OpenAI Ads Guide

A simple guide to OpenAI Ads and how it connects to your WordPress site.

What is OpenAI Ads?

ads.openai.com is where businesses sign up to run ads inside ChatGPT. After you create an account, you use a tool called Ads Manager to build campaigns, set a budget, and see how your ads perform.

People use ChatGPT to compare products, plan purchases, and make decisions. OpenAI Ads lets you show up in those moments with a short, clearly labeled message that links to your website.

OpenAI Ads is still in beta. Features and available countries may change over time.

Where ads appear

Ads show up inside ChatGPT when someone is exploring options or thinking about a purchase. They look like a small sponsored card with a headline, short description, and a link to your site.

Ads are always labeled as sponsored.
Ads are separate from ChatGPT’s written answers.
ChatGPT users can control how their data is used for ads.

Getting started at ads.openai.com

Visit ads.openai.com and choose Start now. The sign-up flow usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes.

Create your account
Enter your business details and verify your company.
Add payment
Add a payment method so your campaigns can run when you launch them.
Open Ads Manager
After sign-up you land in Ads Manager. This is your home base for campaigns, budgets, and reports.
Set up conversion tracking
Before you spend money on ads, set up tracking so you can see which visits and sales came from ChatGPT.

Ads Manager basics

Ads Manager is the dashboard at ads.openai.com where you create and manage your ads. Think of it in three layers:

Campaign

The top level. You set your overall budget, goal, and schedule here.

Ad group

A group of related ads inside a campaign. Useful when you want to test different messages.

The actual message people see: a headline, description, and link to your website.

Common settings

Budget: How much you are willing to spend per day or over the life of the campaign.
Bidding: You can pay per click (CPC) or per impression (CPM). CPC charges when someone clicks your ad. CPM charges when your ad is shown.
Landing page: The page on your website where people land after they click.

Measuring results

To know if your ads are working, you need conversion tracking. This tells OpenAI when someone visits your site or completes an action (like a sign-up or purchase) after seeing your ad.

In Ads Manager, open the Conversions section. You will find:

Pixel ID: A code snippet that runs in the visitor’s browser.
Conversion key: A secret key (starts with sk-svcacct-) used to send events from your website server.
Advertiser API key: Optional. Found under Settings. Lets you pull impressions, clicks, and spend into reports.

Use both the pixel and the conversion key when you can. The pixel catches browser events. The conversion key catches events even when the browser blocks tracking.

How the plugin helps

Max OpenAI Ads connects your WordPress site to OpenAI Ads. You copy your Pixel ID and keys from Ads Manager into the plugin settings. The plugin handles the technical work on your site.

Adds the tracking pixel to your pages.
Tracks common actions like page views, sign-ups, and WooCommerce purchases.
Sends server-side events with your conversion key.
Shows charts and recent activity on the Analytics page.

Download plugin Try context hints preview

Examples

Sample ad copy

Ads in ChatGPT use short text. Headlines and descriptions have character limits, so keep your message tight.

Example ad for a coffee subscription

Headline: Fresh beans monthly
Description: Roasted to order. Free shipping.
Landing page: https://example.com/subscribe

Where to find your Pixel ID

Sign in at ads.openai.com.
Open Ads Manager.
Go to Conversions in the menu.
Copy the Pixel ID and paste it into Max OpenAI Ads → Settings.

Events you can track on your site

Action on your site	What it tells you
Someone views a product page	Your ad brought a visitor who is browsing.
Someone signs up for your newsletter	Your ad led to a new lead.
Someone completes a purchase	Your ad led to a sale.

Official resources

OpenAI Ads home
Sign up and learn what ChatGPT advertising offers.
ChatGPT Ads Help Center
Step-by-step guides for account setup, launching campaigns, and billing.
Conversions API (developers)
Technical reference for server-side event tracking.
Measurement Pixel (developers)
Technical reference for the browser pixel.

Glossary

Ads Manager: The dashboard at ads.openai.com where you create campaigns and view reports.
Campaign: A set of ads that share one budget and one goal.
Conversion: A valuable action on your site, such as a purchase or sign-up.
CPC: Cost per click. You pay when someone clicks your ad.
CPM: Cost per thousand impressions. You pay when your ad is shown.
Impression: Each time your ad is displayed to someone.
Pixel: A small piece of tracking code on your website that records visits and actions.