ChatGPT now has its own version of a Google Business Profile. On 10 November 2026 OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT in beta, letting companies claim their listing, get a blue check, update prices and stock, and see how often ChatGPT mentions them.
Eligible US online shops and service companies can also launch a Business Agent: a branded AI chat that answers questions about their products inside ChatGPT.
This guide covers what each part does, who can use it, how to claim your profile step by step, what the analytics show, how the ads tie in, the rules agents must follow, and how it compares with Google Business Profile and GEO tools.
- What it is: a beta programme with three parts: claimable business profiles, the Business Hub dashboard, and Business Agents.
- Cost: claiming and verifying a profile is free, per OpenAI’s setup docs. Ads are a separate, paid option.
- Who: profiles for eligible businesses with a website wherever ChatGPT is available. Agents only for eligible US ecommerce and online-service businesses for now.
- Analytics: last 28 days of mentions, website clicks and “discovery topics”. No individual chats are shared.
- Agents can: explain products and policies, compare items, link to your site. They can’t check out, book or look up orders yet.
- Ads: you can sponsor your agent as a ChatGPT Ads destination. OpenAI says paying does not change how often ChatGPT recommends you.
What OpenAI Launched
OpenAI pitches this at the roughly 1.2 billion people it says use ChatGPT each week. More of them now ask ChatGPT what to buy, and until now businesses had no official way to manage how they show up.
| Part | What it does | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Business profile | Your listing in ChatGPT answers, with a blue check once claimed and verified | Beta, where ChatGPT is available |
| Business Hub | Dashboard to edit details, add product feeds, manage team access and see insights | Beta, opened from the ChatGPT sidebar |
| Business Agent | A branded AI chat that answers using your product data | Beta, eligible US ecommerce and online-service firms |
| Sponsored agent | Use your agent as the landing spot for ChatGPT Ads | Paid, builds on the Sponsored Agents test from 16 Sept |
Note: This is different from ChatGPT Business, the team plan formerly called ChatGPT Team ($25 per user monthly or $20 billed yearly, two-seat minimum). Buying seats does not claim a profile, and claiming a profile gives you no seats.
Who Can Use It (and Who Can’t Yet)
Eligibility has two levels. Claiming a profile is fairly open; publishing an agent is tightly limited for now.
| Feature | Who qualifies | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Claim a profile | Eligible businesses with a website, in countries where ChatGPT is available | Subject to industry, location and integrity checks; some categories may be held back |
| Insights | Claimed and identity-verified businesses | Numbers show only after activity passes unpublished thresholds |
| Business Agent | Eligible US ecommerce and online-service businesses with a website | Separate policy review; verification alone is not enough |
| Local stores and restaurants | Can claim an existing US listing | Each location is managed separately from the main brand |
| Enterprise customers and advertisers | Can claim through their OpenAI representative | Same rules apply |
OpenAI says more markets, more business categories and tools for complex organisations will follow, with no dates given. Coverage from Trending Topics confirms profile claiming is open in Europe too.
How to Claim Your Business Profile
OpenAI’s setup docs, summarised by GrowthX, describe the flow below. There is no separate sign-up website; everything starts inside ChatGPT.
- Sign in to ChatGPT with the account you want to manage the business. Teammates get their own access later, so use an account you control long-term.
- Open Business Hub from the ChatGPT sidebar and search for your business name.
- Pick the right listing and confirm the managing account.
- Choose a verification method. Options include a text or automated call to the business phone, an email to a business address, a DNS TXT record on your domain, or signing in to your Shopify store.
- Wait for review. OpenAI reviews the claim and emails a decision or asks for more information. It gives no fixed timeline.
- Complete identity verification with Persona. You may need a government ID, registration details and proof you can act for the business. Names, addresses and registration or tax numbers must match official records.
- Get the blue check. It appears only after Persona approves. Then you can edit details, connect feeds, see insights and build an agent.
Tip: The DNS TXT method is usually the least fuss for online businesses. Add the record your Business Hub screen shows at your domain host, wait for it to propagate, then confirm.
What You Can Edit in Business Hub
Once verified, you control the basics of your listing. Every change is reviewed by OpenAI before it goes live, so updates can take time to appear.
- Core details: website, description, product or service category, logo and cover photo.
- Policies: delivery policy and return policy.
- Product feeds: prices and stock levels. Shopify merchants are fed automatically through Shopify Catalog, and eligible Shopify products are already in ChatGPT.
- Team access: the admin who claimed the profile can add teammates and give agencies access. Each person uses their own ChatGPT account.
