Quick answer: On November 10, 2026, OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT (in beta). It’s free. To claim your business, sign in to ChatGPT, go to chatgpt.com/business-hub, search for your business, pick your listing, prove you own it (business phone, business email, a DNS record on your website’s domain, or your Shopify store), then pass a quick ID check through a service called Persona. Once you’re approved, you can fix the details ChatGPT shows about you, see how often ChatGPT mentions you, and, if you’re an eligible U.S. online store or online service, set up a chat agent for customers.
Last updated: November 11, 2026. This is a beta, so screens, steps and eligibility may change.
What is Businesses in ChatGPT?
The easiest way to think about it: it’s like Google Business Profile, but for ChatGPT. People already ask ChatGPT things like “where can I buy a good pour-over coffee kettle?” or “who sells USA-made holsters?” ChatGPT answers with businesses it finds on the web. Until now, business owners had no say in what it showed and no way to see how often they came up.
Businesses in ChatGPT has three main parts, all managed in one place called Business Hub:
- Your business profile. The information ChatGPT shows when it mentions you: website, description, category, logo, and delivery and return policies. Verified businesses get a blue check.
- Insights. Simple counts of how often ChatGPT mentions you, how many people view your profile, how many click through to your website, and the main topics people were asking about. You see totals and themes, never individual conversations.
- Business Agent (optional, U.S. only for now). A clearly labeled chat that customers can open from your profile to ask questions about your products and policies. It’s built from your own information and instructions.
Retailers can also add a product feed so ChatGPT has your current products, prices and availability.
You can open the Business Hub from the left sidebar in ChatGPT or go straight to chatgpt.com/business-hub.
Why should a business owner care?
OpenAI says about 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT every week. If your customers are among them, ChatGPT is probably already talking about your business, whether or not the details are right.
Claiming your business helps you:
- Correct wrong or outdated info (old website, wrong return policy, missing logo).
- See real numbers on how often ChatGPT brings you up and sends people to your site.
- Learn what people are asking when your site gets cited, which is great input for your website content and SEO.
- Answer customer questions inside ChatGPT with a Business Agent, if you qualify.
What it won’t do: OpenAI is clear that claiming your business doesn’t guarantee better placement or more sales. ChatGPT still makes its own independent recommendations, and it may still use other sources (your website, review sites, directories) when it answers questions about you. Think of claiming as cleaning up your listing, not buying a better spot.
Who can claim a business right now?
This is the part that confuses most people, because what you see depends on your business type and location. Here’s what OpenAI and early testers have reported as of launch week:
|
Business type |
Can you claim a profile? |
Can you set up a Business Agent? |
|---|---|---|
|
Online store (ecommerce) with a website |
Yes, in countries where ChatGPT is available |
Yes, if you’re based in the U.S. and approved |
|
Online service business |
Generally yes, though some early testers saw the “service” option marked “Coming soon” |
Yes, if you’re based in the U.S. and approved |
|
Local store, restaurant or office |
U.S. only, and only for an existing listing; some people are seeing a waitlist |
Not yet |
|
Agencies, consultants, SaaS and other service providers |
Reported as “Coming soon” in the claim flow |
Not yet |
|
Brands with multiple locations |
Each location is claimed separately for now |
Not yet |
|
OpenAI Enterprise customers and ChatGPT advertisers |
Yes, through your OpenAI representative |
Through your representative |
A few more things to know:
- You don’t need a paid ChatGPT plan, a ChatGPT Ads account or an Enterprise agreement to claim your business.
- You must be the owner or someone authorized to act for the business.
- OpenAI can turn down businesses in certain categories, and passing verification doesn’t automatically make you eligible for a Business Agent.
- If you see “Coming soon” or a waitlist, that isn’t something you did wrong. Your business type just hasn’t been opened up yet. Use the checklist below to get ready so you can move fast when it opens.
Before you start: a 5-minute checklist
Gather these first and the process goes much faster:
- A ChatGPT account the business owns. Your business profile attaches to whatever ChatGPT account you’re signed into. Use an account tied to a company email you control (like admin@yourbusiness.com), not an employee’s personal login that could walk out the door with them.
- Access to at least one way to verify ownership:
- The business phone number on your listing (you’ll get a text or automated call), or
- The business email inbox (you’ll get a code), or
- Login access to your domain’s DNS settings (wherever your domain is managed, such as GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Namecheap, or your web host), or
- Admin access to your Shopify store.
- A government photo ID for an owner or authorized person, such as a driver’s license, state ID, passport or passport card, permanent resident card, visa, or work permit. Pick someone who will stay with the business, because the ID check is tied to that person.
