I clicked a link from ChatGPT to my own site and nothing appeared.
You were logged in. Visits from anyone logged in to the site are left out on purpose, so your own testing does not pollute the numbers. Open a private window or log out and try again.
Does it count citations or mentions in AI answers?
No, and neither can anything else that runs on your server. Nothing sent to your site reveals what an AI answer said. The plugin shows live reads, which mean your page was used to answer someone, and visitors, which mean the answer showed your link and it was clicked. Together they are the honest picture.
Why don’t I see Google AI Overviews?
Clicks from AI Overviews and AI Mode arrive looking exactly like Google Search clicks: a google.com referrer and nothing else. Counting them would mean guessing, so the plugin does not.
Why does Gemini or Copilot send visitors but show no bot reads?
They answer from Google’s and Bing’s general search indexes rather than their own bot, so their page reads happen through Googlebot and Bingbot and cannot be told apart. Their visitors are still counted.
My bot counts look low.
Your site is probably served from a cache. See Caching and low counts for the two fixes.
Does the plugin slow my site down?
A bot visit is one small database write on the request. Pro’s browser tracking adds a script of a few hundred bytes to each page. Reports only run when you open them.
Where does the data go?
Nowhere. Everything is stored in your WordPress database. The plugin makes no calls to our servers.
What personal data is stored?
For bot visits, the bot’s IP address, which can be shortened in Settings. For visitors (Pro), no IP address at all; visitors are told apart with a scrambled identifier that changes every day and cannot be reversed.
How long is data kept?
Individual bot visits for 90 days by default, monthly totals forever. Pro keeps individual visitors for two years by default and daily totals forever. Both are adjustable.
Can I export it?
Yes. The activity log and Pro’s tables export to CSV with your filters applied. Pro also downloads everything as a zip with a notes file explaining every column.
Does blocking a bot in the plugin really stop it?
For bots that obey robots.txt, yes, usually within a day or two. For the few that ignore it, use the server-level block the plugin gives you.
Can a bot pretend to be another bot?
Yes, and the plugin catches it. Visits are checked against the IP ranges OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity publish, and by reverse DNS for Google, Apple, Amazon and Meta. A fake is marked Spoofed.
Does Pro work without the free plugin?
No. Pro attaches to the free plugin and uses its data. Install free first.
Can I use Pro on more than one site?
[Answer from the licence: SITES.]
Which WordPress and PHP versions?
WordPress 5.8 or newer, PHP 7.4 or newer.