--- title: "ChatGPT Brand Recommendations: 27% Run No Google Search Ads" url: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-brands-no-google-ads description: "ChatGPT brand recommendations do not track ad spend: 27% of the brand sites it links to showed no paid Google keywords. See the data." lang: en --- Share Share on X: https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fchatgpt-brands-no-google-ads&text=27%25%20of%20Brand%20Sites%20ChatGPT%20Links%20Show%20No%20Paid%20Google%20Keywords Share on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fchatgpt-brands-no-google-ads Share on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fchatgpt-brands-no-google-ads Share on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fchatgpt-brands-no-google-ads&title=27%25%20of%20Brand%20Sites%20ChatGPT%20Links%20Show%20No%20Paid%20Google%20Keywords **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. 1. **27%** of the brand websites ChatGPT recommends and links to show no paid Google keywords, 33 of 121. Copy stat 2. 2. purina.com is linked in **36** ChatGPT answers recommending the brand, and it showed no paid Google keywords. Copy stat 3. 3. Among brands ChatGPT recommends that do advertise on Google, the typical one bids on **14** search keywords. Copy stat 4. 4. **10** of the 30 web hosting and online service brand websites ChatGPT recommends show no paid Google keywords, the most of any category. Copy stat 5. 5. All **4** beauty brand websites ChatGPT recommends and links to, including cerave.com and vanicream.com, show no paid Google keywords. Copy stat ## 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 27% of the brand websites ChatGPT recommends and links to 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. ChatGPT answers linking it by brand website with no paid Google keywords purina.com 36 windscribe.com 15 trello.com 12 wordpress.org 11 cerave.com 11 netlify.com 10 mullvad.net 7 ally.com 7 infinityfree.com 5 vanicream.com 5 tidal.com 5 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 (https://www.suffdigital.com/seo/ai-seo-services) focuses that budget on the organic signals ChatGPT uses. ## Embed this research Paste this on your site to embed the charts. 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Source: 27% of Brand Sites ChatGPT Links Show No Paid Google Keywords - Suff Digital

## Cite this study APA 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 Plain link 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 ## Frequently asked questions ### Do brands need Google search ads to be recommended by ChatGPT? ### Which brand websites does ChatGPT recommend that show no paid Google keywords? ### How much do the brands ChatGPT recommends spend on Google search ads? ### Which category has the most ChatGPT-recommended brand websites with no paid Google keywords? ## Related studies - AI SEO 32.2% of the 500 Brands That Rank Most on Google Are Never Named in AI Answers: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-visibility-index-500-brands - AI SEO Brands With the Most Press Coverage Get Named in 13.4x More AI Answers: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/press-coverage-ai-brand-mentions - AI SEO AI Names Chase First in 51.9% of Travel Answers, the Strongest Lead in 20 Categories: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-favorite-brands-by-category - AI SEO AI Engines Agree on at Least Two of the Top Three Brands in 70% of Product Categories: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-recommends-same-top-three-brands ## Structured data ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization", "name": "Suff Digital", "alternateName": "Suff Digital Marketing", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "contentUrl": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "caption": "Suff Digital" }, "image": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo" }, "description": "Suff Digital is a full-stack digital marketing agency that turns websites into predictable revenue engines, SEO, paid media, content, CRO, and web design built around revenue, not vanity metrics.", "slogan": "Digital marketing built for what's next.", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "foundingDate": "2022", "founder": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Suffoletto", "jobTitle": "Founder & CEO" }, "contactPoint": [ { "@type": "ContactPoint", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "contactType": "sales", "areaServed": "US", "availableLanguage": [ "en" ] } ], "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "addressLocality": "Nashville", "addressRegion": "TN", "postalCode": "37219", "addressCountry": "US" }, "areaServed": { "@type": "Country", "name": "United States" }, "sameAs": [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/suff-digital/", "https://www.instagram.com/suffdigital/", "https://www.youtube.com/@suffdigitalmarketing", "https://www.tiktok.com/@suffdigital" ], "knowsAbout": [ "Search Engine Optimization", "Pay-Per-Click Advertising", "Paid Social Advertising", "Conversion Rate Optimization", "Web Design", "Digital PR", "Link Building", "Website Migration", "Website Maintenance and Support", "Technical SEO", "Local SEO", "AI Search Optimization" ], "hasOfferCatalog": { "@type": "OfferCatalog", "name": "Suff Digital Services", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/ppc" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Paid Social Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/paid-social" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/cro" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Web Design", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/web-design" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Digital PR & Link Building", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/digital-pr" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Migration", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-migration" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Maintenance & Support", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-maintenance" } } ] } }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#website", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "name": "Suff Digital", "inLanguage": "en-US", "publisher": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization" } } ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-brands-no-google-ads#article", "headline": "27% of Brand Sites ChatGPT Links Show No Paid Google Keywords", "description": "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. 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Their place in ChatGPT's answers did not depend on search ads.", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-brands-no-google-ads", "creator": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization" }, "datePublished": "2026-09-24", "dateModified": "2026-09-24", "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "isAccessibleForFree": true, "measurementTechnique": "ChatGPT answers; Google paid search keyword data" }, { "@type": "FAQPage", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-brands-no-google-ads#faq", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "Do brands need Google search ads to be recommended by ChatGPT?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Not necessarily. 27% of the brand websites ChatGPT recommends and links to showed no paid Google keywords in September 2026, 33 of 121." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Which brand websites does ChatGPT recommend that show no paid Google keywords?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Examples include purina.com, windscribe.com, trello.com and cerave.com, which showed no paid Google keywords in September 2026." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How much do the brands ChatGPT recommends spend on Google search ads?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Little. Among brands ChatGPT recommends that do advertise on Google, the typical one bids on 14 search keywords." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Which category has the most ChatGPT-recommended brand websites with no paid Google keywords?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Web hosting and online services, where 10 of 30 brand websites ChatGPT recommends show no paid Google keywords. In beauty, all 4 recommended brand websites show none." } } ] } ] } ] ```