- Business paperwork, just in case. Some businesses are asked for registration details and proof that they’re authorized to represent the business. Your business name, address, and registration or tax number should match official records.
- Your profile content: logo, a short plain-English description of what you do, your category, and your delivery and return policies.
Pro tip: Make sure your business name, address, phone number, and website are the same everywhere online (your website, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Yelp, Facebook, industry directories). Mismatches can slow down verification and confuse ChatGPT.
How to claim your business in ChatGPT, step by step
Step 1: Sign in and open Business Hub
Sign in to ChatGPT on the web with the business-owned account. Open Business Hub from the left sidebar, or go to chatgpt.com/business-hub.
Step 2: Find your business
Search for your business by name (searching your website domain can help too). Select the listing that matches your business, then click Get started on the “Claim [your business] in ChatGPT” prompt.
- Can’t find your business? If you’re an eligible online business, you may see an option to add it. You may also be asked how customers usually interact with you (online store, physical location, or service). That choice decides which path you get.
- See “Contact support”? That listing is locked, and you’ll need to request access from OpenAI.
- Already claimed by someone else? See the troubleshooting section below.
Step 3: Confirm the managing account
ChatGPT will ask you to confirm which account will manage the business. Double-check you’re in the business-owned account before you continue. You can add teammates and your agency later.
Step 4: Verify that you own the business
ChatGPT only shows the verification methods that fit your business. Pick one:
Option A: Business phone. Enter the code sent by text or automated call to the phone number on your listing. Best for local businesses with a main line someone answers.
From our own claim: When we claimed YellowWebMonkey, the phone verification timed out on the first try, so we switched to the DNS method. After adding the TXT record, the Verify domain button kept failing, so we went back and tried the phone method again. The second time, it worked. Our advice: if one method stalls, don’t keep clicking the same button. Go back, try a different method, and come back to the first one if you need to.
Option B: Business email. Enter the code sent to the business email address. Best if you control the email inbox on your listing.
Option C: Website domain (DNS TXT record). Best if you or your web person can log in to where your domain is managed. Here’s how it works:
- ChatGPT shows you three values: a Type (TXT), a Host name and a Value that starts with openai-business-claim=.
- In a new tab, log in to your DNS provider (the place your domain is managed) and go to the DNS records area.
- Add a new TXT record and copy the values over exactly.
- Watch the Host field. ChatGPT shows the full host name, but many DNS providers add your domain to the end automatically. If yours does, enter only the first part. Pasting the whole thing can create something like yourdomain.com.yourdomain.com, and verification will fail.
- Paste the Value exactly, including the openai-business-claim= part. Only add quotation marks if your provider requires them.
- Save the record, go back to ChatGPT and click Verify domain.
- If it doesn’t verify right away, wait a bit. DNS changes can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. You can check whether your record is live with a free tool like Google Admin Toolbox Dig (choose TXT and enter your domain).
Two more DNS notes: the record ChatGPT gives you expires, so if you wait too long just generate a new one. And treat that value like a password while your claim is open. Don’t post it or share screenshots of it.
Option D: Shopify. Connect your Shopify store and approve the permissions. Shopify merchants can also do the whole thing from inside Shopify (see the Shopify section below).
Once ownership is verified, your business shows up in the Business Hub with an Overview page, a Products section, an Agent builder (if you’re eligible), an Edit business info button and an Invite button.
Step 5: Verify your identity with Persona
Next you’ll see a Verify your identity banner. OpenAI uses a company called Persona for this check.
Heads up: claiming isn’t the finish line. Right after we claimed our profile, Business Hub showed a banner asking us to verify our identity with a government-issued ID. ChatGPT says it’s required before you can edit your business info or publish a Business Agent. You can see your dashboard and insights tabs, but you can’t change anything until this step is done. Have your ID handy before you start so you can finish in one sitting.
- Click Verify.
- Upload a clear photo of the front of your government ID.
- On a computer without a good camera? Choose Continue on another device and finish on your phone.
- You’ll see an Application in review message. Status updates show up in your organization settings.
Plan on this review taking days, not minutes. OpenAI hasn’t published an official timeline. You need to pass this step before you can publish changes to your profile, connect a product feed or create a Business Agent. Your blue check appears after approval.
Step 6: Complete your business profile
After you’re approved, work through the Get started cards in Business Hub:
- Choose your business category.
- Click Edit business info and review every field: website, description, category, and policies. Fix anything that’s wrong.
