Somantra's study of 34,279 ChatGPT Queries related to General Insurance Finds Ads Cluster Around Shopping Questions

Somantra research maps how ChatGPT advertising is taking shape in Australia: "best", "cheap" query responses show more ads vs. "why", "what" questions.

SYDNEY, NSW, AUSTRALIA, October 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A new study of ChatGPT advertising in Australia finds that ads appear most often when people ask shopping questions. Somantra, the Sydney-based AI search brand visibility platform, analysed 34,279 ChatGPT insurance queries in August 2026. Queries using "best", "top" or "recommended" carried an ad 85% of the time, against 76% across all queries, while explanation and claims questions carried fewer.

Somantra analysed 31,820 ChatGPT responses to Australian insurance queries after removing repeated response text.
The analysis showed that ChatGPT responses for shopping language and location related queries showed more ads:
• "Best", "top" or "recommended": 8.0 percentage points more likely to carry an ad
• Mentioning a state or city: 5.2 points more likely
• "Discount", "deal" or "save": 2.3 points more likely

Questions asking for an explanation, or about a claim, went with fewer:
• Starting with "why": 6.8 points less likely
• Starting with "what is" or "what does": 6.0 points less likely
• About a claim: 5.1 points less likely

The gaps are modest against a high base. Even "why" questions carried an ad 72% of the time. Words such as "quote", "price" and "buy" showed no clear link to ads. Somantra audited the wording effect on two separate days in August 2026.

Somantra then tested what happens when one word changes. Asking the exact same question twice gave a different ad outcome 31% of the time, across 747 pairs. That is the normal variation any wording change has to beat. Against it, adding "best" raised the ad rate from 82.5% to 96.9% across 97 pairs: an ad appeared in 17 pairs and disappeared in 3. Adding "cheap" raised it from 67% to 91% across 33 pairs.

Single words also shifted individual advertisers. In pairs with and without "cheap" or "cheapest", Budget Direct's ad appeared only on the version with the word in 23 pairs, and only on the version without it in 4. "Online" and "commercial" showed the same pattern.

"A single screenshot of ChatGPT tells a brand almost nothing," said Arun Prasad, Founder of Somantra. "Ask the same question twice and the ad changes about a third of the time. Testing thousands of one-word changes is how you separate real patterns from that noise. The pattern is clear: when people shop, ads move in, and when people try to understand their cover, ads move back. This is a sophisticated mechanism to build brand mindshare."

Because ads cluster on "best", "cheap" and location questions, paid placement is helping brands build brand mindshare the moment a buyer's shortlist is formed.

Methodology
==================
Somantra asked ChatGPT 34,279 insurance queries from Australia on desktop, as a user with no history, in August 2026. No query named an insurer. All differences reported passed Somantra's statistical checks, but they do not prove the wording caused an ad to appear, and the query features tested explain little of the overall variation. The one-word comparison with added words covers 281 pairs, and several words have fewer than 20, so these are early findings.

Availability
==================
The full report, including the query and perturbation analysis, is available free at https://somantra.ai/post/state-of-chatgpt-ads-australian-insurance-2026. Brands can request a free AI search brand audit at https://somantra.ai/free-brand-audit.

About Somantra
==================
Somantra is a Sydney-based AI search brand visibility platform specialising in Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). It measures how brands appear across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, and whether they are chosen, not just cited, through its Brand Mindshare, Brand Consideration and Brand Engagement Scores. Somantra's research uses large-scale conversational testing and perturbation analysis, with a focus on the Australian market.
Learn more at https://somantra.ai.

Arun Prasad
Somantra Pty Ltd
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
X