If your ChatGPT ads are not showing, the ad can be switched on and still not serve. OpenAI’s developer guide says an active resource can be blocked by another requirement, and that a paused campaign stops an active ad. Work through the checks below in order, from the account down to the ad, before you touch the bid.
Figures are OpenAI’s unless labeled as ours.
The quick checklist
- Is the account verified, with its name and logo complete and billing set up?
- Has the ad passed review, and does its status say Serving?
- Are the campaign and ad group active, within their dates and with budget left?
- Can OpenAI’s crawler reach the landing page?
- Is the targeting too narrow, or the bid too low?
- For product ads, does the ad group contain eligible products?
- Have you waited long enough for the data?
Wait 24 hours first
OpenAI says to allow at least 24 hours after launch before reporting a zero-delivery problem. The exception is a clear blocker, such as a review or billing issue. Once ads deliver, impressions, clicks and click-through rate refresh about every 15 minutes. Spend can lag by 7 to 8 hours.
So a zero an hour after launch means little. A zero the next day, with the checks below clear, is worth chasing.
The four levels to check
Start at the top of the chain, because a problem higher up makes everything below it look broken. OpenAI’s developer guide lists four levels to check: the account, the campaign, the ad group and the ad. An ad’s status alone doesn’t describe all of them.
| Level | What to check |
|---|---|
| Account | Active, brand and account reviews complete, no spend limit exhausted |
| Campaign | Active, inside its dates, budget left, valid targeting |
| Ad group | Active, bidding compatible with the objective, eligible products for a feed |
| Ad | Active, approved, creative and landing page reachable |
1. The account
Account problems stop every campaign at once, so check them first.
Verification and names
If the account still needs verifying, Ads Manager shows a banner. OpenAI’s launch guide lists the account’s name and logo among the things to have in place before launch. An account can’t serve ads until its brand review is approved. Changing the brand name or legal name can start a new review.
Billing
Ads may stop after a failed payment until the card is fixed. If a payment fails, the campaigns, ad groups and ads can show Not serving. Open the status tooltip, then update the payment method. Accounts on invoice terms can also hit an account spending limit.
2. Ad review
Every ad is reviewed before it runs. In Ads Manager, check whether the ad is marked Serving. If it says Not serving, hover over the status for the reason. Review outcomes are in review, approved or rejected.
A rejected ad
Read the rejection message and find the text, image or landing page it points to. Correct it, and the edit sends the ad back for review. If you think the policy doesn’t apply, appeal from Ads Manager. OpenAI says to contact support only if no appeal option exists, or an appeal has been pending more than 7 days.
“Can’t serve in the countries I selected”
The ad’s category isn’t allowed in those markets. Some categories are limited to approved advertisers. The policy tracker lists the categories.
Status changes don’t approve anything
Changing an ad’s status doesn’t approve it. Pausing and reactivating won’t clear a rejection.
3. Campaign and ad group
Check budget, dates and the chain of parents next.
Budget
Ads stop when the campaign budget limit is reached. With a daily budget, the limit works over the week. The budget week runs Sunday to Saturday in your account’s time zone. A campaign that spends the week’s allowance early can stop until the next week, even while it’s marked active.
Schedule
Ads don’t serve before the start date or after the end date. A first campaign may not show date options before it’s published, so check the dates after creating it.
The whole chain
The campaign, ad group and ad all need to be active. A paused parent blocks everything below it.
Bid against budget
With fixed bidding, the daily budget must be at least your highest bid. A budget below it won’t save.
Home country first
Some new self-serve accounts can advertise only in their home country. Other countries open once identity verification is approved and the account has reached the required spend. A campaign aimed only at other countries won’t deliver until then.
Locations
Targeting works by inclusion. Excluding other countries doesn’t limit a campaign to one. Include the countries you want.
