Quick answer
ChatGPT Ads are paid placements inside ChatGPT. Ads made with ChatGPT are ads you write with ChatGPT’s help and then run on another platform, such as Google or Meta.
Key takeaways
- Decide where you want customers to see your ads. If you want to advertise inside ChatGPT, you’ll need ChatGPT Ads. If you want to reach customers on Google, Facebook or Instagram, you’ll need to use those platforms’ own advertising tools.
- Using ChatGPT to write ad copy doesn’t mean your ads will appear inside ChatGPT. You’ll need to set up a ChatGPT Ads campaign through OpenAI’s Ads Manager and track its performance.
- Neither option gets your business recommended in ChatGPT’s answers. That’s a separate practice called GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), which aims to improve your visibility in AI-generated responses.
Why the two get mixed up
Searches like “ChatGPT-powered ads” or “ChatGPT tools for automated ad creation” can mean either thing. Some businesses want to advertise inside ChatGPT. Others want help writing their Facebook or Google ads.
Both involve ChatGPT, but they’re different services. The easiest way to tell which one you need is to ask where you want customers to see your ad.
Advertising inside ChatGPT
ChatGPT Ads are sponsored placements inside ChatGPT. Businesses set them up in OpenAI’s Ads Manager.
According to OpenAI, ads can appear below a response for people on the Free and Go plans. They’re labelled as sponsored and kept separate from the answer, and paying for one doesn’t change what ChatGPT says.
For example, someone asking for a home workout plan might see an ad for compact weights below the answer.
Running these ads involves more than writing copy. You also need to check if your business is eligible, set up the campaign and send people to a landing page that matches the ad.
Want someone to handle it for you? Compare ChatGPT Ads agencies in Singapore.
Writing ads with ChatGPT
Many businesses use ChatGPT to draft Google Ads headlines, write Instagram ad copy or come up with different angles for a product.
Those ads still run on Google or Meta, and that’s where your budget goes. ChatGPT only helped write them.
A draft from ChatGPT is a starting point. Someone still has to check the claims, tidy up the copy, set up the campaign and see how it performs.
If a service promises “automated ad creation”, ask what’s automated, which platform the ads run on and who approves them before they go live.
Getting ChatGPT to recommend you
Some businesses want ChatGPT to mention them in its answers rather than in an ad. That’s called generative engine optimisation, or GEO.
It’s separate from both of the above. Buying ChatGPT Ads won’t get you recommended, and neither will writing your ads with ChatGPT.
If that’s what you’re after, see SEOExpert’s GEO services.
Which one do you need?
Want to show up inside ChatGPT? Our ChatGPT ads in Singapore service covers campaign setup, ad testing and landing page support.
Want ads on Google, Facebook or Instagram? See SEOExpert’s paid advertising services.
Still not sure? Contact us and tell us where you want to appear and what you want customers to do next.
Berenice Soh
Berenice founded SEOExpert after running campaigns across three Singapore agencies. Her experience spans SEO, generative engine optimisation (GEO), paid advertising and landing page design. At AIAdvertising.sg, she helps businesses connect campaign strategy, ad creative and landing pages as they explore ChatGPT advertising.