You get your business on ChatGPT by claiming it in Business Hub, verifying that you are authorized to represent it, and completing identity verification so you can update the profile and view insights. OpenAI introduced Businesses in ChatGPT in beta on November 10, 2026. Claiming does not guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend you more often. What it can give an eligible, approved business is a way to keep information current and a 28-day view of aggregate mentions and website clicks.
That last part is the shift I care about. For a while, answer engine optimization has been mostly about becoming a source an answer can use. Business Hub gives that work a measurable next step: you can start comparing Hub clicks with ChatGPT referral sessions, then with qualified calls or form fills where attribution is available. It will not tell you everything. It can give you an early read on whether visibility is producing inquiries.
Why a ChatGPT business profile changes the work
ChatGPT rolling out its own business verification and business profile platform, similar to Google Business Profile, is a major shift in the ongoing diversification of digital marketing. It is no longer a world where Google itself controls everything. You now have to rank and perform in multiple platforms and products.
That is not a reason to panic, and it is not a reason to abandon SEO or Google Business Profile. Those still send a lot of the calls and form fills I see. It is a reason to stop treating Google as the only place a customer might find you. There is a different audience in ChatGPT, and there are more opportunities to be considered. There are also new tactics, and we are still early in figuring out which ones are worth the time.
OpenAI's launch post says ChatGPT has 1.2 billion users each week. I am citing that figure because OpenAI published it, not because a large audience automatically turns into booked jobs. The useful question is simpler: if someone asks ChatGPT who to call, does your business show up accurately, and if a person clicks through, do you get a qualified inquiry?
What is ChatGPT Business Hub?
ChatGPT Business Hub is OpenAI's dashboard for claiming and managing a business profile inside ChatGPT. OpenAI's help documentation describes it as the place to provide business details and product information, and to see how people engage with the business.
After a claim is approved and you complete identity verification with Persona, you can update key details such as your website, description, category, and logo. Retailers can also add a product feed with pricing and availability. OpenAI reviews and publishes those changes. Updates can take time to appear, and ChatGPT may still draw on other sources when it answers a question about you.
A related product, Business Agents, is separate. Eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the United States can, after verification, create an agent that answers questions using information the business provides. You do not need an agent, and you do not need a ChatGPT ads account or an Enterprise agreement, to claim an eligible business. I would treat the agent as optional, and only after the profile and the measurement setup are in place.
OpenAI is also clear about a limit that matters: claiming does not guarantee higher placement or sales, and it does not give you control over ChatGPT's independent recommendations. Advertising does not influence those independent answers either. If someone promises you that a claimed profile will make ChatGPT pick you, they are ahead of what OpenAI itself will say.
How do you get your business on ChatGPT?
The official process is straightforward. The approval steps are where people get stuck.
- Sign in to ChatGPT and open Business Hub from the sidebar.
- Search for your business by name. Select the listing that matches, or, if you run an eligible online business and no listing appears, look for the option to add it.
- Confirm the ChatGPT account you will use to manage the profile.
- Verify the claim with one of the methods offered for your business: business phone, business email, website domain (a DNS TXT record), or a Shopify store connection.
- Wait for OpenAI to review the claim. You should get an email with a decision or a request for more information.
- Complete identity verification with Persona. OpenAI says you may need a government-issued ID, business registration information, and proof that you are authorized to represent the business.
That last step is easy to underestimate. Claiming the business alone does not give the profile a verified badge. The blue check appears after Persona verification is approved. You also need that verification before you can publish changes to your business information, view insights, or create an eligible business agent.
If you already received a claim invitation, use the personal link and sign in with the email address that received it. Do not forward that invitation to give someone else access. If the listing is locked, OpenAI's help article says to contact support rather than forcing a second claim. If the profile has already been claimed, there is a dispute-ownership path that also goes through Persona.
An admin can later add teammates in Business Hub and grant an agency access, using each person's own ChatGPT account. That is the clean way to involve us, if you want help after the claim is underway.
Who can claim a ChatGPT business profile?
You can claim a business if you own it or are authorized to represent it, and if the business is eligible. Eligibility depends on industry, location, and OpenAI's verification and integrity checks. Claiming is initially available to eligible businesses with a website. Availability also depends on whether the required verification is supported in that location.
A few details from OpenAI's setup guide are especially relevant if you run a local company:
- Eligible businesses can claim an existing business, or add one, where ChatGPT is available and verification is supported.
- If you cannot find your business, an eligible online business may see an option to add it.
- Local stores and restaurants can currently claim only an existing U.S. listing.
Business Agents have a narrower door: eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the United States, with a website, that also meet the industry rules in OpenAI's Business Agents Policy. Some businesses will be able to manage a profile without being eligible for an agent. That is fine. The profile and the insights are the part I would start with.
What do mentions and website clicks in Business Hub actually measure?
After the claim and Persona verification are approved, Insights in Business Hub show aggregate activity over the past 28 days. OpenAI currently reports:
- Mentions. For an online business, a mention counts when ChatGPT references the business's website. Naming the brand alone does not count. For a local business, a mention counts when ChatGPT shows a result for that location, even if the person does not open the listing or visit the website.
