Conversational CTAs: Do you need to make this copywriting shift for brand discovery?

There’s an increasing amount of talk at the moment – especially with ChatGPT ads on the horizon – about conversational ads, AI discovery, and how we need to start writing differently for tools like ChatGPT and Gemini.

BUT… I personally don’t think it’s anything new. It’s how I’ve always written for SEO, and how you may well have written too, for good reason.

(Side note – there are 2 different ways we need to write differently for AI discovery – one is this, conversational CTAs – the other is how we “chunk” our content. I haven’t written a blog post on this yet but you can see a detailed explanation in my free guide to getting found by AI.)

Tom, our Technical Director, has a real “pet hate” of links in text that just say “click here”. And he’s right to – the words “click here” tell Google absolutely nothing about what that page is going to tell you. Interlinking your site pages is a big, often overlooked, part of SEO and what anchor text you use – the words that are actually linked to the page – help with that optimisation by telling Google “the page that I’m linking to is about this subject”. Like above, in the first line of this article where I’ve linked to my blog post “5 things marketers need to know about ChatGPT ads“.

If you wanted to interlink pages properly for SEO, you had to write links like this:

“You can read our full guide to improving your Wi-Fi signal at home here.”

Not:

“Click here for our Wi-Fi guide.”

One is natural, helpful language. One is a button in sentence form.

So now we’re finding that old-skool SEO best practice is actually what works best for:

• AI discovery (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity)
• Voice search
• Social ads
• Website CTAs
• Modern user behaviour in general
• Upcoming ChatGPT ads

Welcome to the era of the conversational CTA.

What is a Conversational CTA?

A conversational CTA is a call-to-action written as part of a natural sentence, rather than a command.

Instead of:

• Buy now
• Learn more
• Click here

You write:

• Not sure which running shoes are right for you? Take our quick quiz and we’ll match you to the perfect pair.

It’s the same outcome, but delivered in – what I would call – a natural tone. I’ve always been quite relaxed in my writing style – not intentionally, I can’t write in a “professional” corporate way (that I think sounds like a robot wrote it, and probably now a days, a robot increasingly did).

Now people are “chatting” with tools like ChatGPT and are shifting into that question and answer way of discovering information, rather than using short keyword searches, natural dialogue is a more natural way of answering the questions being asked.

Why this is also important for voice search

Voice search is only going to grow.

Nobody says to their phone: “Buy now.”

They say: “How do I improve my Wi-Fi signal at home?” Or “Which running shoes are best for flat feet?”Or “What’s the best eco-friendly moisturiser for dry skin?”

If your content and CTAs are written in a way that naturally answers those questions and guides users, you’re far more likely to be surfaced in voice and AI results.

(But again I’d just say it’s good natural SEO writing.)

Why this works in ads too

Compare these two ads:

Traditional CTA:

Take our running shoe quiz now.

Conversational CTA:

Not sure which running shoes are right for you? Take our 30-second quiz and we’ll match you to the perfect pair.

The second mirrors how people think. It reads like a helpful suggestion, not a command. And that almost always performs better.

Examples of Conversational CTAs across industries

If you’re still feeling at a bit of a loss, here’s what this looks like in practice:

#	Industry / Query	Conversational CTA
1	Skincare	“Want to see a full comparison of the top eco-friendly moisturizers? Check out our guide here.”
2	Fitness	“Take our quick quiz to find the perfect home workout routine for your goals.”
3	Home Tech	“Learn 5 simple tricks to boost your Wi-Fi signal – download our free guide.”
4	Finance	“See how you can save up to £500 a year – try our budgeting tool here.”
5	Education	“Want a step-by-step study plan? Grab our free PDF guide here.”
6	Travel	“Curious about the top 10 hidden gems in Italy? Explore our full list.”
7	E-commerce	“Compare prices and read reviews for the best laptops – see our full list here.”
8	Food / Beverage	“Learn how to make your favourite café drinks at home – watch our tutorial.”
9	SaaS	“Try our project management tool free for 14 days – start here.”
10	Wellness	“Discover 5 quick meditation techniques – read our full guide here.”
11	Fashion	“See how to style your new wardrobe pieces – check out our lookbook.”
12	Automotive	“Compare the latest hybrid cars – see our detailed comparison chart.”
13	Entertainment	“Want a curated list of must-watch movies this month? Click here.”
14	Real Estate	“Find out which neighbourhoods are best for families – explore our guide.”
15	Career	“Take our free skills assessment to see where you can grow – start here.”

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So in conclusion…

Conversational CTAs:

• Improve engagement on your website
• Perform better in Meta and social ads
• Help your content surface in Gemini and AI results
• Prepare your brand for ChatGPT-style discovery
• Make your content voice-search friendly
• Improve SEO through meaningful anchor text

What’s not to like?!