Warning: OpenAI’s policy bans misleading claims about prices, availability, qualifications or results. It can also build a listing for you whether or not you claim it, and may add information from other sources.
Business Hub Insights Explained
This is the part marketers have wanted since AI answers started eating search clicks. Insights covers the past 28 days.
| Metric | What it means | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Mentions | How often ChatGPT referenced your business in answers | For online businesses, counts only when ChatGPT references your website |
| Website clicks | Clicks from ChatGPT to your site | Does not confirm visits or sales; check your own analytics |
| Discovery topics | Common themes in conversations that cited you | Aggregated; never shows individual prompts |
| Blank values | Low volume, data still collecting, or reporting unavailable | Blank does not mean zero |
What you don’t get: individual prompts, agent chat logs, competitor benchmarks, conversion tracking or data export. OpenAI says it never shares users’ conversations or Business Agent chats with businesses.
If you publish content, it is worth knowing which crawler controls this. Appearing in ChatGPT search depends on OAI-SearchBot, while GPTBot relates to training. Our AI crawlers and robots.txt guide explains how to allow one and block the other.
How to Build a Business Agent
A Business Agent is a little like a custom GPT that only talks about your business. It answers from the information you give it and links back to your site.
- Check eligibility. You need a claimed, Persona-verified profile, a US ecommerce or online-service business, and a website.
- Connect product data. Use Shopify (via Business Hub or the Shopify admin) or upload a product feed with prices and availability.
- Build. Add instructions and the details the agent should rely on: products, policies, shipping, returns.
- Test. Preview it with the questions customers really ask, such as “Does this come in size 10?” or “What’s your return window?” Fix wrong answers by correcting the data or instructions.
- Publish. Submit for policy review. Approval depends on your category and intended use, and a claimed profile does not mean an agent goes live.
What the agent can and can’t do
| Can do | Can’t do (yet) |
|---|---|
| Explain products and policies | Complete checkout |
| Recommend and compare items | Make bookings |
| Link to your website | Look up orders |
| Answer from your product feed | Take payment (OpenAI is building agent payments with Visa) |
The Rules Every Business Agent Must Follow
OpenAI’s Business Agents Policy, as summarised by Unite.AI and GrowthX, is stricter than most chatbot rules. Breaking it can get an agent suspended or removed.
- Disclose it is AI representing the business, not a human, an independent adviser or an OpenAI-endorsed service.
- Keep facts current: claims about offerings, prices, availability and conditions must be accurate.
- No pressure: no false urgency, no pushing after a user says no, no exploiting vulnerable users.
- Minimal data: no asking for unnecessary high-risk personal information.
- Explicit consent: purchases, bookings, form submissions and sharing user data need the user’s clear approval through an approved feature.
- No licensed advice: general information is fine, advice that legally needs a professional licence is not.
- Human review for any high-stakes decision.
What It Looks Like for ChatGPT Users
For everyday users, little changes in normal answers. ChatGPT still makes its own recommendations and can show businesses that have no agent.
- Blue check: marks a claimed, verified profile. Unite.AI notes it shows the claim is verified, not that every detail is checked.
- Agent chats are separate: tapping a business opens a labelled conversation with its agent, apart from your main ChatGPT chat.
- Sponsored labels: paid placements are marked and kept apart from ChatGPT’s answers.
- Buying: you finish purchases on the brand’s own website for now.
Tip: Treat an agent like a shop assistant, not a neutral reviewer. For an independent comparison, ask ChatGPT itself in your main chat, or use ChatGPT deep research for bigger purchases.
Ads and Sponsored Agents
OpenAI is selling the same agent as an ad product. A business can sponsor its Business Agent as the destination for ChatGPT Ads, so an ad click opens a conversation with the agent.
This builds on the Sponsored Agents test OpenAI started on 16 September 2026 with select US advertisers. According to Digiday, cited by The Next Web, OpenAI says paying does not change how often ChatGPT recommends a business.
The scale is real. The Next Web reports ChatGPT ads passed a $1 billion annual run rate in August with 100,000 advertisers; Trending Topics dates that milestone to September and says advertisers span 89 countries.
Claiming a profile, publishing an agent and advertising are three separate steps. You can use the profile and insights without spending anything on ads.