- Add your logo, cover photo, and your delivery and return policies.
- If you sell products, connect a product feed or sync Shopify under Products.
- If you’re eligible, review your Business Agent in the Agent builder.
Writing tip for your description: Write it the way a customer would describe you to a friend. Say what you sell or do, who it’s for, and where you serve, in one or two plain sentences. Skip slogans and buzzwords. ChatGPT works best with clear, specific facts.
Step 7: Invite your team or agency
The person who claimed the business can click Invite to add teammates or give an agency access to manage the business or its agent. Each person signs in with their own ChatGPT account. Don’t forward your own claim invitation to someone else.
Shopify store owners: the shortcut
If you run a Shopify store, you can claim your business from your Shopify admin, and connecting through Shopify verifies ownership automatically. It’s optional (you can still claim directly in Business Hub), but it’s usually the fastest path.
Install the ChatGPT Business app
- In your Shopify admin, go to Sales channels > Agentic.
- In the Channels section, click ChatGPT.
- Click Install app, then Install. You can also install it from the Shopify App Store.
Claim your profile
- Go to Apps > ChatGPT in your Shopify admin.
- Click Get started.
- Log in to the ChatGPT account you want to manage the business with (use Switch account if needed), then click Continue.
- If ChatGPT finds a matching business, claim it. If it doesn’t, choose how customers usually interact with your business and create your profile. If it’s already claimed, you’ll see options to search for another business or dispute it.
- Click Manage business.
- Click Verify with Persona to finish the identity check and unlock Business Hub.
Good news for Shopify merchants: if your products are eligible for Shopify Catalog, they’re likely already showing in ChatGPT, with pricing and availability kept up to date automatically. Business profiles and insights are available globally, while Business Agents are limited to eligible U.S.-based stores. Full details are in Shopify’s ChatGPT help article.
How to add your products (retailers)
After identity verification, you have three ways to give ChatGPT your product info:
- Sync your Shopify store (easiest for Shopify merchants).
- Upload a CSV file that follows OpenAI’s product feed specification.
- Point ChatGPT to a hosted feed URL that stays up to date on its own.
Connecting a feed helps ChatGPT get your products right, but it doesn’t publish an agent or guarantee you’ll be recommended.
How to set up a Business Agent (U.S. only for now)
A Business Agent is a chat customers can start from your profile when ChatGPT mentions you. It’s labeled as your business and kept separate from ChatGPT’s own answers.
What it can do: answer questions about your products and policies, help people explore and compare your offerings, and link them to your website.
What it can’t do (yet): complete purchases, make bookings, or look up orders.
To set one up:
- Claim your business and pass Persona verification.
- Open the Agent builder (on Shopify, this is in the ChatGPT app).
- Review the information the agent will use: your profile, products, and policies.
- Write its instructions: what it should help with, your tone, and what to send to your website or support team. Keep within OpenAI’s Business Agents Policy.
- Preview it by asking the questions real customers ask you. Fix anything it gets wrong.
- Click Publish.
Rules to know: The policy says your agent can’t pretend to be a person or an independent advisor, and it can’t make up offers, prices, reviews or guarantees. Once your agent is live, Shopify merchants get a link they can share on their website and social media. An agent can also be promoted as a paid ChatGPT Ads destination, but ads are separate and optional.
How to read your Insights
In Business Hub, the Insights area shows 7-day and 28-day totals for:
- Mentions: For online businesses, how often ChatGPT referenced your website. Just saying your brand name doesn’t count. For local businesses, how often a result for your location was shown.
- Profile views: How often people opened your ChatGPT profile.
- Website clicks: Clicks on links to your site. These are clicks only. They don’t confirm a visit or a sale, so compare them with your own analytics.
- Discovery topics: The most common themes in conversations where your site was cited.
Keep in mind:
- Numbers only show up once there’s enough activity, so a blank isn’t the same as zero. Smaller businesses may see empty charts at first.
- You won’t see the exact questions people asked, which competitors were mentioned instead of you, the text of ChatGPT’s answers, or data from other AI tools like Google Gemini or Claude.
- OpenAI says it doesn’t share customers’ ChatGPT conversations or Business Agent chats with businesses.
Troubleshooting common problems
My DNS verification keeps failing. Nine times out of ten, it’s the Host field (see Step 4, Option C). Other causes: the record hasn’t spread across the internet yet (wait and re-check with a DNS lookup tool), or the record expired (generate a new one in ChatGPT and replace the old value).
