On November 10, OpenAI opened Business Hub, a place where companies can take ownership of their ChatGPT profile and see how often ChatGPT mentions them. It’s still in beta and there are open questions, but if you’re a US business with a website, I’d claim yours now.
It’s the same step most businesses took with Google Business Profile years ago. You take control of the listing so the information people see about you is information you approved.
What Business Hub gives you
Once you’re verified, you can edit the details ChatGPT uses about your business, including your name, description, contact information and the links it shares. Online stores can also add a product feed with pricing and availability, and Shopify merchants can connect their store directly.
The part I’m most interested in is the reporting. Business Hub shows:
- Mentions: how often ChatGPT brings up your business
- Website clicks from ChatGPT to your site
- Discovery topics: the top themes in conversations where your business appears
- Profile views (shown in OpenAI’s example, though early users say it isn’t on their dashboards yet)
You can look at the last 7 or 28 days. The data is aggregated, so you won’t see individual prompts or conversations.
This is OpenAI’s own data. Before this, most businesses had two options for seeing how ChatGPT talks about them: type prompts in yourself, or pay for a third-party tool that samples answers. Both are useful, but neither comes from the source.
How to claim your business
- Go to Business Hub and search for your business. If it isn’t listed, add your website and pick a business type.
- Verify that you control the business. You can use a code sent by text or automated call to your business phone, a code sent to a business email, a TXT record added to your domain’s DNS, or a Shopify connection. A DNS record or an email at your own domain is usually the easiest to prove.
- Complete the identity check. OpenAI works with a company called Persona, which may ask for a government-issued ID and your business registration details. You’ll also need to show you’re authorized to represent the company.
- Update your profile. Fix anything that’s wrong or missing, especially your description and the links ChatGPT shares.
- Give the reporting some time. Data only shows up once activity passes a threshold OpenAI hasn’t disclosed, so a newer or smaller business may see a blank dashboard for a while.
For the full walkthrough, see OpenAI’s setup guide.
A few things to watch for
Your names need to match. The identity check compares what you enter against official records. If your legal entity name is different from the name customers know (an LLC registered under one name and operating under another, for example), expect that to slow things down. One early user who claimed his profile on launch day flagged this as the most likely sticking point. He also got a verification error twice before it went through on the third try, so retry a couple of times before assuming the account is blocked.
Availability is limited for now. OpenAI says claiming is open to eligible businesses wherever ChatGPT is available, but eligibility depends on your industry and location, and you have to pass verification. At least one business outside the US was waitlisted on day one. A developer testing from Italy also reported that local businesses can only claim an existing listing, and only in the US. Expect the rules to change during the beta.
Clicks aren’t visits. OpenAI says: “Clicks don’t confirm website visits or conversions.” Treat the click count as a signal and keep using your own analytics to see who lands on your site.
Hijacking is a real concern. If you’ve ever dealt with a hijacked or duplicate Google listing, you know how long it can take to undo. Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable said he was “honestly nervous about people hijacking businesses on here,” and OpenAI hasn’t explained how it handles two people claiming the same business. That’s one more reason to claim yours early.
What we don’t know yet
OpenAI hasn’t said whether claiming a profile changes how often ChatGPT recommends you. My read is that it works a lot like a Google Business Profile. Claiming it won’t put you in front of more people on its own, but it makes sure the details are right when you do come up in an answer.
Another piece of this launch is Business Agents, a branded chat assistant a company can set up inside ChatGPT to answer product and policy questions. For now those are limited to US ecommerce and online service businesses, and they can be promoted through ChatGPT Ads. Most local service businesses won’t have access yet, so I’d focus on the profile first.
If you claim yours, I’d be curious what your discovery topics show once data starts coming in. I think that report will tell us the most about how people are finding businesses through ChatGPT.
