On November 10, 2026, OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT in beta, and any eligible business can now claim its profile for free through a new Business Hub. Claiming lets you control the details ChatGPT shows about your business, add product information, and see how often ChatGPT mentions your website.
It does not buy you recommendations, and it is not the same thing as the paid ChatGPT Business plan. This guide walks through the whole process, step by step, including the verification traps we hit while claiming FrostRank's own profile in launch week.
ChatGPT now reaches about 1.2 billion people a week, according to OpenAI's launch announcement. When those people ask for product comparisons or local recommendations, ChatGPT answers from what it knows about businesses. Claiming your profile is how you make sure the information it uses about you is accurate and current, rather than stale data scraped from somewhere else.
ChatGPT business account vs. Business Hub claim: don't mix them up
The naming here is genuinely confusing, so let's clear it up first. "ChatGPT Business" is a paid workspace plan for teams, with shared seats, admin controls, and business data protections. "Businesses in ChatGPT" is a separate, free product: a public profile for your business that appears when ChatGPT mentions you. Claiming a business profile does not require the paid plan, and buying the paid plan does not claim your profile.
Search results mix the two constantly, because both live under the "ChatGPT business" umbrella. If you are a business owner looking for visibility in ChatGPT answers, you want Business Hub, not a workspace subscription. If you are looking for a team ChatGPT plan with admin controls, you want the paid plan. This article is about the first one: the free claim.
A free personal ChatGPT account is enough to claim a business. You sign in, open Business Hub from the sidebar, and search for your business by name. OpenAI states plainly that you do not need an Ads account or a ChatGPT Enterprise agreement to claim an eligible business.
What you get when you claim your business on ChatGPT
Claiming gives you a managed profile in Business Hub. Once your claim is approved, you can update your website, business description, product or service category, logo, delivery policy, and return policy, and add a cover photo. OpenAI reviews changes before publishing them, so updates take some time to appear.
You can also connect a product feed. If you sell products, you can upload a CSV feed that follows OpenAI's product feed specification, link a hosted feed file, or connect a Shopify store. The feed shares prices and availability with ChatGPT, so answers about your products use current data instead of guesses.
Then there are the insights. Business Hub shows aggregated activity over the past 28 days: how often ChatGPT mentions your business, how often people click through to your website, and the discovery topics behind those mentions. Discovery topics are the common themes in answers where your website was cited. They do not reveal individual prompts, and OpenAI does not share user conversations with businesses.
For eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the United States, claiming also unlocks the option to build a Business Agent: a labeled chat experience that answers customer questions from the information you provide. Agents are a separate, optional step, and they are not available to every business or in every country yet.
Finally, claiming lets you bring your team along. The admin who claimed the business can add teammates in Business Hub and grant an agency access, with each person using their own ChatGPT account. That matters if someone else manages your marketing or your store.
What claiming does NOT do
Honesty first, because the launch coverage oversells this. Claiming your business does not guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend you more often, and it gives you no direct control over ChatGPT's independent recommendations. OpenAI says this explicitly in its own help pages. Advertising does not influence ChatGPT's independent answers either.
Claiming also does not publish your changes instantly. OpenAI reviews and publishes updates to business details, and updates can take time to appear in a listing or a generated answer. ChatGPT may also draw on other sources when answering questions about your business, so a saved change does not mean every answer will reflect it right away.
And claiming alone does not earn the blue verified check. That badge appears only after a separate identity verification step with Persona is approved. A claimed-but-unverified profile is still manageable, but it carries no badge, and several features stay locked until Persona approves you.
None of this makes claiming pointless. Accurate information is the foundation of every other AI-visibility effort. If you are already working on getting cited in AI answers, a claimed ChatGPT profile is the same idea applied directly to the source: you, telling the model what is true about your business.
Before you start: what you need
You need three things before you begin. First, a ChatGPT account you control, because the claim is tied to the account that makes it. Second, the authority to represent the business: you must own it or be authorized to act for it. Third, one working verification route, which usually means access to the business phone, the business email inbox, the domain's DNS settings, or the Shopify store.
Gather the Persona documents early, even though that step comes later. Persona may ask for a government-issued ID, business registration information, and proof that you are authorized to represent the business. If your business is not a registered entity, expect questions: have whatever official records you do have ready, and make sure the business name, address, and any registration or tax number you provide match your official records exactly.
It also helps to have your business details written down before you open the form. The profile description field has a character limit, and long text gets cut off without warning. We learned that firsthand: our first description was trimmed mid-sentence. Keep it short, around 200 characters, and lead with what you offer.
