Local customers don’t just search “plumber near me” any more. Many now open ChatGPT and describe the whole problem: “My hot water system is leaking and I live in Pakenham. Is it worth repairing or should I replace it?” ChatGPT gives an answer, and since 2026 an ad may appear underneath it.
For local businesses in Melbourne and across Victoria, that’s a new chance to be seen at the moment someone is working out what to do. Here’s how ChatGPT ads fit a local business, which types of business can use them, and how to set one up with a local focus.
Why ChatGPT matters for local businesses
People use ChatGPT for the research phase of local purchases: comparing options, understanding costs, and figuring out what kind of help they need. The conversations are long and specific. Someone might mention their suburb, their budget, the age of their house and what they’ve already tried.
An ad that appears after that conversation can speak directly to the situation. For a business that serves a defined area, that’s valuable, because the person has often already told ChatGPT exactly where they are and what they need.
Which local businesses are a good fit
OpenAI supports local services as an ad category, along with household goods, travel and experiences, and education. Good candidates in Melbourne’s south-east and beyond include:
- Trades and home services: builders, electricians, plumbers, landscapers, cleaners, pest control, solar installers
- Home improvement: kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, blinds, pools
- Experiences and activities: tours, classes, kids’ activities, event venues, attractions
- Education and training: tutoring, driving schools, short courses, music lessons
- Retail and hospitality: homewares, gifts, specialty food, cafés with a clear point of difference
- Professional services outside restricted categories: design, marketing, photography, accounting software
Which local businesses can’t use ChatGPT ads yet
For Australian advertisers, OpenAI currently blocks or tightly restricts:
- Medical, dental, allied health and telehealth services
- Lawyers and legal services
- Most financial services, including mortgage brokers, lenders and investment advice
- Bottle shops, bars promoting alcohol, and anything gambling related
If that’s you, Google Ads and your Google Business Profile remain the better investment for now.
How to make a ChatGPT ad feel local
ChatGPT ads don’t use keyword lists, so the local signal has to come from what you write and where you send people:
- Name your service area in your context hints. For example: “homeowners in Pakenham, Officer, Berwick or Narre Warren planning a backyard makeover”.
- Put the suburb in the headline where it fits naturally, such as “Landscaping in Berwick and Officer, free on-site quotes”.
- Send clicks to a page that mentions your service area, ideally a service page or a genuine location page rather than a thin one. Our guide to local SEO in Melbourne’s south-east explains what good local pages include.
- Check the location settings in Ads Manager. Campaigns have target countries, and targeting options are still being added during the beta, so use the most specific option available.
- Show local proof on the landing page: recent jobs, photos from nearby suburbs, and real Google reviews.
Write context hints the way customers talk
Think about the questions customers ask you on the phone, then describe those situations. For a local landscaper, that might be:
- “Choosing low-maintenance plants for a new estate backyard in Melbourne’s south-east”
- “How much a retaining wall or new lawn costs in Victoria”
- “Getting a backyard ready to sell a house in Casey or Cardinia”
These are far more useful than single words like “landscaping” because they describe the intent behind the conversation.
What a sensible first campaign looks like
- One campaign, with click-based billing and a fixed test budget
- One or two ad groups, each focused on a single service
- Three to five context hints per ad group, written as real situations
- Two ad variations with different headlines, each linking to the matching service page
- The OpenAI pixel and UTM links in place before launch
- A weekly review for at least four weeks
We’ve written a full example ChatGPT ad campaign walkthrough for a fictional local landscaper, showing each step and how to read the numbers.
Use it alongside your other local marketing
ChatGPT ads work best as one part of a local marketing mix, not a replacement for it. Your Google Business Profile, reviews and website still do most of the heavy lifting for local businesses. ChatGPT ads add an extra way to reach people earlier in their research. For a comparison of the channels, see ChatGPT Ads vs Google Ads vs Meta Ads.
Local help with ChatGPT ads
Madexify is based in Pakenham and works with businesses across Officer, Beaconsfield, Berwick, Narre Warren, Cranbourne, Clyde, Bunyip and wider Melbourne. We set up and manage ChatGPT ad campaigns through OpenAI Ads Manager for a flat monthly fee. See our ChatGPT ads management service, or read how to advertise on ChatGPT if you’d like to run it yourself.
This article is part of our Online Advertising Guide. Browse all our guides on the guides page.
