ChatGPT Ads in Heraklion: What You Are Actually Buying

Someone planning a week in Crete used to open Google and type "hotel near Heraklion". Increasingly they open an AI assistant instead and write a whole paragraph: two adults and a child, first week of July, somewhere quiet but not far from the airport, what would you suggest. They get an answer, not a page of ten links. That change in how people ask is the entire reason advertising inside AI assistants exists.

It is new. Newer than anything else on this blog, and that is worth saying plainly before you read another word: there is no decade of case studies behind it, the formats are still moving, and anyone showing you confident numbers about it is guessing.

What an ad inside an assistant actually is

The idea is simple. You ask a question, the assistant answers in its own words, and a paid placement can appear inside or beside that answer, marked as sponsored and tied to what you just asked about. The unit is not a keyword typed into a box. It is a question asked in full sentences, usually with context attached, because the person has already explained who they are and what they need.

That context is the interesting part. In a search box, "restaurant Heraklion" tells you almost nothing. In a conversation, the same person has already said they are travelling with a toddler, they are staying near the harbour, and they do not eat meat. An advertiser reaching that moment is reaching somebody far closer to a decision than the keyword suggests.

How it differs from a Google search ad

• Search hands you a list to compare. An assistant hands you an answer, so there are fewer slots and much less scrolling.
• The trigger is a question in natural language, not a short keyword phrase, so the copy has to answer rather than shout.
• The conversation carries context: budget, dates, who is travelling, what has already been ruled out.
• The click is not always the point. People read the answer, keep the name, and look you up separately later.
• The measurement is younger than Google's. Attribution is thinner, and honest reporting has to say so out loud.

Why a business in Crete might care

Two reasons, neither of them dramatic. First, a share of your customers has already changed how they look for things, and that share is not going back. A visitor comparing tavernas in Rethymno from a hotel bed, a resident hunting for a plumber on a Sunday night: more and more of them ask rather than search. Second, a new advertising surface is usually cheapest and least crowded at the start, before every chain in the sector arrives. Being early is not a guarantee of anything. It is simply a cheaper place to learn.

It rewards the same things good content already does

Here is the reassuring part. An assistant answers well when it has clear, specific, current information to work with. A site that states plainly where you are, what you do, your hours, your prices and who you serve is far easier to use as a source than one built out of slogans. Everything you have already done for local search, from a tidy Google Business profile to clean service pages, counts here too. So the groundwork is not wasted even if you never run a single ad.

What it costs to try

We sell it at two levels. ChatGPT Ads Starter is €149 a month: tracking set up, two campaigns live, and copy written for how people ask rather than how they type into a search box. ChatGPT Ads Pro is €299 a month and adds A/B testing and moving budget between campaigns as the answers change. Both are before VAT, like every other price we publish.

The advertising budget itself is separate and goes to the platform, not to us. We will help you settle on a figure you could lose without it hurting, because that is the correct way to fund an experiment.

What we cannot tell you

We will not quote you reach, impressions, a cost per click or a return figure for this channel, because we do not have honest ones to give. Anyone who does hand you a number for a surface this young has either borrowed it from a different channel or invented it. What we can tell you is what you spent, what was set up, what the copy said, and whatever the platform itself reports back.

How to try it without betting the season on it

Treat it as an experiment running alongside, not a replacement. Keep whatever already brings you customers. Put a small amount here, the kind you would not miss if it went nowhere. Run it for a defined stretch, a month or two, look at what came back, and decide with something in front of you. Then keep it, resize it or stop it. There is no shame in stopping.

Where codegraph comes in

At codegraph we set up and run ChatGPT Ads for businesses in Heraklion, Rethymno and Chania, at €149 or €299 a month, beside the Google and Meta campaigns most of our clients already run. If you want to try the newest surface without a leap of faith, get in touch and we will tell you honestly whether we think it is worth your money this year.