A verification method timed out or won’t go through. This happened to us with both phone and DNS. Go back to the verification options and try a different method, or retry the first one. Our phone verification timed out once and then worked on the second try.
Someone else already claimed my business. Open the profile, click the ••• menu and choose Dispute ownership. You’ll go through identity verification as part of the dispute.
I can’t find my business, or I see “Coming soon” or a waitlist. Your business type probably hasn’t opened yet. Local businesses and service providers are rolling out more slowly than online stores. Get your checklist items ready and check back.
ChatGPT still says something wrong about us after I claimed. ChatGPT can still pull from other places on the web. Fix the source: update your website, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Yelp and any directories so they all say the same thing.
My Insights are empty. That usually means you haven’t hit the reporting threshold yet, not that nobody has mentioned you.
Frequently asked questions
Is claiming my business in ChatGPT free?
Yes. OpenAI lists no price for claiming a business, using Business Hub or setting up a Business Agent at launch. ChatGPT Ads are a separate, paid product. OpenAI hasn’t said whether any of this will stay free forever.
Do I need a paid ChatGPT plan?
No. You can claim with a free ChatGPT account. You also don’t need a ChatGPT Ads account or an Enterprise agreement. After you claim, Business Hub may show an “Upgrade to a ChatGPT Business plan” card. That’s optional. It’s a paid team workspace and isn’t needed to claim or manage your business profile.
Is this the same thing as “ChatGPT Business”?
No, and the similar names cause a lot of mix-ups. ChatGPT Business (formerly ChatGPT Team) is a paid subscription that gives your team a shared ChatGPT workspace. Businesses in ChatGPT and Business Hub are the free tools for claiming and managing how your business appears to ChatGPT users. You don’t need one to use the other.
Will claiming my business help me rank higher in ChatGPT?
Not directly. OpenAI says claiming doesn’t guarantee better placement or more sales, and paid ads don’t change ChatGPT’s independent answers. What claiming does is make sure the information ChatGPT shows about you is accurate, and it gives you data to improve your website content.
Do I need a Business Agent to show up in ChatGPT?
No. ChatGPT can mention and show information about your business with or without an agent. An agent just gives customers a way to chat with your business directly.
How long does the whole process take?
The hands-on part is short. Phone and email codes arrive in minutes, and DNS can take a few minutes to several hours. The Persona identity review is the slow part and can take a few days.
Can my web agency or marketing team manage this for me?
Yes. After you claim the business, use the Invite button in Business Hub to give your agency or teammates access. Each person uses their own ChatGPT account. We recommend the owner does the initial claim and ID check, then invites the agency.
Can businesses outside the U.S. claim a profile?
Online businesses can claim a profile in countries where ChatGPT is available, and Shopify says business profiles and insights are available globally. Business Agents, and claiming for local physical locations, are U.S.-only at launch.
What if I have more than one location?
For now, each location is claimed separately. There’s no central dashboard for multi-location brands yet.
Does OpenAI see or share my customers’ conversations?
OpenAI says it doesn’t share individual ChatGPT conversations or Business Agent chats with businesses. You only get combined numbers and general topics.
Is it worth the effort?
If your business type is eligible, yes. It’s free, the setup is mostly a one-time task, and you get a level of visibility into ChatGPT that simply didn’t exist before. Even if you’re on a waitlist, getting your listings consistent and your website clear helps you in ChatGPT, Google, and every other AI tool.
Helpful links
- ChatGPT Business Hub: where you claim and manage your business
- OpenAI: Setting up your business on ChatGPT: the official setup guide
- OpenAI: Introducing Businesses in ChatGPT: the launch announcement
- OpenAI: Businesses in ChatGPT product page
- OpenAI Business Agents Policy
- OpenAI product feed specification
- Shopify Help: ChatGPT sales channel and claiming your business
- ChatGPT Business app on the Shopify App Store
- Google Admin Toolbox Dig: free tool to check whether your DNS TXT record is live
Need a hand getting set up?
If DNS records, Shopify apps, or product feeds aren’t your thing, we can handle it for you. YellowWebMonkey is a veteran-owned and woman-owned Shopify Plus Partner that has been building and managing websites since 2009, and we’ve already been through this claim process ourselves. We can:
- Add and check the DNS record to verify your domain
- Connect your Shopify store and the ChatGPT Business app
- Review and clean up your business profile, description, and policies
- Set up your product feed and, if you’re eligible, your Business Agent
- Make your business name, address, and phone consistent across the web so AI tools get it right
Email support@yellowwebmonkey.com or call 512-677-7689 and we’ll get your business claimed.
