ChatGPT Marketing Agency
Managed AI Search Ads for UK Businesses
Your audience is already inside ChatGPT, using it to compare providers, shortlist options, and form opinions before they ever reach your website. And now, UK businesses can place paid advertisements inside those conversations.
The SEO Works manages ChatGPT advertising as part of a wider AI search strategy, pairing paid placements with organic GEO services from a team that has been working in AI search from the start. Get in touch to talk through whether the channel fits your business.
What Are ChatGPT Ads?
ChatGPT ads are sponsored placements that appear below AI-generated responses, clearly labelled and visually separated from ChatGPT’s organic answers. The format is a sponsored card: a short title, body text, an image, and a destination link. It is a focused format, which means the creative work is about saying the right thing in a small space to an audience that is already mid-thought.
Ads are shown to users on ChatGPT’s Free and Go subscription tiers. Users on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education plans do not see ads. With over 900 million weekly users and more than 2.5 billion queries processed per day, the reach is substantial.
Targeting works differently from traditional paid search. Advertisers provide contextual signals about their products and services rather than bidding on keywords, and OpenAI’s system matches those signals to the topics of live conversations in real time. User conversations are not shared with advertisers, and ads do not influence ChatGPT’s organic answers, a design principle OpenAI has been explicit about and one worth understanding when you plan your campaign.
ChatGPT Ads vs Organic AI Visibility
Two distinct types of brand visibility exist inside ChatGPT, and they are frequently confused.
Paid ChatGPT advertising refers to the sponsored card placements bought through OpenAI’s Ads Manager. These appear below the AI’s response, are labelled as sponsored, and are controlled by campaign budgets and bids.
Organic AI visibility refers to appearing inside ChatGPT’s actual answers without paying. This is the result of GEO, generative engine optimisation: the content, entity signals, and source authority that lead ChatGPT to cite or recommend your brand in its responses.
Both types of visibility appear within the same interface. A user asking a question might see a competitor’s organic citation within the answer and your paid placement below it, or the reverse. Businesses managing only one side of this cede impressions to competitors on the other.
The SEO Works manages both. Our GEO service builds the organic AI visibility that supports long-term brand presence within ChatGPT’s answers. ChatGPT advertising handles the paid placements.
| Organic AI Visibility (GEO) | Paid ChatGPT Advertising | |
| What it is | Appearing in ChatGPT’s answers | Sponsored card below the AI response |
| How targeting works | Content quality, entity signals, source authority | Contextual matching to conversation topics |
| Cost model | Part of SEO/GEO investment | CPM or CPC through OpenAI Ads Manager + management fee |
| Managed by | GEO and content team | Paid media team |
How ChatGPT Advertising Works
Targeting
ChatGPT does not use keyword-based targeting in the traditional paid search sense. Advertisers supply context hints covering topic areas, scenarios, and audience signals, and OpenAI's system matches these to the real-time content of live user conversations via a second-price auction. The result is contextual placement: your ad appears in conversations where the topic is already relevant to what you offer.
Bidding and Costs
Two bidding models are available: CPM (cost per thousand impressions) and CPC (cost per click). CPM pricing has settled at around £25 (depending on competition), whilst CPC bids of £2.25 and over are recommended by the platform.
Eligible Verticals
Current eligible categories include consumer goods, travel, education, local services, and ecommerce. Sensitive categories, including health, mental health, and political content, are excluded. If you are unsure whether your sector qualifies, we can confirm this during an initial conversation.
How We Run Your ChatGPT Advertising Campaign
Discovery and Intent Mapping
Before we build anything, we map the conversations your audience is already having inside ChatGPT: the comparisons they run, the questions they ask at the research stage, the objections they work through before deciding. That mapping shapes the contextual targeting signals your campaign runs on. We also review your existing paid media at this stage so your ChatGPT activity is calibrated against what you already know about your audience, rather than starting from scratch.
Campaign Build
Account setup, campaign structure, ad copy for the sponsored card format, and UTM parameter configuration are all in place before any spend begins. UTM parameters are what connect your ChatGPT ad clicks to your Google Analytics account, giving you visibility of post-click behaviour and on-site conversions. Native conversion tracking is not yet available within OpenAI’s Ads Manager, so this is how we ensure your results are measurable from day one.
