Two were built, each with three steps: a general one, and one for corporate retreats. That way, requests arrive already sorted, with the right information. Including the budget stated by the person asking for a quote.

0:45Where each request comes from

Step two: for every request, the form records where the person came from, the referrer, along with the date. The domain tells you the engine: chatgpt.com, gemini.google.com, claude.ai. And the path shows something else: nearly everyone filled out the form within minutes of the first click. They came from AI already set on asking for a quote.

1:11The result

The result. From the third month of work, between February and May 2026, quote requests came in from ChatGPT, from Gemini and from Claude. That adds up to over $209,000 in declared budget. On average around $35,000 per trip, and the highest over $57,000. Declared budget means what the client wrote in the form: an intention to spend, not money in the bank. That's how it should be stated. And three different engines don't prove an effect, but they are a clue: the work didn't depend on a single engine.

1:48How to do it on your site

How do you do it on your site? Three things. One: in your contact form, record where each person comes from, and the landing page. Many form tools do this with a hidden field. Two: in GA4, mark the form submission as a key event, so you see it channel by channel, including AI Assistant. If you sell online, also look at orders by source. Three: ask people, too. One simple question in the form, like how did you find us, recovers the leads that arrive without a trace.

2:23Your task for today

Your task for today: make sure your contact form, or your checkout, records where every request comes from. Then, for thirty days, log the leads that came from AI in the Report tab.

2:46Next lesson

In the next lesson: the report. What to put on one page for the business owner, or for the client. See you there.

Your task

Make sure your contact form, or your checkout, records where every request comes from. Then, for thirty days, log the leads that came from AI in the Report tab.

Track it in the course worksheet.

Sources

Checked 19 October 2026.

  • Luxury tour operator case (How I Got a Luxury Tour Operator Cited by ChatGPT and Gemini, published 18 June 2026, updated 14 October 2026). The client is an Italian tour operator and the case is real. Client's internal data (request forms, referrer tracking, Search Console), anonymised and verifiable in the client's form provider:
    • two three-step request forms, one generic and one dedicated to corporate retreats, «to separate and qualify incoming leads»;
    • the referrer of every request recorded with its date, and traced back to the engine by its domain (for example chatgpt.com or gemini.google.com);
    • KPI: «quote requests with an AI referrer, month by month and engine by engine, not impressions»;
    • quote requests from ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude between February and May 2026, starting about three months into the work; over $209,000 in declared budget; average declared budget around $35,000 per trip, the highest over $57,000;
    • «nearly all filled out the quote request form within minutes of the initial click»;
    • caution: not a proven effect, but a clue that the work did not depend on a single engine.
  • Declared budget = the intention to spend stated in the form, not revenue.
  • The GA4 «AI Assistant» channel: see Lesson 9.2 (Google Analytics Help, «Default channel group», https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9756891).
  • CiteProof: visits from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Copilot read from GA4 on the Today page (Connect Search Console and Google Analytics).