- Website clicks. How often people click through to your website.
- Discovery topics. Common themes in ChatGPT answers that mentioned or cited your business. These are grouped categories, not a list of individual prompts, and they are not a direct measure of customer intent.
OpenAI designed the reporting around privacy. Businesses do not receive individual prompts or consumer conversations, including chats with a business agent. Insights are aggregated, and they are only available when there are enough conversations or interactions to meet certain thresholds. A blank metric can mean activity has not reached the reporting threshold, data is still being collected, or reporting is unavailable. It does not necessarily mean zero activity.
That is useful, and it is incomplete on purpose. A mention is not a lead. A website click is not a booked job. The Hub tells you how often you appeared and how often someone clicked. It does not tell you whether the visit turned into a qualified call or a form fill. You have to connect that part yourself.
How should you compare Hub clicks with ChatGPT referral traffic and real inquiries?
This is the measurement setup I want in place from the start. I am beginning with RedBrick and a few home-service clients. We do not have Hub results to share yet. The first pass is a baseline, not a case study.
Here is the comparison I would run each month, once Insights are available:
- Hub website clicks and mentions, trailing 28 days. Export or record the numbers on a consistent date, and note whether any metric is blank. If mentions are coming in and clicks are not, the profile or the underlying pages may not be giving people a reason to leave ChatGPT. If both are blank, wait and check the threshold issue before assuming no one has seen you.
- ChatGPT referral sessions in GA4. In acquisition reports, look at referral sessions from ChatGPT. The referrer is often chatgpt.com, but you should confirm the hostnames that actually appear in your property rather than filtering so tightly that you miss traffic.These sessions will not match Hub clicks one for one. The date ranges are different, some clicks may not be counted as sessions, and a person can reach your site from ChatGPT by a path the Hub does not label the same way.
- Qualified calls and form fills where attribution is available. This is the number that matters. Use call tracking, form source fields, a simple "How did you hear about us?" question, and your CRM notes. Count inquiries your team would actually want: a real job or project, in a service and area you handle. Raw form fills are not the same thing.
The early read is whether visibility is producing inquiries, not whether the channel has "worked" in some final sense. If Hub clicks rise and referral sessions rise, but qualified calls do not, the leak is probably on the site or in follow-up. If sessions show up in GA4 and the Hub stays blank, you may be under a reporting threshold, or the click path may not be what Insights counts as a website click. Either way, you have something specific to investigate, instead of a vague feeling that "AI search is important."
A clear website still does the closing work after the click. If someone leaves ChatGPT and lands on a page that does not explain the service, the area you cover, or how to request work, the visit will not help you. That is a web design and conversion problem, not a Business Hub problem.
How does ChatGPT Business Hub fit with AEO and Google Business Profile?
Think of these as related layers, not replacements for one another.
Google Business Profile is still the local listing that supports Maps, the map pack, and a large share of "near me" calls. Keep it accurate. ChatGPT Business Hub is a different profile, on a different platform, with its own claim and verification process. There is search interest in connecting a Google Business Profile to ChatGPT. I would not wait on an official integration that OpenAI has not described in the setup docs. Claim the ChatGPT profile directly, and keep the facts on both listings aligned: name, website, phone, service categories, and the work you actually do.
AEO is the broader practice of becoming a source an answer engine can extract, trust, and cite. Business Hub does not replace that. It gives you a profile to manage, a way to correct details, and a window into mentions and clicks. The pages on your site, your reviews, and the consistency of your information across the web still influence whether ChatGPT has something reliable to say about you in the first place.
For a home-service company, that usually means clear service pages, an accurate Google Business Profile, and the same phone number and service area everywhere. If you want a starting point on the channel side, we already publish pages on HVAC SEO and SEO for plumbers. The Hub is an additional listing and measurement layer on top of that work, not a shortcut around it.
The same logic holds if your inquiries are RFQs instead of service calls. Buyers still need to find you, confirm you can do the work, and have a way to reach you. A ChatGPT click that lands on a vague homepage will stall for a manufacturer just as quickly as it will for a contractor. We cover that path in more detail in our guide to SEO for manufacturers.
What RedBrick is starting to test
I am not going to pretend we already know how this performs. We don't. The plan is to claim and verify RedBrick, then do the same for a few home-service clients who are eligible, and to compare three numbers where we can get them:
- Business Hub website clicks (and mentions) over the trailing 28 days
- ChatGPT referral sessions in GA4
- Qualified calls or form fills with usable attribution
If those numbers start to tell a story, I will share it. Until then, the honest move is to get listed accurately, keep the facts consistent, and measure inquiries, not just mentions.
If you want help thinking through the claim, the verification steps, or how to wire this into the reporting you already use, book a 15-20 minute call. It is a conversation, not a pitch. You can also request a free SEO audit, or call 404-322-6055.
Sources
- Introducing Businesses in ChatGPT, OpenAI, November 10, 2026
- Businesses in ChatGPT: Claim Your Business, OpenAI
- Setting up your business on ChatGPT, OpenAI Help Center
