ChatGPT Ads

They stopped searching. They started asking.

Your next customer is describing their problem to ChatGPT before they ever open Google. Since February 2026 you can be in that conversation — and local services is an approved category. We build the campaign, wire the pixel to your CRM, and measure it on booked jobs.

You own the account · month-to-month · runs alongside Google, not instead of it

ChatGPT
Youmy ac is blowing warm air and it's 94 degrees out. who can come today in boca raton?
AIWarm air usually means low refrigerant, a frozen coil, or a failed capacitor. In Boca Raton at this hour you want someone with same-day emergency dispatch — most shops book out by mid-afternoon.
SPONSORED
BLUE
HARBOR
Blue Harbor Air & Heating Same-day AC repair in Boca Raton, 7 days a week Licensed techs, no overtime charge on weekends, and a real person answers the phone at 2am. Book a visit →
NEWLive since Feb 2026
0Keywords to bid on
The thing nobody tells you

There are no keywords to bid on

This is not Google with a different logo. The whole mechanism is different, and agencies still running it like paid search are wasting your money.

Google Ads

You bid on what they type

  • Pick keywords, set match types, bid on an auction.
  • Quality Score rates your relevance and landing page.
  • You see the exact search terms that triggered you.
  • Intent is already high — they know what they want.
ChatGPT Ads

You describe who you want

  • Context Hints — a freeform field where you describe your customer in plain language. This is the targeting.
  • Geography by country, region, DMA or postal code.
  • You never see the conversations that triggered your ad.
  • Intent is earlier — they are still working out who to trust.

Because the brief is the targeting, the writing carries the campaign. That is the work, and it is not something you set once and leave.

Four fields, no more

What a ChatGPT ad actually is

One ad unit. Business name, image, headline, description. There are two ad types — Static and Product — and to the person reading them they look identical.

Business nameYour name as it appears. No tricks, no keyword stuffing — this is the trust line.
ImageSquare. Your work, your crew, your product. Not a stock photo of a handshake.
HeadlineThe promise, in the words someone in trouble would use. This is where campaigns are won.
DescriptionThe proof. Licensed, insured, answers at 2am, no weekend surcharge — whatever is actually true.

OpenAI states that ads do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives, and that conversations stay private from advertisers. You are buying a placement beside the answer, not the answer itself — and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something that does not exist.

How we run it

The workflow, start to booked job

The same discipline we run on Google, adapted to a platform where the brief replaces the keyword list.

1

Write the audience brief

The Context Hints field is the campaign. We interview you the way we would build a landing page — who calls, what breaks, what they say when they are panicking, who you do not want — and turn it into the brief the platform targets on. Get this wrong and no amount of budget fixes it.

2

Build the creative against your real proof

Four fields, so every word counts. We write the headline and description off things that are actually true about your business — your response time, your guarantee, your licence — and shoot or select an image that looks like your work rather than a stock library.

3

Set geography and the bid model

Country, region, DMA or postal code, tightened to the area you will actually drive to. Then the bid model: cost per click, cost per thousand impressions, or cost per conversion. We start where the data is cheapest to collect and move once there is signal.

4

Install the ChatGPT Conversion Pixel

The pixel reports conversions, form submissions and orders back to the platform. Without it you are buying clicks and guessing. We install it, verify it fires on the real thank-you page, and tag every link with UTMs so your own analytics agrees with the platform's.

Non-negotiable — we do not launch without it
5

Wire it into your CRM and optimise on booked jobs

A conversion is a form fill. A booked job is money. Every lead lands in your CRM, gets followed up, and the outcome comes back to us — so the number we tune against is jobs on the calendar, not clicks. This is the same loop we run on Google, and it is the only reason the spend is defensible.

You own the account and every login
Conversationthey describe the problem
Your adbeside the answer
Pixel + CRMtracked, followed up
Booked jobwhat we optimise for
Where the platform stands today

Early, and that is the point

Feb 2026
Ads went live in ChatGPT, US first
May 2026
Self-serve Ads Manager opened to US businesses
6
Countries live beyond the US, and growing
Free & Go
The only tiers that see ads — never Plus or Pro

These are platform facts as of September 2026, not our client results. We have been running this channel since the self-serve manager opened; we will show you real numbers from real accounts on the call rather than putting invented ones on a web page.

Before you get excited

Not every business is allowed

OpenAI gates categories tightly. Worth knowing which side you are on before anyone spends a dollar.

Approved

Local services, lifestyle goods, travel, digital products and education. If you are an HVAC company, a dentist, a roofer, a med spa or a chiropractor, you are in the clear.

Limited — extra review

Financial services and healthcare. Not blocked, but expect scrutiny on claims and a slower approval. We write the creative to survive that review the first time.

Not permitted

Adult content, tobacco, cryptocurrency, gambling and political content. Ads are also kept out of conversations the platform judges sensitive, whatever your category.

FAQ

ChatGPT Ads questions, answered straight

What are ChatGPT Ads?
Sponsored placements that appear inside ChatGPT conversations. OpenAI began showing them to logged-in adult users in the United States on 9 February 2026, and opened a self-serve ChatGPT Ads Manager to US businesses on 5 May 2026. They run only on the Free and Go tiers — Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education users never see them. Each ad carries a business name, image, headline and description, and OpenAI states that ads do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives.
Do you bid on keywords?
No, and this is the part that trips up every agency coming from paid search. There are no keywords. Targeting runs on Context Hints — a freeform field where you describe the customer you want in plain language — plus geography, and for larger advertisers custom audiences built from first-party data. The written brief is the targeting, which is why we treat it like landing-page copy rather than a settings screen.
Can a local service business advertise on ChatGPT?
Yes. Local services is an approved category, alongside lifestyle goods, travel, digital products and education. Financial services and healthcare are limited categories that get extra review. Adult content, tobacco, cryptocurrency, gambling and political content are not permitted at all.
How is performance tracked?
Through the ChatGPT Conversion Pixel, which reports conversions, form submissions and orders, plus UTM parameters so your own analytics agrees with the platform's. The platform reports impressions, clicks, conversions, ROAS, spend, CTR and average CPC at campaign, ad group and ad level. We wire the pixel into your CRM so the number we optimise against is a booked job, not a click.
What can't I see as an advertiser?
You get no visibility into the conversations or signals that triggered your ad, and no demographic breakdown of who saw it. That is a real limitation and we would rather you hear it from us now than discover it in month two. It also means the feedback loop runs through your own conversion data, which is exactly why the pixel and CRM wiring are not optional.
Should I move my Google Ads budget to ChatGPT?
No. Google still owns high-intent search — someone typing "ac repair near me" at 2pm is ready to book right now. ChatGPT reaches that same person earlier, while they are still working out what is wrong and who to trust. The sensible play is a test budget running alongside Google, measured on the same booked-job metric, so you can compare like with like. Anyone telling you to move your whole budget has not run either channel properly.
Do I own the ad account?
Yes, from day one — same as every channel we run. The ChatGPT Ads account, the conversion history, the creative and every login stay in your name. If you leave, you take all of it and the campaigns keep running. Agencies that own your account are holding it hostage.
Is it too early to bother?
That depends on your appetite. The platform is months old, the reporting is thinner than Google's, and not every eligible user sees ads in a given session. What you get in exchange is a channel where your competitors mostly are not yet, at costs that will not stay this low once they arrive. We would rather set you up now with proper tracking and a modest test budget than explain in a year why everyone else got there first.
How fast can we start?
Within one to two weeks. Onboarding is an account setup in your name, the audience brief interview, creative, pixel installation and CRM wiring — all before a dollar is spent. We do not launch a campaign we cannot measure.
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