Ad buying
- AI ads: paid placements inside or next to an AI assistant's answer.
- Ads Manager: OpenAI's self-serve tool for buying ChatGPT ads.
- Context hints: free-text topics an ad group should match in ChatGPT, up to 2,000 per ad group.
- Ad group: a set of ads that share context hints; in B2B, usually one buyer question.
- CPM: cost per 1,000 views.
- CPC: cost per click.
- oCPC / oCPM: bidding optimised for a conversion, still charged per click or per view.
- Custom audience: a hashed email or phone list used to include or exclude people.
- Sponsored block: the labelled area under a ChatGPT answer where ads appear.
Measurement
- Measurement pixel: a browser script that reports conversions to the ad platform.
- Conversions API: a server-side way to report conversions.
- oppref: the click identifier ChatGPT ads pass to your site for server-side matching.
- lead_created: the standard event for a lead or demo request.
- Attribution window: how long after a click or view a conversion can be credited.
- utm_source=chatgpt.com: the tag ChatGPT adds to links in its answers.
Visibility
- AEO (answer engine optimisation): making your company the answer AI gives.
- GEO (generative engine optimisation): another name for the same work, focused on generative AI.
- AI Overviews: Google's AI summaries at the top of some search results.
- AI Mode: Google's conversational search mode.
- OAI-SearchBot: OpenAI's crawler for ChatGPT search; blocking it keeps you out of ChatGPT search answers.
- GPTBot: OpenAI's crawler for model training, separate from search.
- Share of answers: how many tracked buyer questions name your company.
- Citation: a source page an AI answer links to.
Company signals
- Company identification: matching a visit's business network to a company record.
- Match rate: the share of visits that can be named.
- ICP fit score: how closely a company matches your ideal customer profile.
- Account-based marketing (ABM): marketing aimed at a defined list of companies.
Terms that are often confused
| Pair | Difference |
|---|---|
| AI ads vs AI-generated ads | Ads placed in AI assistants vs ads written with AI tools |
| OAI-SearchBot vs GPTBot | Search crawler vs training crawler |
| Context hints vs keywords | Topic descriptions vs exact terms |
| Company identification vs lead | An organisation named from a visit vs a person who gave contact details |
| Share of answers vs ranking | How often AI names you vs your position in a list of links |
Questions
Is there an official AEO standard?
No. AEO and GEO are names for a practice, not standards.
What's the most important term to understand first?
Context hints. They decide where ChatGPT ads appear.
Where can I learn the rest?
Our field guide to ChatGPT ads covers the platform end to end.
Start here: AI ads for B2B. More articles in AI advertising strategy.
