How to Claim Your Business Listing on ChatGPT: A Practical Guide

Published November 12, 2026. OpenAI announced Businesses in ChatGPT on November 10. This guide reflects the beta available at publication.

To claim your business on ChatGPT, start in OpenAI's Business Hub, find your business and follow the verification process. Prepare your business information first so the person handling the claim can complete it accurately.

Apex Blue has been using OpenAI since the early days of ChatGPT. What started with exploring how the technology could help real businesses has grown into daily work with ChatGPT, Codex and OpenAI APIs. We use that experience across custom agents, websites, marketing and business workflows. We are excited about this release because it gives business owners a more direct way to contribute useful information where customers are already researching their options.

This guide combines OpenAI's published instructions with our practical recommendations for getting your information ready, avoiding ownership confusion and connecting the listing to a clearer buying experience.

Watch OpenAI's original announcement video

Watch the original OpenAI video: Introducing Businesses in ChatGPT.

The video is linked on OpenAI's own announcement page. You can also read the full announcement and visit OpenAI's Businesses in ChatGPT overview before starting.

What is a ChatGPT business listing?

OpenAI's new beta, Businesses in ChatGPT, introduces Business Hub for managing business information and viewing engagement insights. Eligible businesses can also publish a Business Agent: a clearly identified conversation representing the business, separate from ChatGPT's independent answers.

Think about the customer who has already started comparing providers. They need to understand what you sell, whether you serve them and where to go next. A useful business profile should support that decision with current facts.

These terms describe different things:

Term	What it means for the owner
Business listing or profile	The business information customers may encounter in ChatGPT.
Business Hub	The place to claim and manage the business.
Business Agent	An eligible business's conversational experience for explaining its offerings.
ChatGPT Business	A ChatGPT workspace subscription; a different product from the public listing.
Sponsored Business Agent	An advertising experience managed through eligible Ads Manager accounts.

The distinction matters when assigning a budget or asking an agency for help. Specify whether you need accurate business information, customer answer preparation, paid media management or a custom agent connected to your own systems.

Who can claim a business, and who can publish an agent?

OpenAI's business overview says you must own the business or be authorized to represent it. Eligibility depends on location, industry and verification. Business Agents initially support eligible U.S. ecommerce and online service businesses with a website.

The setup instructions add an important local-business restriction: local stores and restaurants can currently claim only an existing U.S. listing. Eligible online businesses may see an option to add one.

For a contractor, salon, restaurant or other local operator, check the actual listing and available options before commissioning an agent. Treat profile management and agent eligibility as separate decisions.

Prepare this information before you begin

Our recommendation is to create one approved business fact sheet. Have the owner review it, then use it to check the website and the information submitted to platforms.

Prepare	What to check
Business identity	Confirm the trading name and how it relates to official business records.
Website	Use the main website customers should visit, with working contact links.
Contact details	Check the public phone number and business email inbox.
Locations and service area	List actual operating locations and the places you serve.
Offerings	Describe specific products or services in ordinary customer language.
Pricing and conditions	Explain what is included, what varies and what requires a quote.
Customer policies	Review delivery, returns, cancellations, scheduling and support information where relevant.
Brand assets	Choose an approved logo and photos you have permission to publish.
Access owner	Name the person responsible for the account, business records and ongoing updates.

Also find out who manages the domain and website. A business owner may know the website password but have no access to DNS. Resolve that responsibility before a verification screen leaves everyone waiting for another vendor.

You do not need to turn the fact sheet into a sales pitch. A precise description of the work is more useful than a paragraph promising transformation without explaining what the customer can buy.

How to claim your ChatGPT business listing

Follow OpenAI's current setup guide alongside these steps:

1. Sign in and open Business Hub. Search for your business by name.
2. Choose the matching listing. Confirm the account that will manage it.
3. Use an offered verification method. Phone uses SMS or a call; business email uses a code. Domain verification uses the supplied DNS TXT record, followed by Verify domain. Shopify verification connects your store.
4. Wait for OpenAI's claim review email. Supply additional information if requested.

For domain verification, our advice is to send the domain administrator the exact record shown. Ask them to add it without replacing existing records. Keep the business owner informed about who made the change and when, especially if several vendors have access.

Choose an account the business can continue to manage as staff or vendors change. Keep an internal record of the account owner and claim status; keep passwords and verification codes in your normal secure account system.

