Advertising in AI search engines: what is possible per platform (2026)

In the US you can advertise in AI search engines on three platforms as of October 2026: ChatGPT, Google (around and inside AI Overviews, and in AI Mode) and Microsoft Copilot. Perplexity no longer sells ads. How you buy differs per platform: ChatGPT has its own ad platform from OpenAI, while Google and Microsoft place your existing campaigns around AI answers automatically.

This article goes platform by platform: what you can buy today, how it works and where the limits are. Availability was checked at the sources on October 22, 2026; ad products in AI search change fast, so check before you plan a budget.

Overview: the state per platform in October 2026

Platform	Can you advertise in the US?	How do you buy?
ChatGPT	Yes	OpenAI’s Ads Manager (self-service, beta); CPM, CPC or a conversion goal
Google, above and below AI Overviews	Yes	Through your existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns
Google, inside AI Overviews	Yes, in English	Automatically through the same campaigns; no separate buy
Google AI Mode	Yes	Through AI Max for Search or Performance Max
Perplexity	No	No ad sales since February 2026
Microsoft Copilot	Yes, in English-language markets	Through Microsoft Advertising campaigns

ChatGPT ads

OpenAI started testing ads in ChatGPT in the US in early 2026 and moved from invite-only to a self-service Ads Manager in beta within months; by August 31, 2026, self-serve access had reached Europe too. The full explanation is in advertising in ChatGPT. The core:

• Placement and format. Ads appear below ChatGPT’s answer, are labeled as ads and do not determine the content of the answer. Formats include product ads (image, title, price, fed by a product feed) and carousels with several options.
• Who sees them. Users on the free plan and the Go plan. Paying subscribers on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu do not see ads. Accounts OpenAI identifies as minors and temporary chats are excluded.
• Targeting. Ads are matched to the context of the conversation. Check OpenAI’s help center for the current targeting rules in your market, because they differ by region.
• Price. You buy through an auction and choose between CPM, CPC or optimizing for a conversion goal. OpenAI recommends a starting bid of $3 to $5 per click for CPC campaigns. What drives the price is in what ChatGPT ads cost.
• Measuring. With the OpenAI pixel on your site, the Conversions API for conversions outside the browser and UTM parameters for your own analytics. See conversion tracking for ChatGPT ads.

The most important thing for your reach calculation: paying ChatGPT users, a large share of business users, never see your ad. They do see the answer itself.

Google: ads around and inside AI Overviews, and in AI Mode

With Google you do not advertise separately for AI: your existing campaigns automatically qualify for placements around AI answers. That is on the help page About ads and AI Overviews, checked October 22, 2026.

Above and below the AI Overview

Text, Shopping, local and app ads from Search, Shopping, Performance Max and App campaigns can appear above or below an AI Overview in the more than 200 markets where AI Overviews exist. You do not need to create anything for this.

Inside the AI Overview

According to Google, ads inside the AI answer itself are available in English in twelve countries: Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and the United States.

AI Mode

Google has been testing ads in AI Mode in the US since May 2025. The newer AI Mode formats from Google Marketing Live in May 2026 run only through AI Max for Search or Performance Max.

What you can and cannot control

Google gives advertisers few controls for these placements:

• No opt-out. You cannot keep your ads from appearing around or in AI Overviews.
• No placement targeting. You cannot buy the spot in the AI Overview separately.
• No separate reporting. Google Ads does not break out results for AI Overview placements.
• No separate price. There is no published surcharge or discount for AI placements; it is the same auction.

For placement inside the answer you need Google’s AI-driven targeting. According to Ginny Marvin of Google, that means broad match or AI Max, Performance Max, Shopping and Dynamic Search Ads, with Smart Bidding. So a complete product feed, a campaign with broad match or AI Max, and landing pages that answer the question directly are the logical setup.

