Think about how many times you’ve opened ChatGPT this week just to get a straight, simple answer without having to scroll past ten pages of Google links and pop-ups.
We are all doing it. And where attention goes, advertising follows.
When OpenAI officially launched ChatGPT advertising in Australia on 17 April 2026, it opened a genuinely new channel for Australian businesses to reach people in high-intent moments. For marketers and business owners who have built their strategies around Google Ads, the instinct will be to treat this as Google 2.0 — a new search platform with a new ad auction.
That instinct is understandable, but it will lead you to make some expensive mistakes. This article is about what is actually different, what is surprisingly similar, and how to approach this channel in a way that gives you a real shot at a return.
How ChatGPT Ads Actually Work
If you are used to running Google Ads, you need to understand how ChatGPT ads will operate a bit differently.
Contextual Targeting, Not Keyword Bidding. Unlike traditional search advertising, ChatGPT ads do not rely on you bidding for specific keywords. Instead of fighting over a phrase like “best mortgage broker newcastle,” you describe the conversational contexts and topics where your product is relevant. When a user is having a conversation with the AI that matches that context, your ad appears.
Who Actually Sees Them? The ads appear in a clearly labelled, separate box beneath the platform’s responses, so they do not interrupt the actual answer. Crucially, they are only shown to logged-in adult users on the Free and Go tiers. If your target market is entirely made up of paid Plus, Pro, Business, or Enterprise subscribers, they will never see these ads.
OpenAI has also been clear that advertising does not influence the AI’s actual generated responses, and user conversations are kept private from advertisers.
What Is Actually Different From Google Ads
This is where it gets important. ChatGPT Ads and Google Ads are both intent-based channels — but the mechanics of that intent are meaningfully different.
No keywords. No negatives. On Google, you build tightly controlled keyword lists and layer in negative keywords to exclude irrelevant traffic. If you are a mortgage broker, you add “how to get out of a mortgage” as a negative to avoid wasting budget on people trying to exit their loan. On ChatGPT, you cannot do this. You describe a topic, and the platform infers relevance from the conversation. That means you will inevitably show ads in conversations that are adjacent to your topic but not actually the right intent. The targeting is broader and less precise by design.
Less audience control. Google Ads lets you layer in remarketing audiences, demographic filters, device targeting, and location down to a postcode. ChatGPT’s current targeting is more limited — you are working with contextual relevance and broad audience signals, not the granular controls that Google advertisers are used to.
A genuinely different discovery moment. Where ChatGPT does have a real advantage is the depth of the conversation happening around your ad. Someone asking ChatGPT “What payroll software should I use for a 10-person business?” is not at the beginning of a vague research journey. They are actively working through a decision. That is a different quality of moment than a broad Google search for “payroll software.”
Here is how the two platforms compare on user intent, based on a landmark study of over 50 million real ChatGPT prompts:
| Intent Type | Google Search | ChatGPT |
| Informational | 52.7% | 32.7% |
| Navigational | 32.2% | 2.1% |
| Transactional | 0.6% | 6.1% |
| Commercial (comparing/evaluating) | 14.5% | 9.5% |
| Generative (creating, drafting) | 0% | 37.5% |
Source: Profound — AI Search Intent Study, 50M+ ChatGPT prompts
ChatGPT’s combined transactional and commercial intent (15.6%) is now roughly on par with Google’s (15.1%). The intent is there. The difference is in how precisely you can target it.
What About Measurement?
This is where a lot of early commentary on ChatGPT Ads has been. The real measurement challenge is the same challenge that exists with any upper-funnel or brand-building channel: impression-driven conversions that never produce a trackable click.
A user might see your ad in a ChatGPT conversation, not click it, remember your brand name, and search for you on Google three days later. That conversion shows up in GA4 as organic or direct. No conversion window setting captures it, because there was no click to track. This is not unique to ChatGPT — it is the same challenge you face with display advertising, YouTube, and social media. But it is worth understanding before you set your expectations.
The practical advice:
Set up your GA4 conversion tracking and windows properly — the same rigour you would apply to any paid campaign. Then layer in a few additional signals to capture the brand lift that click-based attribution will miss:
- Monitor branded search volume in Google Search Console. If it lifts when your ChatGPT campaigns are running and dips when they are paused, that is your hidden ROI making itself visible.
- Add “How did you hear about us?” to your enquiry forms. Low-tech, but often the most honest signal you will get. Buyers will tell you if you ask.
- Give campaigns enough time. Because ChatGPT is used for considered research, not impulse purchases, campaigns need at least 6–8 weeks of runtime before drawing conclusions.
Should Your Landing Page Change for ChatGPT Traffic?
This is a question almost nobody is asking yet and it is worth thinking through before you launch.
The user who clicks a ChatGPT ad is in a fundamentally different mental state to someone who clicks a Google Ad. They have just had a detailed, back-and-forth conversation with an AI about the exact problem your product solves. They are not at the beginning of their research. They may be quite far through it. They arrived at your landing page already informed, already evaluating, and already looking for a reason to choose or dismiss you.
That changes what your landing page needs to do.
- Skip the problem education. A landing page that opens by explaining why the problem your product solves is a problem will feel patronising to a ChatGPT visitor. They were just discussing it in depth with an AI. Get to the point faster than you would for a cold audience.
- Lead with specificity. ChatGPT users have just received direct, specific, jargon-free answers. A headline like “We help businesses grow” will feel like a step backwards. What exactly do you do, for whom, and with what result? Put that front and centre.
- Front-load your proof. Someone who has just had an AI give them a balanced, objective overview of their options is primed to evaluate credibility. Generic five-star testimonials will not cut it. Specific results, named clients, and concrete numbers will.
- Match the register. ChatGPT conversations are direct and conversational. Your landing page copy should be too — clear sentences, no marketing fluff, one idea per paragraph.
- Give them one clear next step. ChatGPT users tend to be in active decision-making mode. A page with three competing calls to action — Book a call, Download our guide, Learn more — will create friction at exactly the wrong moment. Pick one action and make it obvious.
For most businesses, you do not need a completely separate landing page for ChatGPT traffic. But if you are running meaningful volume, testing a variant that strips out the top-of-funnel education and leads directly with proof and specificity is worth the experiment.
Is This Channel Right for Your Business?
Not for everyone — and it is worth being honest about that.
ChatGPT Ads are best suited to businesses where buyers do meaningful research before making a decision: B2B services, professional services, high-consideration consumer purchases, software, education, and similar categories. If your business relies on hyper-local foot traffic or impulse purchases, this is probably not the right channel right now.
The early-mover advantage is real but finite. ChatGPT usage in Australia has more than doubled in the past 12 months, and the platform is still in pilot phase — which means lower competition and likely lower costs compared to what this channel will look like in 12 months’ time.
It is also worth noting that OpenAI has eligibility requirements. Advertisers in health and financial services may be eligible if they meet OpenAI’s criteria, but ads will not appear near sensitive personal conversations on those topics. Political advertising is not currently permitted.
How to Get Started
The most important thing before spending a dollar is making sure your tracking infrastructure is in order. Without proper GA4 setup, conversion windows configured, and some form of brand lift monitoring in place, you will not have the data you need to make good decisions about whether this channel is working.
At Method Marketing, we are already helping clients navigate this. If you want to explore whether ChatGPT advertising is a good fit for your business — or just want to make sure your measurement setup is ready before you test it — get in touch with our team.
