How to Advertise on ChatGPT: Set Up Your First ChatGPT Ads Campaign (2026)

To run ChatGPT ads, sign in to OpenAI’s Ads Manager at ads.openai.com, set up billing and your business details, then build a campaign: pick an objective, set a daily budget, write context hints for each ad group, and add your ads and landing pages. As of October 2026, install the OpenAI pixel before you launch, or you will not know whether the ads pay back.

Who Can Advertise on ChatGPT in 2026?

Any business with an OpenAI account can sign up for Ads Manager, but access only opens once your country is supported and your business and ads pass review. OpenAI’s ad policies also decide which industries can run at all, so check your category before you build anything.

Small businesses are not shut out. OpenAI’s campaign guide sets a $25 minimum daily spend per campaign as of October 2026, so a local service company or a single-product store can run a real test. If you want the full eligibility picture, our guide on who is eligible to advertise on ChatGPT goes country by country and category by category.

Your category matters more than your size. OpenAI’s ad policies (updated September 10, 2026) say the initial focus is on consumer categories such as household goods, local services, travel and experiences, and digital products or education. Some categories are prohibited outright, and others are restricted:

A dental practice or a personal injury firm, for example, can expect extra verification, while an HVAC company or an online furniture store fits the categories OpenAI is focusing on first. For the rules in more detail, see our breakdown of the ChatGPT ads policy.

What Do You Need Before You Start?

You need five things ready before you open Ads Manager: account access, billing, a landing page that answers a real question, tracking, and a clear test goal. Getting these in place first saves days of back-and-forth with review.

☐ An OpenAI account tied to a work email (you can reuse your ChatGPT login or create a new one).

☐ Your legal business name, billing address, invoice email and a credit card.

☐ Your logo, plus two or three ad image options that are simple and uncluttered.

☐ A specific landing page for each offer, not your homepage, that does not block OpenAI’s ad crawlers.

☐ Access to your website code, Google Tag Manager or store platform to install the OpenAI pixel.

☐ One conversion to optimize for (a booked call, a quote request or a purchase) and a fixed test budget.

If your conversion tracking is shaky on other channels already, fix that first. A tracking and analytics review usually pays for itself before any new ad channel goes live.

How Do You Create a ChatGPT Ads Manager Account?

Go to ads.openai.com, sign in, and either enter your website so Ads Manager drafts a first ad for you, or skip that and enter your business details directly. OpenAI’s account setup guide describes both paths.

Step 1: Sign In and Choose Your Setup Path

Select “Login or Sign up” on ads.openai.com. With the first option, you enter your website URL, review the ad Ads Manager generates from it, create a campaign and then add your advertiser details. With the second, you skip the URL, enter your advertiser name and details, and build campaigns later. For a first account, the second path keeps you in control of every setting.

Two settings deserve care. OpenAI says your country or region cannot be changed later, so pick the one where your business is billed. Your advertiser name first fills the Account Name, Brand Name and Legal Name fields; the Legal Name is used for billing and business verification, and changing it later restarts business review and can pause your ads.

Step 2: Set Up Billing and Team Access

Open Billing in Ads Manager, add a credit card and fill in your billing profile: business name, billing address and the email that should receive invoices. OpenAI states that billing must be set up before campaigns can deliver, so do it now, not on launch day.

Then add your logo under Settings → General and invite teammates under Settings → Users → Invite. There are three roles: Admin (full access), Member (create and manage campaigns) and Viewer (view only). Give your agency Member access and keep Admin with the business owner.

How Do You Set Up Your First ChatGPT Ads Campaign?

A ChatGPT Ads account has three levels: the campaign holds the objective, budget, dates and location; the ad group holds a theme and its context hints; the ad holds the title, description, image and landing page. Build them in that order.

Step 3: Choose an Objective and Budget

OpenAI’s “Create Campaigns” guide lists two objectives: Views, priced by impressions (CPM), and Clicks, priced by click (CPC). The objective cannot be changed after the campaign is created, so pick Clicks for a lead or sales test unless brand reach is the real goal. OpenAI’s basics page also describes conversion-optimized campaigns that still bill per valid click; check whether that option shows in your account.

Next, pick a budget type. A campaign-total budget caps spend for the whole campaign; a daily budget is treated as an average, so one day can run up to twice the amount, but not more than seven times it across a week. Switching a campaign from campaign-total to daily cannot be reversed. The minimum is $25 a day per campaign as of October 2026. For how to size a test beyond the minimum, see our ChatGPT ads minimum spend and budget guide.

Step 4: Set Your Bid and Location

Bids are set at the ad group level: a maximum CPM for reach or a maximum CPC for clicks. OpenAI’s basics page suggests starting CPC bids at $3–$5 and explains that ads compete in a relevance-weighted, second-price auction, so a relevant ad can win without the highest bid. Our post on how much ChatGPT ads cost covers what moves that price.

Location is set on the campaign. Country targeting is the reliable baseline; OpenAI’s campaign guide also mentions finer US options, so check what your account shows before you plan a city-level campaign.

Step 5: Write Context Hints for Each Ad Group

Context hints are plain-language descriptions of the conversations where your ad belongs. OpenAI says they are not exact-match keywords and do not guarantee delivery; the system also weighs the conversation itself and your ad title, copy and landing page.