Perplexity: no longer sells ads

Perplexity no longer sells ads: if you want to be visible in Perplexity, organic citations are all that is left. Older guides describe an ad program that no longer exists. The timeline:

• November 2024. Perplexity starts with ads: sponsored follow-up questions below the answer and sidebar ads, with the answer itself written by Perplexity and not by the advertiser. The company explained that model in Why we’re experimenting with advertising.
• October 2025. Perplexity stops accepting new advertisers.
• February 2026. According to the Financial Times, Perplexity winds down ads and does not plan to bring them back, citing user trust in its answers (Search Engine Land). Of the brands that had applied, less than 0.5 percent were admitted.

What this means for you: a budget for Perplexity ads cannot be spent. What does work is getting cited organically; see getting found in Perplexity. If you sell products, look at the Perplexity Merchant Program, which is not an ad product but a way to supply your product data to Perplexity; see agentic commerce.

Microsoft Copilot: through Microsoft Advertising

In Copilot you advertise through your regular Microsoft Advertising campaigns. Microsoft has confirmed ads in Copilot for English, French and German-language markets, so the US is included.

Copilot is not a separate campaign type but a placement. Microsoft named AI Max in Search campaigns in April 2026 as the way to appear on Copilot Search and Copilot Answers, and the Offer Highlights format, which shows product benefits such as free shipping from Microsoft Merchant Center in Copilot, Edge and Bing, is available for retail in English-language markets.

If you already run Microsoft Advertising, you do not need to do anything extra. Getting found organically in Copilot runs mostly through Bing; see getting found in Microsoft Copilot.

How is an AI ad different from a search ad?

An AI ad is matched to the conversation instead of a loose keyword, and sits next to an answer instead of above a list of links. That changes three things:

• Context instead of keyword. “Help me pick a gift for my friend who loves cooking” contains more information than “gift for him”. In ChatGPT the topic of the conversation decides whether your ad fits; with Google, AI-driven targeting such as broad match and AI Max is the condition for a spot in the answer.
• The answer comes first. The user reads which businesses the AI names on its own before seeing your ad. If your competitor is in the answer, you start behind.
• The landing page weighs more. Whoever clicks has already read an answer and expects your page to continue from it. See landing pages for ChatGPT ads.

Advertise or get mentioned organically?

Advertising in AI search engines is an accelerator, not a foundation: an ad only works for the questions you bid on and the users who get ads, while a mention in the answer reaches everyone who asks that question. Stop paying and the ad is gone; a citation stays as long as your source is current.

How to choose:

• Advertise when you need results fast for a launch or seasonal peak, when you sell products that fit a product feed, or when you are not mentioned for important questions and that will not change soon.
• Organic when you want to be visible for all relevant questions in the long run, including for paying ChatGPT users and in Perplexity, where advertising is not possible. That is called GEO, generative engine optimization.

The trade-off in dollars is in ChatGPT ads or GEO: where does a dollar do the most? and the difference with regular search ads in GEO vs paid search.

Before you bid: check whether ChatGPT already mentions you. You do not need to bid on questions you win for free.

How to get started

Start with the channel that fits and the questions where you are missing now. In this order:

1. Measure where you stand organically. A prompt tracker shows every day for which questions ChatGPT and other AI models mention you. You do not need to buy those questions.
2. Run a test campaign in ChatGPT. Pick one product group or service, a limited budget and a measurable goal. Put the OpenAI pixel and, where needed, the Conversions API on your site.
3. Make your Google campaigns AI-ready. Keep your product feed complete, test broad match or AI Max with Smart Bidding and make sure your landing page answers the question directly.
4. Measure beyond the last click. Someone who sees an AI ad and searches your brand name in Google two days later does not count for the ad in a last-click model. Also watch the growth of branded searches and ask new customers where they found you.
5. Leave Perplexity out of your media plan. It sells nothing. Invest in organic findability there.

Read on

• Advertising in ChatGPT
• What ChatGPT ads cost
• Conversion tracking for ChatGPT ads
• ChatGPT ads vs Google Ads
• Getting found in Google AI Overviews

Availability checked October 22, 2026 at the sources named. Ad products in AI search engines change fast; check the platforms’ own pages before you plan a budget.