Advertising, AI and new rules of the game.
The marketing landscape is moving fast right now.
ChatGPT is now selling ad space – and the conversion numbers are impressive. Google has turned the search engine into a creative workspace, and prompt research is the new discipline you need to know if you want to be cited by AI.
Get fully up to speed with the April edition of Xtracts, your digital news overview.
ChatGPT is now officially open for advertising
ChatGPT is now showing ads to free-tier users in the US – and they are more widespread than most people expect. A test of 500 questions in the app showed that approximately one in five questions triggered an ad. Always as a link format at the bottom of the response. Always targeted to the topic of the conversation.
There are already many advertisers. Travel-related questions trigger the most ads – ask about a weekend trip, and relevant hotel offers appear automatically.
An interesting detail: if you mention a brand by name, a competitor may appear as an ad. This is a well-known tactic from search advertising that has now moved into AI conversations.
OpenAI states that ads are targeted based on the topic of the conversation, previous chats, and the user’s memory in the app. The dismissal rate is low, and according to OpenAI, it does not affect users’ trust in the platform.
The key message: ChatGPT’s advertising ecosystem is no longer a pilot. It is a real channel that is scaling – and the question for marketers is no longer whether to engage with it, but when.
Source: Search Engine Land
Google is building directly inside the search engine
On March 4, 2026, Google rolled out its Canvas feature in the US.
Canvas is an interactive workspace that sits alongside AI Mode. Here, users can write documents, generate code, build apps, create study guides, and convert research into interactive formats – all directly within Google Search. You describe an idea and let Gemini build it.
This is a significant shift. Search has until now been about finding information somewhere else. With Canvas, users remain within Google’s own universe.
AI Mode already has 75 million daily active users according to Alphabet’s Q3 earnings report. Canvas is rolling out to all of them – with no extra subscription or download required.
For marketers, it is a reminder that visibility and traffic must constantly be rethought. It is no longer enough to rank in search results. You also need to be considered as a source by the AI itself.
Source: Tech Crunch
Meta switches “Sponsored” to “Ad” on Instagram and Facebook
Meta has changed its ad labels from “Sponsored” to “Ad” on Instagram, and the new label is significantly smaller. Meta itself explains this as a desire to deliver a cleaner and simpler experience for users. While the smaller “Ad” label potentially benefits advertisers’ performance, critics note that it may make it harder for users to spot paid posts.
EU regulators will likely keep a close eye on the implementation, as the change could qualify as misleading interface design under the Digital Services Act if users cannot clearly identify sponsored content.
For marketers, it is an opportunity to design ads that resemble organic content – but with regulatory risk on the horizon.
Source: Social Media Today
Prompt research: The next layer of your SEO strategy
Search behaviour is changing fundamentally. Users are no longer typing short keywords – they are asking long, conversational questions on AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity. And they follow up with new questions that build on the previous answer.
This introduces a new discipline: prompt research. It is in practice the AI era’s answer to traditional keyword analysis.
The idea is simple. Instead of only mapping keywords, you analyse what questions people actually ask AI systems – and how they phrase and develop them. Prompt research maps these patterns so your content covers the entire universe of questions.
This is particularly relevant for GEO – Generative Engine Optimization. To be cited by AI, your content must match the precise questions your target audience asks.
The practical approach is straightforward: use AI platforms as a research tool. Type your customers’ questions into ChatGPT and Gemini. See who gets cited – and build content that can compete for that spot.
Sources: Search Engine Land
Google Nano Banana 2: AI-generated images for ads in minutes
Google DeepMind has launched Nano Banana 2 – also known as Gemini 3.1 Flash Image. It is a direct upgrade for those working with creative ads and campaign materials.
The model combines the best of two worlds: the intelligence of Nano Banana Pro and the speed of Gemini Flash. The result is an image generation tool that is faster, sharper, and far more usable in a professional marketing context than previous versions.
What is new is that the model can, among other things, keep track of up to five characters and 14 objects in a single workflow and deliver outputs in up to 4K resolution. It is also connected to Google’s real-time web grounding, giving it access to current information when generating infographics and data visualisations.
The practical message for marketers is that you can now generate, test, and iterate campaign assets in minutes rather than days. Nano Banana 2 is directly integrated into Google Ads, the Gemini app, AI Mode, and Google Lens, so no new workflows are required to start using it.
Source: Search Engine Land
