The short version
A ChatGPT ad is a labelled sponsored unit shown below an answer. OpenAI's system chooses it from the context of the conversation, your ad, your landing page and the context hints you supply. You pay per thousand impressions or per valid click. You never see the conversation.
What an ad contains
OpenAI lists six parts in every standard ad.
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| Advertiser name | Taken from the account name in your settings |
| Favicon | Your logo, also from account settings |
| Title | The headline |
| Copy | The description |
| Landing page | Where the click goes |
| Image asset | The creative |
Ads will not serve until the account name and logo are completed in account settings, because both appear in the unit.
Where ads appear
Ads can appear below the end of a response. They are labelled as sponsored and visually separated from the answer. A person may see one or more ad units under a response when there is a relevant match, and a unit can feature one or more items from one advertiser or from several.
Ads do not appear in Temporary Chats. OpenAI also says ads are not eligible to appear near sensitive or regulated topics, including personal health, mental health and politics.
How OpenAI picks the ad
OpenAI says its ads system selects ads based on expected relevance and outcomes. The signals it names are:
- the context and intent of the current conversation
- the ad's landing page, title and copy
- advertiser provided context hints and targeting selections
- when the user has ads personalisation switched on, select signals from their wider ChatGPT experience
When several ads are eligible, ranking combines relevance with advertiser bids. OpenAI describes the auction as relevance weighted and second price.
This is the main difference from search advertising. You do not buy a keyword. You describe your offer well enough that the system can tell when it is useful, then you bid.
Who sees ads
Ads may appear for people on ChatGPT's unpaid tier and the Go plan. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts do not have ads. OpenAI does not show ads to accounts identified as belonging to people under 18, using stated age and age prediction.
For a UAE advertiser this means the audience is the large unpaid user base and the entry level paid plan, not the power users on higher plans. Plan your offers with that in mind.
What advertisers can and cannot know
OpenAI is direct about this. Advertisers do not have access to chats, chat history, memories or personal details. Advertisers receive aggregated, non identifying information about how ads perform. If a person chooses to message an advertiser through an ad, the advertiser sees only the messages sent to them directly.
Ads run on systems separate from the chat model, and OpenAI states that advertisers cannot shape, rank or alter ChatGPT's responses.
What users control
Users can switch ads personalisation off, dismiss ads, see why an ad was shown and clear the data used for ads. With personalisation off, a person still sees ads based on the current chat thread, but other threads, ads history and topics are not used. Personalised ads were not initially available in the European Economic Area or Switzerland.
What this means for how you advertise
Three habits carry over badly from search, and three replace them.
| Search habit | ChatGPT ads habit |
|---|---|
| Build keyword lists | Write context hints that describe what you offer, who it helps and when |
| One best headline | Many distinct title and copy variations, each with a different angle |
| Send traffic to the homepage | Send each ad to the page that answers that specific need |
OpenAI's own creative guidance says to build for coverage, keep variations distinct, be specific and useful, and represent the offer accurately. Landing pages must be reachable and must not block OpenAI's user agents, OAI-AdsBot and OAI-SearchBot.
Quick answers
Where do ChatGPT ads appear?
Below the end of a ChatGPT response, labelled as sponsored and visually separated from the answer. OpenAI says ads do not appear in the ChatGPT Atlas browser during the test.
Can I target keywords in ChatGPT ads?
Not in the search ads sense. You write context hints at ad group level that describe when your offer is relevant. OpenAI says they are not exact match keywords and do not guarantee delivery in specific conversations.
Which ChatGPT users see ads?
OpenAI says ads may appear for people on ChatGPT's unpaid tier and the Go plan. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts do not have ads, and ads are not shown to accounts identified as under 18.
Do ads appear in health conversations?
No. OpenAI says ads are not eligible to appear near sensitive or regulated topics, including personal health, mental health and politics.