Launch and Measurement
Impressions and clicks are reported through OpenAI’s Ads Manager. Post-click behaviour, including on-site conversions, is tracked via UTM parameters feeding into your Google Analytics account. We bring both together into a single view so you can see what each campaign is actually driving for your business, not just how many times your ad was shown.
Ongoing Optimisation
Targeting, creative, and bidding are reviewed monthly based on performance data. As OpenAI introduces new ad formats and bidding options, we incorporate these into your campaign structure so your activity develops alongside the platform rather than being left behind by it.
What Our ChatGPT Advertising Service Includes
- Account setup: Campaign build within OpenAI’s Ads Manager
- Intent mapping: Analysis of the conversations and topics where your audience is active inside ChatGPT
- Ad creative: Copy production for the sponsored card formats
- Bid management: Ongoing CPM and CPC optimisation to improve cost efficiency
- UTM and analytics setup: UTM parameter configuration linking ChatGPT ad clicks to your Google Analytics account so post-click behaviour and on-site conversions are measurable
- Monthly reporting: Performance reporting that draws on Ads Manager data and Google Analytics together, tied to your business objectives rather than platform vanity metrics
- Strategic integration: Alignment of ChatGPT advertising with your existing paid search, paid social, and GEO activity so all channels work from the same strategic foundation
Why Work With The SEO Works?
Our GEO service predates ChatGPT advertising, which means our understanding of how audiences behave inside AI-generated conversations, what makes a brand credible to an LLM, and what drives organic citation is not something we assembled in a hurry.
That matters here because ChatGPT advertising does not operate in isolation. The organic AI visibility your brand has, or lacks, shapes the environment your paid placements land in. We manage both from the same team, which means your paid and organic AI search activity is coordinated rather than pulling against each other.
Beyond AI search, we are a UK-based team with more than 17 years of search experience across paid and organic channels. Every campaign we run is reported against commercial outcomes. We have received dozens of industry awards across search and digital marketing, and our client results reflect that.
Is ChatGPT Advertising Right for My Business?
ChatGPT advertising works best for businesses where customers research and compare options before buying. B2B services, professional services, software, education, travel, and ecommerce brands with considered purchase journeys tend to fit the channel well.
It is less well suited to impulse purchases, highly localised services with no research component, or sectors that fall outside OpenAI’s current eligible verticals.
The channel is at an early stage in the UK, and the realistic expectation right now is a structured learning investment rather than immediate ROAS parity with more mature channels. The businesses that get the most from it are those willing to test methodically and let the data shape the strategy.
If you are already running paid search on Google or Microsoft Ads, ChatGPT advertising is a logical extension of that activity. Get in touch with the team for a no-obligation conversation.
ChatGPT Advertising FAQs
How is ChatGPT advertising different from Google Ads?
Google Ads target users based on the keywords they type into a search bar. ChatGPT advertising targets based on the context of the conversation the user is having. Users are actively working through a conversation, potentially comparing options, or narrowing down a shortlist, or asking for advice.
What budget do I need to get started?
OpenAI removed its minimum spend requirement in May 2026, so there is no floor. We recommend a test budget sufficient to generate meaningful data before you scale. Speak to our team for a figure specific to your sector and objectives.
How is performance measured?
OpenAI’s Ads Manager provides impression and click data for your campaigns. Native conversion tracking is not yet available within the platform, so we configure UTM parameters on your ad destination URLs, which feed post-click behaviour into your Google Analytics account. This gives you visibility of what users do after they click: pages visited, form completions, purchases, calls. It is a workable setup, and it is how we ensure campaigns are accountable from the start.
Which industries can advertise on ChatGPT?
Current eligible categories include consumer goods, travel, education, ecommerce, and local services. Sensitive categories such as health, mental health, and political content are excluded. If you are unsure whether your sector qualifies, get in touch and we can check eligibility before any budget is committed.
How do ChatGPT ads relate to GEO and organic AI visibility?
They are separate but complementary. GEO builds your brand’s presence within ChatGPT’s organic answers. Paid advertising places sponsored cards below those answers. Both types of visibility appear in the same interface and reach the same audience, so a coordinated strategy across both tends to outperform either one run in isolation. The SEO Works manages both.
How long does it take to see results?
Early performance signals, including click rates and post-click behaviour, are typically visible within the first few days of a live campaign. Meaningful optimisation takes longer: identifying what works across targeting, creative, and audience behaviour usually requires one to three months of active management. The channel rewards methodical testing more than it rewards quick budget decisions.