27% of the brand websites ChatGPT recommends and links to in its answers showed no paid Google keywords in September 2026, including purina.com, cerave.com and trello.com. Their place in ChatGPT's answers did not depend on search ads.
Analysis of 121 brand websites recommended by ChatGPT · ChatGPT answers and Google paid search keyword data, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.27% of the brand websites ChatGPT recommends and links to show no paid Google keywords, 33 of 121.
- 2.purina.com is linked in 36 ChatGPT answers recommending the brand, and it showed no paid Google keywords.
- 3.Among brands ChatGPT recommends that do advertise on Google, the typical one bids on 14 search keywords.
- 4.10 of the 30 web hosting and online service brand websites ChatGPT recommends show no paid Google keywords, the most of any category.
- 5.All 4 beauty brand websites ChatGPT recommends and links to, including cerave.com and vanicream.com, show no paid Google keywords.
Summary
Ask ChatGPT for the best moisturizer for sensitive skin and a skincare brand appears in the answer, with a link to its website. That website showed no paid Google keywords at all, while its competitors pay for clicks on Google.
Many marketing budgets assume visibility is bought: bid on the right searches and customers will find you. AI answers work differently. ChatGPT decides which brands to recommend from what it reads about them, and a brand's ad spend does not enter that decision. For a marketer weighing ads against organic work, that changes where the money for AI visibility should go.
27% of the brand websites ChatGPT recommends and links show no paid Google keywords. Even among the brands that do advertise, the typical one bids on 14 keywords, a small search campaign.
What we measured
On September 23, 2026 we asked ChatGPT 2,000 questions of the form "What is the best [product or service]?", twice each. When ChatGPT recommended a brand and linked that brand's own website in the same answer, we counted the website as a recommended brand site. 121 brand websites qualified.
For each of the 121 we looked up Google US paid search data: the number of search keywords the website bids on in Google Ads. A website with zero paid keywords in that data counts as showing no paid Google keywords. We also assigned each website to the product category in which ChatGPT linked it most often.
More than a quarter show no paid Google keywords
33 of the 121 brand websites showed no paid Google keywords in September 2026, from large consumer brands such as purina.com and cerave.com to smaller ones such as windscribe.com and vanicream.com. Several are linked often: ChatGPT links purina.com in 36 answers, windscribe.com in 15 and trello.com in 12.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 121 brand websites recommended by ChatGPT · ChatGPT answers and Google paid search keyword data, September 2026
What these brands share is reputation in the places ChatGPT reads: they are well reviewed, widely recommended in guides and roundups, and easy to find information about. That coverage is what puts them in the answer.
Web hosting and beauty brands show the fewest search ads
Web hosting and online services have the most brand websites with no paid Google keywords: 10 of the 30 recommended websites, including wordpress.org, netlify.com, infinityfree.com and linode.com. In beauty, all 4 recommended brand websites show none.
| Category | Brand websites | No paid Google keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Web hosting and services | 30 | 10 |
| Software | 23 | 4 |
| Streaming | 15 | 3 |
| Finance | 8 | 1 |
| Insurance | 7 | 1 |
| Apparel | 6 | 1 |
| Beauty | 4 | 4 |
| Health | 3 | 2 |
| Kitchen | 3 | 2 |
Finance and insurance sit at the other end, with 1 brand website showing no paid keywords each. These are categories where search clicks are expensive and nearly every recommended brand also buys search ads, so the brands ChatGPT names there are advertisers and well-reviewed names at the same time.
Advertisers are light spenders too
The 88 recommended brands that do advertise are mostly light buyers. The typical one bids on 14 paid keywords, a small campaign for a brand big enough to be recommended by ChatGPT. A few advertise at scale, such as Hilton with 4,803 paid keywords, but they are the exception.
Put together, the data points one way: a brand's search ad spend and its place in ChatGPT's answers are separate. More than a quarter of recommended brand websites show no paid Google keywords, and most of the rest bid on few.
What this means for brands deciding between ads and organic visibility
Search ads and ChatGPT recommendations do different jobs. Search ads reach people on Google; if AI visibility is the goal, invest in the sources AI reads: independent reviews, comparison articles, expert roundups and clear product information on your own website.
Start by asking ChatGPT the "best" questions your customers ask and noting which brands it links. If competitors with smaller ad budgets appear and you do not, the gap is in coverage and content, not spend. Working with an ai seo company focuses that budget on the organic signals ChatGPT uses.
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-brands-no-google-ads">27% of Brand Sites ChatGPT Links Show No Paid Google Keywords - Suff Digital</a></p>
Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). 27% of Brand Sites ChatGPT Links Show No Paid Google Keywords. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-brands-no-google-ads
27% of Brand Sites ChatGPT Links Show No Paid Google Keywords - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-brands-no-google-ads
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