How to claim your business on ChatGPT, step by step
The steps below follow OpenAI's official setup guide, plus the gotchas we hit while claiming FrostRank. The flow can vary slightly by business type and location, because OpenAI shows only the verification methods that apply to your listing.
Step 1: Open Business Hub and search for your business
Sign in to ChatGPT and open Business Hub from the sidebar. Search for your business by name. If a listing matches, select it and confirm the ChatGPT account you will use to manage it. If you received a claim invitation by email, open the personal link in that email and sign in with the address that received it.
Step 2: Add your business if it is not listed
If you cannot find your business, you may see an option to add it. That option is for eligible online businesses. Local stores and restaurants can currently claim only an existing U.S. listing, so if you run a local business outside the United States, you may not be able to claim yet. If your listing shows "Contact support," it is locked, and you need to request help with access.
Step 3: Choose a verification method
Pick one of the verification methods shown for your business: business phone, business email, website domain, or Shopify store. The phone and email methods send a code you enter in ChatGPT. The domain method asks you to add a DNS TXT record. The Shopify method connects your store through a login. Choose the route you can complete fastest; you can complete Persona verification later regardless of which method you start with.
Step 4: Verify with your website domain (the method most website owners will use)
Select "Website domain," and ChatGPT will show you a TXT record: a type, a name or host, and a value. Copy all three exactly into your domain's DNS settings. The host looks like openai-business-profile.yourdomain.com, and the value starts with openai-business-profile= followed by a token.
Three gotchas matter here. First, the token expires fast, in about 30 minutes. Add the record promptly, and do not leave the flow open while you do something else. Second, re-entering the claim flow generates a brand-new token, which instantly makes the old one useless. If you leave and come back, update your DNS record to the new value before verifying.
Third, verify from the same browser tab and flow that issued the token, and mind the name field in your DNS provider. In Cloudflare, for example, you enter only openai-business-profile as the name, not the full host. Entering the full host creates a doubled record that will never verify.
DNS changes also take time to propagate. If verification fails right after you add the record, wait about five minutes and try again before changing anything. Our first verification failed twice on a live record, and the next attempt, after a short wait, went through. The record's TTL is typically 300 seconds, so patience is part of the process.
Step 5: Complete your profile details
After verification, ChatGPT asks for your business category and a short description. Pick the category that actually describes what you do, not the closest-sounding one. We found "Software company" after "Web designer" proved wrong for a tools site, and the distinction matters: the category shapes how ChatGPT presents you.
Keep the description short and factual, and remember the character limit. Mention what you offer, who it is for, and one honest differentiator. Skip slogans and superlatives; ChatGPT will quote this text in conversations, so write something you would be happy to see repeated verbatim.
Step 6: Wait for claim approval
OpenAI reviews your claim and emails you its decision or a request for more information. Review time varies. While the claim is under review, you can cancel it from Business Hub if you need to. Wait for the review to finish before trying again if anything is pending.
Step 7: Complete Persona identity verification
After your claim is approved, complete identity verification with Persona. Select "Verify with Persona," continue to Persona, and submit the requested information. This step unlocks publishing changes, viewing insights, connecting a product feed, and creating a business agent. The blue verified check appears only after Persona approval.
One warning from OpenAI's own guide: if you use Persona to create a new profile, approval automatically publishes the profile. There is no separate publishing step, so continue only when your details are ready. If a Persona check fails or expires, follow the instructions in the email, and use "Try again" if it is available.
The four verification methods, compared
| Method | What you need | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business phone | Access to the listed number for an SMS or call code | Businesses with a public phone number | The code goes to the number on file, not any number you choose |
| Business email | Access to the inbox of the address tied to the business | Businesses with a domain email | Personal inboxes do not count; the address must be associated with the business |
| Website domain | Access to the domain's DNS settings | Any business with a website | Token expires in about 30 minutes; re-entering the flow regenerates it |
| Shopify store | Login access to the Shopify store | Shopify merchants | Review the permissions before connecting; the store must belong to the business |
If more than one method is offered, pick the one you control most directly. Domain verification is usually the most reliable for website owners, because it does not depend on a phone number or inbox you might not monitor. If someone else manages your domain, ask them to add the record for you, and stay in the same ChatGPT tab while they do it.
Troubleshooting: when verification fails
An expired token is the most common failure. The symptom is a verification error even though the DNS record is correct. The fix is to get a fresh token from the claim flow, update the TXT value in your DNS settings to match it exactly, wait a few minutes, and verify from the same tab. Do not keep retrying with the old value.
