A few weeks ago ChatGPT started showing sponsored results on the first prompt.
Not buried at the bottom. Not after a long conversation. Right there on the first question a user asks.
A lot of people in the marketing world are treating this like a new game with new rules. It isn't.
Here's what's actually changed.
The interface is different. Instead of a list of blue links, you get a conversational answer with a sponsored placement woven in. The user experience feels different to Google Ads.
But the underlying problem is identical.
You still need to know exactly who you're talking to. You still need a message that means something to them specifically. You still need to track what happens after someone sees your ad, not just whether they clicked it.
Most businesses haven't solved those three things on Google Ads yet. Adding ChatGPT as a channel won't fix that. It'll just give you more places to spend money without a clear return.
The part that actually matters.
If someone asks ChatGPT "who's the best kitchen renovation company in Sydney" and your competitor's ad appears first, your SEO work on that query doesn't help you.
That's the real shift. AI search is becoming an ad channel before most businesses have figured out how to have a clear answer to "why us."
You can't optimise your way into a sponsored placement. You need a specific offer for a specific person and a reason they should choose you over the next result.
Businesses that have that worked out will do well on ChatGPT ads. Businesses that don't will pay to learn the same lesson they already paid to learn on Google.
What to do right now.
Nothing, unless your Google Ads are already working properly.
Get one channel performing well first. Know your cost per lead. Know your close rate. Know which campaigns are producing revenue, not just clicks.
Once that's in order, adding a new channel makes sense. Until then, it's just more noise.
If you're not sure whether your current Google Ads setup is actually working or just generating activity, that's exactly what we look at in our Google Ads Management service. And if you're still deciding whether paid search makes sense compared to SEO for your business, the Google Ads vs SEO Cost Calculator is worth five minutes of your time.
Tom Galland is the Managing Director of SEO Growth, a Sydney-based SEO and Google Ads agency. If someone forwarded this to you, subscribe here.
