ChatGPT Ads · UK guide
ChatGPT ads are live in the UK. Here's how they work.
Ads now sit underneath ChatGPT's answers, in front of people who are part-way through deciding what to buy. Most businesses will set them up themselves, and the platform is built for that. This guide covers what's live, what it costs, what you can't advertise, and the tracking that decides whether you'll ever know if it worked.
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How it works
Not keywords. Conversations.
A ChatGPT ad is a small sponsored card that appears below the answer, never inside it. It carries your business name, logo, a headline, one line of copy, an image and a link. ChatGPT's answer isn't changed for advertisers. The ad sits underneath it.
The big difference from Google is how you target. There's no keyword list to bid on. Instead you write context hints: plain descriptions of the conversations, topics and problems where your product belongs. OpenAI's system reads the conversation and decides whether your ad fits. The hints guide it, but they aren't exact match, and they don't guarantee you'll show for a particular conversation.
Ads are chosen in a relevance-weighted, second-price auction. A strong landing page and copy that actually matches the conversation count alongside your bid. A higher bid on its own won't win.
Pay per thousand impressions
Reach campaigns with a maximum CPM bid. Useful for getting a brand in front of people early in a category. Harder to judge on return.
Pay per click
A maximum CPC bid. OpenAI suggests starting at $3 to $5 a click. This is where most tests should start.
Optimise for sales or leads
The system bids towards a conversion event, but you're still billed per valid click. It only works if the tracking feeding it is right.
UK and US
The same platform, not quite the same rules.
The US got ChatGPT ads first and still gets new features first. Most of what matters is now in the UK too, but a few things aren't, and the ad policies are stricter here.
| UK | US | |
|---|---|---|
| Ads live | Since 6 June 2026 | Since 9 February 2026 |
| Self-serve Ads Manager | Rolling out since 19 June 2026 | Open since May 2026 |
| CPC, CPM and conversion bidding | Yes | Yes |
| Pixel and Conversions API | Yes, pixel behind cookie consent | Yes |
| Product feeds and carousels | Yes | Yes |
| Personalised ads | Only for users who opt in | Yes |
| Financial, health, legal services | Generally prohibited | Allowed for approved, licensed advertisers |
| Sponsored Agents | Not available | Test with select advertisers |
Features ship most weeks. Checked against OpenAI's help centre and ad policies, October 2026.
The £500 credit
Spend £500, get £500.
As of October 2026, OpenAI is offering new UK advertisers £500 of ad credit when they spend £500. You claim it from ads.openai.com. It's a good way to get a real test for half the price, but read the terms before you start.
It's for advertisers who've never spent on ChatGPT ads, and it's one credit per business. Reported terms give you a limited window to spend the first £500, and the credit expires if you don't use it within 90 days of it being issued. OpenAI's Ad Credit Terms on the claim page are what count, and they've changed between waves.
The catch is the same as any free credit: it's easy to burn £1,000 learning nothing. Set the tracking up before you claim it, so the test tells you something.
Before you start
Check you're allowed in.
Outside the US, OpenAI's policies generally prohibit ads for financial services and health services, and currently prohibit legal services. Financial software that doesn't promote a financial product is usually fine.
In every market, gambling, alcohol over 0.5%, dating and political ads are out.
If you sell loans, mortgages, insurance, clinics or legal advice in the UK, ChatGPT ads aren't for you yet. Google Ads still is.
Who it suits
Where it makes sense.
Shopify brands with considered purchases. People use ChatGPT to compare options before buying something that matters to them. With a product feed connected, your products can show in shopping placements and carousels. Without one, they can't.
High-ticket service businesses. Someone asking ChatGPT how to plan a loft conversion or choose a driveway contractor is early in a big decision. That's a good moment to be seen, as long as you can track the enquiry when it comes in weeks later.
Track first
Most people will run these blind. Don't.
Nine out of ten Google Ads accounts I audit have broken tracking. A brand new ad platform, with a new pixel and a new consent requirement, is where that gets worse, not better. Most agencies skip tracking. We start there.
Pixel and Conversions API
Both set up, with the pixel loading only after advertising cookies are accepted, as PECR requires. The server-side Conversions API fills the gaps consent leaves.
UTMs on every ad
ChatGPT strips the referrer, so without tagged URLs its traffic disappears into "direct" in GA4. Static UTM parameters stay on the click and fix that.
Read the numbers carefully
View-through conversions use a one-day window, which can credit ChatGPT for sales you'd have made anyway. Spend also reports 7 to 8 hours late. Judge it on cost per sale or lead in your own data.
Run it yourself, or don't
Most people will do this themselves. That's fine.
Ads Manager can draft your first ad from your website in a couple of minutes. If you're happy in there, use the guide above and get the tracking right. That's the part that goes wrong.