Write hints as situations and needs, not single words, and keep each ad group to one theme. Some examples by business type:

If you sell two very different things, such as repairs and new installs, give each its own ad group so the hints, ads and landing pages stay aligned. Our guide to ChatGPT ads targeting has more hint patterns.

Step 6: Create Your Ads

Each ad shows your advertiser name and logo, a title, a description, an image and a link, and it appears below ChatGPT’s response. OpenAI recommends several title and description variations per offer, each with a different angle, plus a simple image that matches the copy.

Point every ad to the most relevant page, such as a service or product page, not the homepage. OpenAI also says the page must be reachable and must not block its OAI-AdsBot and OAI-SearchBot crawlers. If your robots.txt or firewall blocks unknown bots, allow these two:

User-agent: OAI-AdsBot
Allow: /

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

Add UTM tags to each destination URL so GA4 can separate this traffic from everything else:

https://example.com/ac-repair/?utm_source=chatgpt&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=ac_repair_test&utm_content=ad1

How Do You Install the OpenAI Pixel or Conversions API on WordPress or Shopify?

Copy the Pixel ID from the conversions tab in Ads Manager, place OpenAI’s install snippet near the top of the <head> on every page, initialize it with your ID, and fire an event when a conversion happens. For more reliable data, send the same events from your server or store through the Conversions API.

Step 7: Add the Pixel and Your Conversion Events

OpenAI’s Measurement Pixel guide uses an oaiq function. After the install snippet loads, initialize it with your Pixel ID; if your site needs consent before tracking, set consent to false first and switch it to true when the visitor accepts:

oaiq("consent", false);
oaiq("init", { pixelId: "YOUR-PIXEL-ID" });
// after the visitor accepts:
oaiq("consent", true);

Then send events. A store fires order_created on the order confirmation page; amounts are whole numbers, so $25.99 is sent as 2599. A lead business can use a custom event name:

oaiq("measure", "order_created",
{ type: "contents", amount: 2599, currency: "USD" },
{ event_id: "order_12345" });

oaiq("measure", "custom", { type: "custom" },
{ custom_event_name: "quote_requested" });

On WordPress, the snippet can go in your theme header through a header-scripts plugin or through Google Tag Manager; on Shopify, check how your store allows tracking scripts on checkout and order pages before relying on the pixel alone. OpenAI’s docs do not describe a Google Tag Manager template, so test carefully if you load it that way.

Step 8: Add the Conversions API and Test

If you send the same order from the browser and the server, use one shared event_id in both. OpenAI matches on Pixel ID, event name and event_id, keeps the first event and drops the duplicate. Set debug: true in the init call while testing and watch the browser console, then submit a real test conversion.

For platform-by-platform detail, read our full guide to ChatGPT ads conversion tracking.

What Happens After You Submit Your ChatGPT Ads?

Every ad goes through review before it can serve. OpenAI’s ad policies describe three review levels: the advertiser, the ad creative and landing page, and where the ad is placed. Machine systems check first, and uncertain or higher-risk cases go to human reviewers.

Once ads are approved, Ads Manager reports impressions, clicks, spend, CTR, average CPC, average CPM and conversions. OpenAI notes that impressions and clicks refresh about every 15 minutes, while spend can lag 7–8 hours, so a $0 spend figure on day one does not mean nothing was charged. Ads are also monitored after approval and can be limited or removed.

How Do You Track ChatGPT Ad Traffic in GA4 and Measure CPA and ROAS?

Use the UTM tags from Step 6, then filter GA4 by session source and campaign to see visits, key events and revenue from ChatGPT ads. Divide spend from Ads Manager by GA4 conversions for CPA, and revenue by spend for ROAS.

Expect GA4 and Ads Manager to disagree. They count conversions differently, consent banners remove some data, and the pixel credits the ad click while GA4 applies its own attribution. Pick one source of truth for budget decisions, and use your CRM for lead quality. A B2B firm should judge the campaign on qualified leads in the CRM, not form fills. Our guide to tracking ChatGPT ads in GA4 walks through the reports.

How Do You Troubleshoot a New ChatGPT Ads Campaign?

Most first-week problems come from billing, review, crawler access or tracking, not from the ads themselves. Use this table before you change bids or copy.

Is ChatGPT Advertising Worth Testing Next to Google Ads?

Yes for most businesses whose customers research before buying, as long as Google Ads stays your base and ChatGPT ads run as a fixed, tracked test. The channel is new, controls are simpler, and results vary by category.

The two channels catch buyers at different moments. Google Ads reaches people as they type a search; ChatGPT ads reach them while they talk a problem through. Run them side by side with matched landing pages and compare cost per qualified lead, not clicks. Our comparison of ChatGPT ads vs Google Ads and our honest look at whether ChatGPT ads are worth it go deeper, and if search is already working, keep investing in Google Ads while you test.

Before you launch, run through the ChatGPT ads best practices and launch checklist. If you would rather have a team set this up, JuvioX runs ChatGPT Ads management month-to-month with no lock-in, and starts with a free audit of your tracking and offer.