TL;DR — Filter Analytics > Crawler Analytics to your new URL to see the first visit timestamp per AI bot and measure the discoverability lag from publication. Go to Analytics > Page Performance for the same URL to watch the AI score ramp over 2-4 weeks as citations accumulate. Check Visibility > Prompts for the related topic to see when AI answers start referencing the new content. Pro tip: if a page shows crawler visits but the AI score is not rising after 3 weeks, the issue is content quality or topical authority, not discoverability.
The Question
“How quickly do AI models pick up new content I publish?”Publishing a new page, guide, or press release is only half the job. The second question — how long until AI models start citing it? — is what GEO practitioners need to track. The lag varies significantly: some AI crawlers visit a new URL within 24 hours, but incorporation into generated answers can take days to weeks depending on the provider and the authority of the source. Qwairy gives you timestamps at every stage of that pipeline. You might also be wondering:
- “Which AI providers crawl my new content the fastest?”
- “How long after an AI crawler visits does the content actually appear in answers?”
- “Is my new content being cited as a source, or just mentioned by name?”
Where to Go in Qwairy
Start here: Analytics > Crawler Analytics
Navigate to Analytics > Crawler Analytics — this is your entry point for crawl-side timing.
Filter to the URL of your newly published page. The crawler log shows you the first timestamp each known AI bot (GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, GoogleOther/Gemini, etc.) visited your URL. This tells you: did the crawlers find the page at all, and when?
Focus on the First Visit date per bot — the delta between your publication date and the first crawl visit is your discoverability lag.
Go deeper: Analytics > Page Performance
Cross-reference with Analytics > Page Performance and search for the same URL.
The Page Performance view shows the AI performance score for that specific page over time, combining citation rate, crawler visit frequency, and referrer-driven traffic. After a new page is published, this score typically starts near zero and climbs as AI models begin incorporating the content. Watching this score trend over 2–4 weeks shows you the full incorporation timeline, not just the crawl event.
Use the Citations data on the same view to see the first date an AI-generated answer linked to this URL as a source — that is the definitive “AI picked up my content” timestamp.
Complete the picture: GSC + Prompts
Connect Google Search Console via Strategy > Google Search Console to see when traditional search engines also started indexing the page — this provides a baseline comparison point.
Then check Visibility > Prompts and look for any monitored prompt where your new page’s content theme appears. If the page was written to answer a specific query, the Prompts view will show you when that prompt’s AI answers start referencing the new content — the clearest signal that incorporation has happened.
What to Look For
Crawler Analytics — First Visit Timestamps
The crawler log is the earliest signal in the pipeline. A new page that is linked from your sitemap and has strong internal linking will typically be crawled within 24–72 hours by the most active AI bots. Pages that are orphaned or not in the sitemap may wait weeks.| Element | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| First Visit date per bot | The crawl discoverability lag from publication date |
| Visit frequency | How often each bot is returning — higher frequency suggests the page is being re-evaluated |
| Bot coverage | Which AI crawlers have found the page — a page missed by GPTBot will not appear in ChatGPT answers |
| Status codes logged | A 200 at first visit vs a redirect or error shows whether the page was accessible when crawled |
Page Performance — AI Score Over Time
The AI performance score for a new page will show a characteristic ramp curve: flat at zero, then a step up when the first crawler visits, then a more gradual increase as citations accumulate, then a plateau once the page has been incorporated. The shape and speed of this ramp varies by domain authority, content quality, and how directly the content answers queries your monitored prompts represent.Pro Tip: If a high-quality new page shows crawler visits but the AI score is not rising after 3 weeks, check Citations — the crawlers are visiting but the content is not being used in answers. This typically points to a content quality or topical authority issue, not a discoverability issue.
Filters That Help
| Filter | How to use it for this question |
|---|---|
| URL | Filter Crawler Analytics and Page Performance to exactly the new page you published |
| Provider | Check timing per AI provider — Perplexity and Google AI Mode typically incorporate new content faster than ChatGPT |
| Period | Use a custom range starting at your publication date to see the ramp from day one |
How to Interpret the Results
Good result
First crawler visit within 48 hours of publication for at least 2–3 major AI bots. Page Performance AI score shows measurable growth within 2 weeks. At least one citation (source link in an AI answer) recorded within 3 weeks. The monitored prompts related to the page’s topic begin showing the new URL as a cited source within 4 weeks of publication.Needs attention
No crawler visits within the first week despite sitemap submission. Page Performance AI score remains at zero after 30 days. The page is being crawled (visits logged) but no citations recorded — suggesting the content is being evaluated and rejected as a source. Or: only one AI provider has crawled the page and none others, indicating poor crawl signal (missing sitemap entry, no inbound links, or crawler-blocking misconfiguration in robots.txt).Example
Scenario: A PR agency publishes a major “State of European Tech Media 2025” report on behalf of a client on a Monday morning, distributes it via a press release wire service, and pitches it to 20 media contacts. They want to track how quickly AI tools start citing the report.
- By Wednesday (48 hours post-publication), open Analytics > Crawler Analytics and filter to the report URL. PerplexityBot has already visited three times — likely triggered by the press wire pickup. GPTBot has not visited yet despite the page being in the sitemap, because external inbound links from media coverage have not been indexed yet.
- After two weeks, check Analytics > Page Performance for the URL. The AI score has climbed from 0 to 19. Perplexity citations: 5 (citing both the report URL and two media articles that reference it). ChatGPT citations: 0. Google AI citations: 2. This confirms Perplexity is the fastest incorporator for media-distributed content.
- Open Visibility > Prompts and check the prompt “European tech media trends 2025.” By week three, the report URL appears as a cited source in 3 of 5 monitored AI providers’ responses — confirming successful incorporation and validating the PR distribution strategy.
- After 6 weeks, the AI score has reached 38 and GPTBot has now visited 6 times. The first ChatGPT citation appears in week 5 — a 33-day lag from publication. The agency uses this timeline data to set realistic client expectations for future report launches: Perplexity pickup in days, Google AI in 2 weeks, ChatGPT in 5 weeks.
Go Further
Content pickup timeline tracker
Build a content pickup timeline tracker in Looker Studio using the source-urls data source to measure indexing speed
Track crawler visit frequency
Read the Crawler Analytics documentation to understand how frequently AI crawlers visit and index your new content
Speed up AI indexing
Read the AI crawlers guide for techniques to accelerate how quickly AI engines discover and cite your new content
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