AI Search Advertising

ChatGPT Ads Agency

We set up, manage, and optimize ChatGPT Ads campaigns in OpenAI Ads Manager — audience strategy, context hints, budget planning, and measurement, built directly on OpenAI's own documentation, not guesswork.

Every technical detail on this page is sourced directly from OpenAI's official ChatGPT Ads documentation — not third-party estimates.

What This Actually Is

Advertising Inside a Conversation, Not a Results Page

ChatGPT Ads let a business appear below a ChatGPT response, while someone is actively exploring, comparing, or deciding — a fundamentally different placement than a search results page or a social feed.

What the ad looks like

As per OpenAI's own format spec, each ad includes an advertiser name, favicon, headline, description copy, a landing page link, and an image — shown clearly labeled below the AI's answer, never inside it.

What decides if your ad shows

OpenAI's system weighs the context and intent of the live conversation, your landing page, your ad copy, and the context hints you provide — plus personalization signals, if enabled.

Not Every ChatGPT User Sees an Ad

This is the first thing we align on before touching a campaign — because it changes the size of the audience you're actually planning for.

Free & Go
Plans where ChatGPT Ads currently appear
Excluded
Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu accounts never see ads
Under 18
Never shown ads, based on account and age-prediction signals

We factor this into every media plan we build — so your budget and your reach expectations are grounded in who's actually eligible to see your ad, not the full ChatGPT user base.

56 Countries, and Growing

Self-service Ads Manager requires the advertising legal entity to be based in one of the countries below. Coverage has expanded fast — Europe, India, and 15 Middle East/North Africa markets all went live within the past few weeks.

North & South America (4)

Canada, Mexico, United States, Brazil

Asia-Pacific (5)

Australia, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand

Middle East & North Africa (15)

Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates

Europe (32)

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Not listed, or marked "Coming Soon"? You can still create an account now and OpenAI will notify you the moment self-service opens in your country. Check current status →

How Pricing Actually Works

Views, Clicks, or Conversions — Priced Differently

ChatGPT Ads runs on impression and valid-click billing, decided by which objective you choose. Here's what OpenAI's own documentation says about each.

Views (CPM)

Billed per 1,000 impressions served — best when the goal is visibility and exposure rather than a direct action.

Clicks (CPC)

Billed per valid click. OpenAI's own guidance recommends starting with a maximum CPC bid of $3–$5 USD, using their bid-strength indicator to check if that bid is competitive.

Conversions (oCPC / oCPM)

Optimized toward a conversion event, but billed on valid clicks or impressions — not per conversion itself, per OpenAI's documentation.

Daily budget minimum

The standard US minimum is $25/day, representing an average spend target over a seven-day period rather than a fixed daily ceiling.

Context Hints Aren't Keywords

This is the single biggest mindset shift we walk clients through. Get this wrong, and a campaign built on keyword habits underperforms from day one.

What OpenAI actually says

Context hints are set at the ad-group level and describe conversations, topics, or keywords where your product may be relevant. OpenAI is explicit: they are not exact-match keywords, and they don't guarantee delivery in any specific conversation.

What that means for strategy

Instead of bidding on "AI SEO," we build hints around the actual conversation someone would be having — "why isn't ChatGPT recommending my company" reflects real intent far better than a category label ever could.

Prerequisites Suggested by the She Innovates AI Team

These are the exact questions clients ask us in the first call. Getting them settled upfront saves a week of back-and-forth once campaigns are ready to launch.

Who should actually create the account?

You should — using a company email address, not ours. Per OpenAI's own account-setup process, the advertiser account is tied to whoever creates it, and treating it as a long-term brand asset (not something built on an agency team member's personal login) protects you if you ever change agencies.

How do we actually get access as your agency?

Once your account exists, you invite us directly — Settings, then Users, then Invite — using our team email. No credential sharing, no logging in as you. Access is granted and can be revoked by you at any time.

Admin, Member, or Viewer — which role do we need?

OpenAI's Ads Manager supports three ad-account roles: Ad Account Admin, Ad Account Member, and Ad Account Viewer. We typically ask for Member access — enough to build and manage campaigns — rather than Admin, which also controls billing and user permissions on the account. You stay in control of who else has access.

Whose card is on file for billing?

Yours. A valid billing profile and payment method need to be set up on your account before any campaign can go live — OpenAI's own troubleshooting guidance flags this as the first thing to check if ads aren't serving. We never bill through our own account on your behalf.

Do we need a finished landing page before we start?

Not finished — but real. Your landing page is one of the signals OpenAI's own system weighs when deciding whether to show your ad, so a generic homepage link performs worse than even a simple page built around the specific conversation you're targeting.

What if we're not sure about our budget yet?

Come with a rough range, not a fixed number. The platform's own minimum is $25/day in the US, so anything below that isn't workable — beyond that floor, we'll help you size a sensible first test budget together rather than asking you to commit upfront.

How We Work

Our Approach to ChatGPT Ads

Treat the first campaign as a controlled learning exercise, not a full budget commitment — this is how we structure that exercise.

Eligibility & audience reality check

We confirm your account's country eligibility and align your expectations to who can actually see your ad — Free and Go plan users, not the full ChatGPT base.

One audience, one problem

We don't launch a campaign covering everything you sell. We start narrow — one audience, one clearly defined problem, one value proposition.

Context hints, not keyword lists

We build ad-group context hints around real conversational intent, matching how OpenAI's own system actually evaluates relevance.

Objective and bid strategy

We choose Views, Clicks, or Conversions based on your actual goal, and set bids using OpenAI's own guidance and bid-strength signals — not a flat, one-size number.

Measurement, connected properly

We wire up UTM parameters and conversion tracking so your existing analytics can actually attribute what ChatGPT Ads brought you — not just what Ads Manager reports in isolation.

Weekly review, while the platform is in beta

OpenAI is actively evolving this platform — pricing mechanics, budgeting rules, and delivery all continue to change. We review weekly rather than set-and-forget, specifically because of that.

Questions We Get Asked

Frequently Asked Questions

ChatGPT Ads are paid ads that can appear below ChatGPT responses when they are relevant to the conversation. Learn more in our guide to how ChatGPT Ads work.
ChatGPT Ads don't have one fixed price. Cost depends on your campaign objective, bidding strategy, competition and other factors. See our ChatGPT Ads cost guide for current pricing and budget details.
ChatGPT Ads are currently shown to eligible users on Free and Go plans. Ads are not shown to Plus, Pro, Business users or accounts identified as belonging to users under 18.
OpenAI's official documentation recommends starting with a maximum CPC bid of $3–$5 USD for Clicks campaigns, with Ads Manager providing bid-strength guidance on whether that bid is likely to be competitive. Source
Per OpenAI's Daily Budgets documentation, the standard minimum daily campaign budget for the US in USD is $25. A daily budget represents an average spend target over a seven-day period, not a fixed per-day cap.
No. Per OpenAI's documentation, conversion-optimized campaigns bill on valid clicks (oCPC) or on impressions served (oCPM) — you do not pay per conversion itself. Source
No — OpenAI describes Ads Manager as a beta product that will continue to evolve, and pricing, budgeting, and delivery mechanics have changed multiple times since launch. We treat every campaign with that in mind, reviewing weekly rather than assuming today's setup stays fixed.

Ready to Test ChatGPT Ads the Right Way?

We'll help you think through audience, context hints, budget, and measurement — before you commit real spend to a new, still-evolving channel.

Book a Strategy Session →