ChatGPT ads · Australia · how the match works
How ChatGPT decides who sees your ad
You don't bid on a list of words here. You write hints about the chats you belong in, and ChatGPT matches from what the person is actually asking. That's a different job to any ad you have run before. Here's what it looks at, and what you get to choose.
You write hints, not a list of words to bid on
OpenAI calls them context hints. In its words, they "describe the conversations, topics, or keywords where their products or services may be relevant". Then comes the line that changes how you write them. The hints "are not exact-match keywords", and they don't promise your ad lands in any one chat.
So a hint isn't a word you buy. It's a description of the moment you want to turn up in. Write it like you're telling a new apprentice which jobs to take, not like a shopping list.
What OpenAI says it looks at
- What the chat is about, and what the person wants right now.
- Your ad's landing page, its title and its copy.
- The context hints you wrote, and the targeting you picked.
- When the person has let ChatGPT use what they've chatted about before, some of that too.
- Basic context, like their general location or the language they're in.
When several ads could fit the same chat, OpenAI says it runs a relevance-weighted second-price auction between the ads that fit. It says the pick comes down to relevance and what advertisers bid.
The person can switch the extra clues off
Every user can switch off ads picked from what they've chatted about before. When they do, the ads they see are picked from the current chat only. OpenAI also says those personalised ads aren't available in the European Economic Area or Switzerland at the start.
For a trade, that matters less than you'd think. The chat itself is the strongest thing you have. Someone typing about a blocked drain at 7am has told you everything you need.
Country you can pick. Your suburb, I can't promise.
Country targeting is set on the campaign. OpenAI also says some new self-serve ad accounts can only advertise in their home country at first. Other countries open up once your identity check is approved and you've spent enough at home.
Below country there's more. OpenAI says you can target "supported locations such as states or regions, cities, markets, and postal codes where available". It says availability varies by country, and you search for a location during setup to see what you get. Australia's list isn't published anywhere I can find. So a suburb fence is not something I promise.
What softens that is the match itself. The ad is matched on what the person is asking about, and people name their area when they ask. That's a different lever to a radius on a map, and it's the one I lean on.
What else you get to choose, and what you don't
- Where they're using ChatGPT: the Android app, Android web, desktop web, the iOS app, iOS web.
- Uploading your old customers to target them needs at least 25,000 people OpenAI can match to accounts. Almost no trade business has that, so it's out.
- Ads aren't eligible to appear near sensitive or regulated topics, and never near personal health chats.
- Health and money advertisers may still be eligible, if they meet OpenAI's strict criteria. No political ads at all.
That 25,000 rule surprises people. On other ad tools you can upload a small customer list and chase them, and you can't do that here. So the chat itself does the aiming, which is why the hints get most of my time.
How I write hints for a local trade
A hint that says "plumbing" is too wide. You'll turn up next to someone in another state reading about how a mixer tap works. A hint has to carry 3 things. The trade, the jobs you actually want, and the way people describe the mess they're in.
So: hot water gone cold. A burst pipe under the house. Drains backing up after rain. Or a gas smell in the kitchen. Then the kinds of places people name when they ask, the way they type them. That's the craft in this, and it's why it isn't the same job as Google Ads. The step by step is here if you want to write your own. Or I write them for you and run them. We work for you for free and you cover your own ad spend.
4 questions people ask me about targeting
Can I stop my ad showing outside my area?
Country, yes. Under that, OpenAI says it offers states, cities and postcodes where available, and it doesn't publish Australia's list. So a suburb fence isn't something I promise. What I can do is write the hints so your ad belongs in chats about your kind of job. Then I watch where the clicks actually come from.
Can I upload my customer list like on Facebook?
Not at your size. OpenAI needs at least 25,000 people it can match to accounts before it will use an uploaded list. A trade business with a few thousand past customers is nowhere near that. It's built for big brands. Your list is still worth using, just by text and email, not through this.
What if I'm in a trade ChatGPT treats as sensitive?
Then it may not run, and I'd tell you on the call instead of taking your month. OpenAI says ads aren't eligible near sensitive or regulated topics, and never near personal health chats. Health and money businesses can be eligible if they meet its strict criteria. Most trades aren't near that line at all.
Do I need to know what people type to find me?
No, and that's the shift. There's no list of search terms to buy here. You tell me the jobs you want and how your customers describe them on the phone. I turn that into the hints. The rest is ChatGPT reading the chat in front of it.
Let ChatGPT show your business to high-intent customers
- ChatGPT has released paid ads, and this changes the marketing game absolutely.
- If you missed out on Facebook ads in 2007, where anything you posted would have popped off, don't miss out on the next big ad platform.
- Unlike Facebook, where people get interrupted mid doom-scroll, ChatGPT shows your business to people who are already researching something related.
- That makes ChatGPT a cheat code. The engine your customers ask for advice shows your business right under its answer.
- Most marketing agencies charge you thousands before you see any results.
- We work for you, for free. You just cover your own ad spend. The first month is free, so you see the results for yourself before you pay us anything.
- Then, if you want to keep getting those results month after month, we sort out a rev-share or a retainer. A rev-share is a cut of what it makes you. A retainer is a flat monthly fee. Agreed in writing before month 2 starts.
- In the free month, we don't get paid if you don't get paid. After that, it's the rev-share or the retainer you chose.
- Only 10 a month. The work up front is heavy and brings us no income at first. That is all we can take.
If the ads make you nothing, you pay us nothing and we stop there. You will have paid OpenAI for the clicks, and that is all.
Read next
If you're weighing this against what you already run, read ChatGPT ads vs Google Ads. To build one yourself, follow how to advertise on ChatGPT. Not sure you're the right size for it yet? The fit test for a small business takes a minute.
30 minutes, then a straight answer
30 minutes on the phone, mostly questions about your business and your customers. You get 2 straight answers. Do people ask ChatGPT for what you do? And is it worth a run, where we only get paid a rev-share or a retainer, sorted once you have seen the results, to find out?