By the Mayab Media Team
Did you approve the ad that ran in ChatGPT this morning? Maybe not all of it.
As of Friday, October 30, OpenAI switched on something it calls creative enhancements for new and existing self-serve ChatGPT Ads campaigns. It's on by default, and nobody had to click anything. Advertisers were emailed about it on October 20, so if that message went to an inbox nobody reads, the feature is probably running in your account right now.
What OpenAI's system is allowed to change
Four things, according to Search Engine Journal and PPC Land, which both went through OpenAI's help pages and the advertiser email.
It can write new headlines and descriptions that tie your offer to the conversation the user is having. It can translate your ad text into other languages. It can resize your images to fit the format. And it can send the click to a different page on your site if it thinks that page is more relevant.
That last one is the big deal for us.
The changes can run without you reviewing each version. OpenAI's help page says there's no preview of every variation, and reporting doesn't break out which version a person actually saw. You'll see impressions, clicks, spend and conversions at the campaign, ad group and ad level. You won't see the copy that earned them.
Why the landing page swap worries us more than the copy
Rewritten headlines are a known quantity. Google and Meta have been doing versions of this for years, and most advertisers have made some peace with it.
A swapped destination URL is different. Picture a roofing company paying to send ChatGPT clicks to a storm-damage landing page. That page has the free inspection offer, the call tracking number, the short form. Now the system decides the "Our Story" page is more relevant to the chat. The visitor gets no offer, no form and a phone number your call tracking doesn't know about. You paid for the click either way.
Then there's measurement. None of the pages reviewed by SEJ or Relevant Audience explain what happens to your UTM tags when the destination changes. Maybe they carry over, maybe they don't. Until OpenAI says, assume your ChatGPT campaign data could get messy.
Translation has its own risk. A legal or medical practice probably doesn't want ad text translated by a machine into a language nobody on staff can check.
When we'd leave it on (yes, sometimes)
We're not reflexively against automation. If you sell one thing, have one landing page and your site is in good shape, the downside is small. Let it test headlines and watch the numbers for a few weeks.
But if your site has pages you would never want a paid visitor to land on (old promos, thin location pages, a careers page), we'd switch it off until there's a way to exclude URLs. Right now there isn't one. Same if you're running a fixed-offer promotion where the copy legally has to match the terms.
For what it's worth, PPC practitioner Anthony Higman said publicly he'd turn it off. Melissa Mackey had already paused her own ChatGPT Ads test over poor lead quality. That's two people, not a study, but it's still telling.
How to check your account in five minutes
- In ChatGPT Ads Manager, open Manage settings and find the creative enhancement toggle. It's an account-wide default.
- Open each active campaign. Campaign settings override the account default, so an account switch alone may not cover everything.
- If you opted out before October 30, confirm it stuck. OpenAI says earlier opt-outs were kept, but a 30-second check beats a month of guessing.
- Look at landing page reports in GA4 for ChatGPT traffic. Any page you didn't choose showing up is a sign the system is rerouting clicks.
One limitation to know: turning the feature off stops new enhanced versions. It doesn't undo the ones that already ran.
The multi-image format, briefly
OpenAI also opened a multi-image ad format, which launched as an open beta on October 26 and per the October 30 advertiser email is now open to everyone. It takes 4 to 6 square images, all pointing to one URL, with "Learn more" as the only button. It works for Reach, Clicks and Conversions campaigns.
Nobody has said if the enhancement feature also touches the multi-image format. Don't assume they're exempt.
If ChatGPT Ads is in your mix, decide on purpose whether a machine gets to pick your landing page, because the default already decided for you.
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