ChatGPT Business Hub: why every business should claim its profile now

On November 10, 2026, OpenAI opened the beta of what it calls businesses in ChatGPT. The center of it is Business Hub, a new area in the ChatGPT sidebar where a company can find its profile, prove it owns it and manage how it appears in answers.

For years, being found online meant one thing: a Google Business Profile, a website Google could crawl and rankings on page one. Business Hub is the first time an AI assistant has given businesses a comparable front door. Search Console and Google Business Profile shaped a decade of marketing. We expect Business Hub to play the same role for AI answers.

Our view is simple. For a growing share of buyers, ChatGPT is becoming the new Google: the first place they ask "who should I hire" or "which tool fits a company like ours". When the answer names three vendors, the fourth does not get a click, a visit or a chance.

Until this week, a business had no direct way to see or correct what ChatGPT said about it. You could only publish good content and hope it was read. Business Hub changes that for the basics: the facts about your company, and a first view of how often you appear.

Is ChatGPT really the new Google? The usage data is more nuanced than the headlines, and we break it down in our analysis of whether ChatGPT is the new Google.

• Accuracy: wrong categories, old descriptions and dead links in AI answers cost you buyers who never tell you why.
• Measurement: for the first time, OpenAI reports mentions, website clicks and the topics people were exploring when you came up.
• Timing: early profiles get cleaned up while competitors are still unaware the feature exists.

The process below reflects the launch version of Business Hub. Expect small changes while it is in beta.

1. Open Business Hub: Sign in to ChatGPT with the account that should manage the profile, then open Business Hub from the sidebar or go to chatgpt.com/business-hub. Use a company login rather than a personal one if several people will manage it.
2. Find your business: Search by business name and select your listing. If it does not appear, add it manually; for an online business you will be asked to verify the website domain.
3. Verify the connection: Choose a method: a code sent to the business phone, a code sent to the business email, a DNS TXT record on your domain (the value starts with openai-business-claim=), or a Shopify login. DNS changes can take minutes to hours to appear.
4. Confirm your identity: To publish changes or see metrics, OpenAI runs an identity check through its verification partner. Have a government ID ready, and possibly business registration documents and proof you can represent the company.
5. Complete the profile: Add your website, a plain description of what you do and for whom, the right category, your logo and, for online stores, delivery and return policies and a product feed.
6. Check the metrics monthly: Review mentions, website clicks and discovery topics for the past 28 days. A blank number usually means the reporting threshold has not been reached, not zero.

These are the issues we saw in the first days with clients and their teams.

Be clear about the limit. OpenAI’s help center states that claiming doesn’t guarantee increased visibility, and that advertising doesn’t influence ChatGPT’s independent answers. Business Hub fixes your facts and shows you a number; it does not make ChatGPT recommend you more often.

How often you are recommended still depends on what the web says about you: clear service and pricing pages, comparison content, reviews on trusted sites, and mentions in the lists and articles AI assistants read. That is the work of generative engine optimization, and Business Hub finally gives you a way to see whether it is moving.

Several viral claims about Business Hub go further than OpenAI does. We checked them against OpenAI’s own help page in our fact-check of the four shifts after Business Hub.

Some features are limited at launch. Business agents, a chat that answers questions from your product feed, are open only to eligible US online businesses, and physical stores and restaurants can claim only existing US listings for now.

Since launch, the same questions come up in every client conversation. We answer each one in its own short guide, using OpenAI’s help article as the source.

The first is what the numbers mean. Our explainer on what Business Hub mentions count covers the definitions, including why a blank tile is not zero.

The second is a missing listing. If you cannot find your business in Business Hub, the cause is usually one of six, and most have a fix.

If your IT team manages DNS, send them our DNS verification guide for Business Hub, with steps for GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Wix, Squarespace and Shopify.

Canadian and international teams ask what works outside the US. Our guide to Business Hub availability in Canada sets out what you can claim today.

Enterprises and franchise systems ask how to handle many brands and locations without central management; see our guide to Business Hub for multiple locations and brands.

And everyone asks whether claiming improves rankings. The short answer is no, and our article on what actually moves ChatGPT recommendations explains what does.

If you run marketing for a B2B or local business, here is the short list.

• Claim and verify your profile in Business Hub this week, using a company login.
• Write the description the way a buyer would ask for you: who you serve, what you do, where you work.
• Ask ChatGPT the five questions your buyers ask and note whether you appear, and next to whom.
• Fix the pages and listings those answers rely on, then watch the mentions number each month.

For the program around the profile, with owners, budget lines and a 12-month roadmap, see our enterprise AI visibility strategy for 2027.

If you want help, our team can claim and set up the profile, then build the content and authority plan that gets you recommended. Talk to our team and we will come back with a plan for your company.