A second common failure is DNS propagation delay. The record may be live on one resolver and invisible on another. Check the record with a DNS lookup before concluding anything is wrong, and give it at least five minutes. If verification keeps failing after the record is visible everywhere, contact OpenAI Support with the step you were on, the error message, and a screenshot with sensitive information removed.
A third failure is subtler: an unverified claim is not findable. If you start a claim, leave, and search Business Hub for your business, you may see "No matching business" even though the claim exists. That is expected. Re-entering the flow creates a fresh claim with a fresh token, so treat the flow as one session and finish it in one sitting.
If your claim or Persona verification is pending, wait for OpenAI's email decision before trying again. If a Persona check fails, make sure the business name, address, and any registration or tax number match your official records, then retry with corrected information. Submitting information to Persona does not mean verification is approved.
After your claim is approved: insights, feeds, and agents
Once your claim and Persona verification are approved, open your business in Business Hub and select Insights. You will see mentions and website clicks over the past 28 days, plus discovery topics. For an online business, a mention counts when ChatGPT references your website; naming your brand alone does not count. For a local business, a mention counts when ChatGPT shows a result for that location.
Counts may be incomplete, and a blank metric does not necessarily mean zero activity. It can mean activity has not reached the reporting threshold, data is still being collected, or reporting is unavailable. Do not read a blank dashboard as proof that nobody is finding you.
If you sell products, connect a product feed next. Upload a CSV feed or link a hosted feed file, or connect your Shopify feed. Remember that connecting a feed does not publish an agent and does not guarantee that ChatGPT recommends your products. It simply gives ChatGPT accurate prices and availability to work with.
If your business is eligible for an agent, review the information the agent will use, preview it with a question customers actually ask, and fix wrong answers by updating the information or instructions before you publish. Customers can only chat with a published agent, and the agent cannot complete purchases, make bookings, or check orders. It explains products and policies and links to your website, where customers finish those actions.
Claiming is one layer of AI visibility, not the whole stack. A machine-readable summary of your site helps every AI system, not just ChatGPT, which is why a free llms.txt generator belongs in the same workflow: it produces the file that tells AI crawlers what your site offers. And on the Google side, the same "claim your presence" idea applies to Preferred Sources, which lets readers pick your site for Top Stories.
Is claiming your business on ChatGPT free?
Yes, claiming is free at launch. OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT in beta, and claiming a business through Business Hub costs nothing. You do not need an Ads account or an Enterprise agreement, and you do not need to publish an agent or run ads to manage your business information and use the available insights.
That said, treat "free" as the launch position, not a permanent promise. OpenAI has not ruled out charging for some of this later, and the paid pieces already exist around the edges.
Businesses can sponsor their Business Agent as a destination for ChatGPT Ads, and those sponsored placements are clearly labeled and separate from ChatGPT responses. The claim itself, the profile, and the insights are the free core.
For a small business, the honest calculation is simple. The claim costs nothing but an hour of careful setup, and the worst case is a more accurate profile. The best case is better-informed answers about your business in front of a very large audience. That is a good trade even with the visibility caveats.
Frequently asked questions
Is it free to claim your business on ChatGPT?
Yes. Claiming through Business Hub is free at launch, with no Ads account or Enterprise agreement needed. OpenAI has not ruled out charging for some features later, so treat free as the launch position rather than a permanent promise.
Do I need a ChatGPT business account to claim my business?
No. A free personal ChatGPT account can claim a business through Business Hub. ChatGPT Business is a separate paid workspace plan for teams, and claiming a business profile does not require it.
How do I verify my business on ChatGPT?
OpenAI offers four methods: business phone, business email, website domain via a DNS TXT record, and Shopify store. The methods shown depend on your business type and location. Domain verification is usually the most reliable route for website owners.
Does claiming my business give it a verified badge on ChatGPT?
No. The blue check appears only after Persona identity verification is approved. Persona verification is also required before you can publish changes, view insights, connect a product feed, or create a business agent.
Will claiming my business make ChatGPT recommend it more often?
Not necessarily. Claiming lets you manage the information you provide, but OpenAI states it does not guarantee increased visibility or give you direct control over ChatGPT's independent recommendations.
What if I cannot find my business in Business Hub?
If you run an eligible online business, you may see an option to add it. Local stores and restaurants can currently claim only an existing U.S. listing. If your listing shows "Contact support," it is locked and you need to request help.
The bottom line
Claiming your business on ChatGPT is a free, hour-long job that puts you in control of the facts ChatGPT uses about you. Verify with the method you control best, watch the token expiry on domain verification, and keep your description short.
Finish Persona verification to unlock the badge, the insights, and the agent. Do it now, while the feature is new and the process is straightforward, and treat it as one layer of your AI visibility work, not a magic ranking switch.