Business Hub vs Google Business Profile vs GEO Tools
The Decoder compared Business Hub to Google Business Profile. GEO (generative engine optimisation) startups such as Peec AI, Profound and OtterlyAI sell a different angle: visibility tracking across many AI tools.
| Feature | ChatGPT Business Hub | Google Business Profile | GEO trackers (Peec AI, Profound, OtterlyAI) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Covers | ChatGPT only | Google Search and Maps | Several AI assistants |
| Data source | First-party ChatGPT data | First-party Google data | Simulated prompts and estimates |
| Claim cost | Free | Free | Paid subscriptions |
| Branded chat agent | Yes (US, eligible categories) | No | No |
| See individual prompts | No | Not applicable | Their own test prompts only |
| Covers Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, AI Overviews | No | Partly (Google surfaces) | Yes, depending on tool |
The two are complementary. Business Hub gives you real ChatGPT numbers; GEO tools estimate how you appear everywhere else.
Limits, Privacy and Open Questions
- No placement guarantee: OpenAI says claiming does not guarantee visibility, ranking or sales.
- Persona first: nothing beyond a basic claim works until identity verification is approved.
- Published profiles stay: GrowthX notes OpenAI Support can only remove unpublished drafts.
- Locations: claiming a brand does not claim its individual store locations.
- Chat retention: OpenAI pages do not state how long agent chats are kept or whether they train models.
- Lead data: if your agent collects leads, you are responsible for privacy notices and consent.
- Conflict concerns: Trending Topics quotes SEO experts who see a conflict in one company both measuring visibility and selling paid agent conversations.
Note: OpenAI’s announcement page was not reachable from our tools during research. Details here come from OpenAI’s help and policy pages as quoted by GrowthX, Unite.AI and PYMNTS, plus The Next Web’s launch report.
Troubleshooting Common Claim Problems
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No claim button, only “Contact support” | Listing is locked | Contact support from the profile menu |
| Someone else already claimed it | Former staff, agency or impostor | Use Dispute ownership in the profile menu (routes through Persona) |
| Persona rejects you | Name, address or tax number doesn’t match records | Make details match official registration exactly, then retry |
| Can’t build an agent | Not US, not ecommerce/online service, or category held back | Use the profile and insights; wait for expansion |
| Insights blank | Below reporting thresholds or still collecting | Check again later; blank is not zero |
| Edits not showing | Pending OpenAI review | Wait; changes are reviewed before publishing |
My Take
For any business, the free part is a no-brainer: claim your profile and fix your details, because OpenAI will build a listing for you anyway. The 28-day mentions and clicks data is the first official window into ChatGPT visibility, even if it’s thin.
Business Agents are more interesting long term than today. Without checkout, bookings or order lookups, they are a smart FAQ that sends people to your site. Once Visa payments land, they become a real sales channel inside ChatGPT.
The ad tie-in is where I’d watch closely. OpenAI promises paid agents don’t change recommendations, but the same company now sells both the measuring stick and the shortcut. Users should treat agent chats as sales talk and keep independent comparisons in the main chat.
For more on where ChatGPT is heading, see our ChatGPT Work and agent mode guide.
FAQ
Is it free to claim a business in ChatGPT?
Yes. OpenAI’s setup docs say claiming and verification are free. Ads that use your Business Agent are a separate paid option.
Where is Business Hub in ChatGPT?
Open it from the ChatGPT sidebar, then search for your business. There is no separate sign-up site.
Can businesses outside the US use it?
They can claim profiles where ChatGPT is available, including Europe. Business Agents are limited to eligible US ecommerce and online-service businesses for now.
Can I see what people ask ChatGPT about my business?
No. You get aggregated mentions, website clicks and discovery topics for the last 28 days, but never individual prompts or agent chats.
Can customers buy directly from a Business Agent?
Not yet. Agents link to your website for checkout, and OpenAI is building agent payments with Visa.
Does paying for ads make ChatGPT recommend my business more?
OpenAI says no. Sponsored placements are labelled and kept separate, and paying does not change how often ChatGPT recommends a business, according to Digiday’s reporting.
Do I need a Shopify store?
No. Shopify is one verification and feed option, but you can verify by phone, email or DNS and upload your own product feed.
Is this the same as ChatGPT Business?
No. ChatGPT Business is the paid team plan (formerly ChatGPT Team). Businesses in ChatGPT is the free profile and agent programme for companies that want to appear in ChatGPT.
Sources
- OpenAI: Introducing Businesses in ChatGPT
- The Next Web: OpenAI lets businesses claim ChatGPT profiles and launch their own agents
- GrowthX: Businesses in ChatGPT guide (quotes OpenAI setup docs and policy)
- Unite.AI: OpenAI launches Business Hub and Business Agents
- PYMNTS: OpenAI gives businesses new tools to reach ChatGPT users
- Trending Topics: A new rival for GEO startups
- The Decoder (German): Businesses in ChatGPT
