Track ChatGPT performance through direct query testing and citation monitoring. Run 20-30 branded and topical queries weekly through ChatGPT, document when your domain appears in citations or summaries, and note the context and position. This manual baseline matters because no analytics platform currently tracks LLM visibility the way Search Console tracks Google. Set up a monitoring rotation across query types. Test brand name searches, product category questions, comparison queries, and long-tail informational searches your target audience would ask. Log each result in a spreadsheet with date, query, whether you were cited, citation position, and competing sources mentioned. We run these audits every Monday for priority clients and monthly for the broader portfolio. Use API access for scale if budget allows. ChatGPT API lets you automate query batches and parse responses programmatically. You can test 100+ queries monthly for roughly $15-40 in API costs, depending on prompt complexity and model version. Track citation rate as a percentage and monitor trends over 90-day windows since LLM training updates shift results unpredictably. Monitor these specific signals: - Direct citations with your domain name in bracketed sources - Paraphrased content that matches your articles without attribution - Brand mentions in answers even when not directly cited - Competitor citation frequency for the same query set - Response quality degradation when your content isn't included Compare ChatGPT performance against other LLMs like Claude, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews. Citation behavior varies significantly across platforms. Perplexity tends to cite more sources per answer while ChatGPT often synthesizes without attribution. The biggest gap right now is that you cannot see aggregate referral traffic from ChatGPT in Google Analytics because users don't click through, they read synthesized answers. Focus on citation frequency as the primary KPI until LLM referral tracking matures. We've seen domains with 15-25% citation rates in their niche queries gain measurable brand search lifts within six months, though causation is hard to isolate.