4. Landing page access
OpenAI’s crawler, OAI-AdsBot, has to reach your landing page to review it. OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot too. Its crawler guide lists the layers that commonly block them.
| Layer | What to check |
|---|---|
| robots.txt | Rules that disallow OAI-AdsBot or OAI-SearchBot stop crawling immediately. Allow them explicitly. |
| Firewall and CDN | Services such as Cloudflare or Akamai can return 403 errors to crawlers. Allowlist OpenAI’s user agents. OpenAI says Cloudflare verifies and allowlists OAI-AdsBot. |
| Bot checks | CAPTCHAs, JavaScript challenges and login walls block automated visitors. Exempt OpenAI’s crawlers. |
| Rate limits | A burst of ad uploads can trigger 429 errors. Upload in smaller batches. |
| Destination | App-store links, deep links, documents and region-locked pages may not give OpenAI enough to review. Use a normal web page. |
OpenAI says not to rely on support bypassing the crawler check. Fix the access problem, then re-upload or resubmit the affected ads if their status doesn’t update on its own.
5. Targeting and bids
Targeting and bids come last, because they only matter once nothing else blocks the ad.
Combined targeting
Location, platform, audiences and exclusions work together, and together they can leave a small eligible audience. OpenAI says a large customer list can shrink a lot after matching and exclusions.
Context hints aren’t gates
Hints add context rather than decide eligibility, so rewriting hints won’t fix a targeting restriction. Our context hints guide explains what they do.
Bid strength
Ads Manager can show guidance on whether a bid looks competitive. OpenAI notes that the low-bid warning isn’t raised within 24 hours of an ad-group change. So no warning doesn’t prove your bid is competitive. Bid recommendations are estimates, while the warning uses observed auction performance, so they can disagree.
Raising the bid
A higher bid won’t fix a paused campaign, a spent limit or a rejected ad. OpenAI says raising a bid doesn’t guarantee delivery. Rule the blockers out first.
6. Product feed campaigns
Feed campaigns add three checks.
The ad group’s filters must select products marked as eligible for ads, and in stock. Check the feed’s upload status and diagnostics too, because a completed upload doesn’t mean every product can serve.
Let OAI-SearchBot fetch your product images. OpenAI says a 403 from the image host can block feed processing. Our product feed guide covers feed errors in detail.
7. Give it time
Some delivery problems are just timing. Impressions and clicks refresh about every 15 minutes. Spend can lag 7 to 8 hours, and attributed conversions take 24 to 48 hours to appear.
OpenAI says delivery and spend can fluctuate during the beta. It adds that conversion-optimized campaigns aim for conversions, not for spending the full budget. Change one thing at a time. Compare the same reporting period and time zone, or you won’t know what fixed it.
A worked diagnosis
An example, in order. The numbers are illustrative.
A store launches a campaign on Monday with a $50 daily budget and sees no impressions by Tuesday evening. The account is verified and billing is complete. The ad says Not serving. Hovering over the status gives a reason. A check of the landing page shows the store’s bot protection is returning 403 to OAI-AdsBot.
The fix is an allowlist rule, then a resubmission. The bid was never the problem. Raising it would have changed nothing, and it would have cost a day.
When to contact support
If you’ve worked through the list, email [email protected]. Include your ad account ID, the campaign and ad names, the date range and time zone, and screenshots of what you’re seeing. For zero delivery, OpenAI also asks for the launch date and a screenshot that shows the zero.
Questions
My ad is active and approved. Why no impressions?
Check the parents first. A paused campaign or ad group, an ended schedule or a spent budget all stop an approved ad. If nothing is blocking it, the audience may be too narrow or the bid too low for the moments it competes for. OpenAI says an empty list of serving issues isn’t a promise of impressions.
Why did delivery stop after a few days?
Common causes are a reached budget, an end date, or a failed payment when spend hit your payment threshold. A campaign on a daily budget can also use up its weekly allowance early. It then stops until the next budget week starts on Sunday. During the beta, OpenAI also says delivery can fluctuate as it changes its systems.
Why do I see clicks but no conversions?
Conversions take 24 to 48 hours to appear. If they’re still missing, check that the event you send matches the conversion event attached to the campaign. Our tracking guide has a checklist.
Does raising the bid make ads show?
Not necessarily. OpenAI says raising a bid doesn’t guarantee delivery. A bid also can’t fix a paused campaign, a spent limit or a rejected ad. Check the blockers first, then the bid.
How long should I wait before worrying?
At least 24 hours after launch, unless there’s a clear blocker such as a rejection or a billing problem. After that, work through the checklist in order and change one thing at a time.
Can my agency fix this for me?
An agency with a role on your account can work through the same checklist. If you’d like a second opinion, our account audit finds the cause. It gives you a fix list, ordered by impact.