If you'd rather not learn another ad platform, or you're spending enough that guesswork gets expensive, I'll set it up and run it. If you've already set it up and can't tell whether it's working, I'll check the tracking and tell you. Nobody has years of ChatGPT ads data, me included. What carries over is twenty years of knowing what a well-built paid account looks like, and which numbers to trust.
Measurement before spend
Pixel, Conversions API, consent and UTMs in place, and checked against GA4 and your CRM or Shopify orders before a penny goes live.
A ring-fenced test
A separate budget that doesn't come out of Google Ads. Context hints built around what you actually sell. Success measures agreed up front. At least 60 days before anyone calls it.
Move money on evidence
If ChatGPT brings in sales or leads at a cost that stands up next to Google, it gets more budget. If it doesn't, you've lost a test budget, not a quarter.
The person who sets up your ChatGPT account is the person who runs it.
You create the account and invite me in, so it stays yours. Management usually sits within the same guide range as Google Ads, £595 to £3,000+ a month depending on spend and time. Fixed quote after the call, not before. I can't price an account I haven't looked at.
ChatGPT and Google
Google is still where the volume is.
Your Google Ads may already be appearing next to AI answers. In the UK, Search, Shopping and Performance Max ads can show above and below Google's AI Overviews automatically. Ads inside the AI Overview are only live in the US and a handful of other countries for now, and ads in AI Mode are still in testing.
That's why I'd run ChatGPT ads next to a Google account that's already working, not instead of one. If your Google tracking isn't right, fix that first. It's the bigger number. How I run Google Ads →
Want to show up in ChatGPT's answers without paying for it? That's a different job. AI visibility →
Questions
ChatGPT ads, answered.
Are ChatGPT ads available in the UK?
Yes. They went live in the UK on 6 June 2026, OpenAI's first European market. The self-serve Ads Manager began rolling out to UK businesses from 19 June, so you no longer need to go through an OpenAI sales rep.
How much do ChatGPT ads cost?
You set a maximum bid and a budget. OpenAI recommends starting cost-per-click campaigns at $3 to $5 a click, and self-serve has no minimum spend commitment. There are no reliable UK benchmarks yet, so the first few weeks are about finding the real price in your market.
Is there free credit for ChatGPT ads?
Yes, for new advertisers. As of October 2026, OpenAI's UK page offers £500 of ad credit when you spend £500, claimed from ads.openai.com. It's one per business, there's a window to spend the first £500, and the credit expires 90 days after it's issued. Check the Ad Credit Terms on the claim page before you start, because they've changed between waves.
Who actually sees the ads?
Logged-in adults on the Free and Go plans. Nobody on Plus, Pro or a Business plan sees ads, and neither do accounts identified as belonging to under-18s. That's still a very large audience. ChatGPT reported 900 million weekly users in February 2026.
Can I bid on keywords like in Google Ads?
No. You write context hints describing the conversations where your product fits. They steer matching, but they aren't exact-match keywords. Some advertisers also get negative phrases to keep ads away from specific topics.
Can I advertise financial services, healthcare or legal services?
In the UK, generally not. OpenAI's policies prohibit most financial and health services ads outside the US, and all legal services ads. Gambling, alcohol, dating and political ads are banned everywhere.
Should I move budget from Google Ads?
Not yet. Run ChatGPT as a separate test alongside Google, give it at least 60 days, and compare cost per sale or lead using the same attribution. Move money only when the numbers say so.
Does it work with Shopify?
Yes. There's a ChatGPT Ads app for Shopify, open to UK merchants since September 2026, and product feeds let your products appear in shopping placements and carousels. If you sell on Shopify, I'd connect the feed from day one.
How do I set up a ChatGPT ads account?
Go to ads.openai.com and sign in with the OpenAI login you use for ChatGPT. You can let Ads Manager draft a first ad from your website URL, or skip that and go straight in. Then add a card under Billing (nothing delivers until you do), check your logo and brand name under Settings → General, and review the campaign before launch. Ads go live once they pass review.
Get country, currency and time zone right at signup, because they can't be changed afterwards. In the UK, that means pounds sterling and UK time. The brand name is what shows next to your ads. Changing it later pauses delivery until it's re-approved, and changing the legal name restarts business review.
Who owns the account?
You do. You create the Ads Manager account and invite me under Settings → Users as an Admin or Member. Viewer access is there for anyone who just wants to see the numbers. If we stop working together, the account and its data stay with you.
Start here
Fifteen minutes. Your account, not a pitch.
Whether you want ChatGPT ads run for you or just a second pair of eyes, I'll look at your website, your Google Ads and your tracking. Then I'll tell you whether ChatGPT is worth testing for your business and what needs fixing first. No report to wade through and no sales script. What I find is yours either way.