Complete the separate identity verification

OpenAI's Business Hub release notes distinguish claim approval from Persona identity verification. Persona approval is required before publishing business information updates, connecting a product feed, viewing insights or creating an eligible agent.

OpenAI's setup guide says the blue verification check appears after Persona approval. You may be asked for government-issued ID, business registration information and evidence of authority. A new profile created through Persona publishes automatically when approved.

Our recommendation is for the authorized representative to handle identity verification directly. An agency can help prepare public information and coordinate technical work while the owner retains responsibility for identity documents and company authority.

Record each stage separately: claim submitted, claim approved, identity review completed and public information checked. This makes it easier to explain a delay without assuming every step has finished because a form was submitted.

Our firsthand experience: IDs and a biometric face scan

Firsthand update from Apex Blue, November 12, 2026: Our founder went through the claiming process himself. The business ownership step offered a verification call to the business phone number or the option to add a TXT record to the domain's DNS.

After business ownership was verified, he had to start a separate personal identity verification process. That required uploading identity documents and completing a biometric scan of his face.

His personal identity verification is still pending as of this update. Business ownership has been verified, and the personal identity submission is awaiting a decision. These are separate milestones: finishing the ownership check does not mean the identity review is complete.

These details describe the prompts shown during our own application. Follow the instructions presented in your account and keep track of which verification stage is awaiting review.

Write business information that answers buying questions

OpenAI's Businesses in ChatGPT policy requires accurate, current information and truthful claims. It prohibits fake or duplicate profiles and misrepresenting ownership, credentials or endorsements.

For your description, we recommend answering five questions:

1. What do you sell?
2. Who is it suitable for?
3. Where is it available?
4. What should the customer know before buying?
5. What is the next useful step?

For example, a WordPress service description could explain that the company improves existing WordPress websites, reviews technical problems and scopes redesign work according to the pages and features involved. That helps a buyer distinguish a repair project from a full replacement.

Apply the same specificity to your own offer. If an estimate requires a site visit, say so. If a service is available only in certain counties, name them. If a starting price excludes substantial additional work, explain the conditions on the linked service page.

Our AI search visibility services and AI-Ready Local Presence work address the wider information problem: helping customers find consistent, useful business facts across your website and public presence.

What should an eligible Business Agent know?

OpenAI's Business Agents Policy requires the agent to represent the business honestly, use accurate information and stay within its approved role. It must not invent prices, credentials, reviews, availability or guarantees, pressure customers or present itself as an independent adviser.

Before publishing any customer-facing AI experience, our recommendation is to prepare an answer checklist:

Test question	What a useful answer should establish
“Is this suitable for my situation?”	Explain relevant fit criteria and ask for missing context.
“What does the price include?”	Use approved scope and explain important exclusions.
“Can you guarantee a result?”	State the actual commitment without adding promises.
“What if I need to cancel?”	Point to the current policy and explain applicable conditions.
“Do you offer something outside this scope?”	Acknowledge the limit and give an appropriate contact route.
“How do I take the next step?”	Provide the correct page and explain what happens there.

Keep a small test log showing the question, expected facts, actual answer and any correction. Retest after a significant policy or offer change. This is the same operating discipline we apply when designing custom AI agents: give the system a clear job, reliable information and an accountable owner.

The current setup guide says Business Agents explain offerings and link to your website; they do not complete purchases, bookings or order lookups.

Are ChatGPT ads required?

OpenAI's Sponsored Business Agent guide treats advertising as a separate workflow for eligible advertisers. Publishing a sponsored agent alone does not start ad delivery; the agent must be enabled on an eligible campaign. Ads do not influence ChatGPT's independent answers.

Decide what business problem you are funding. Correcting service information, improving the destination page and running a paid campaign require different work and different measures of success. Ask for those deliverables separately in any agency proposal.

For pricing, check the terms and any charges presented by OpenAI when you set up the feature. Agency assistance is a separate service cost. Avoid treating an initial beta arrangement as a permanent pricing commitment.

How should you measure the results?

OpenAI's announcement describes aggregate insights for mentions, website clicks and discovery topics. Businesses do not receive individual conversations or Business Agent chats, and reporting depends on privacy thresholds.

Our recommendation is to combine available platform insights with the outcomes your business already tracks:

• Check whether referred visitors reach the relevant service or product page.
• Track completed inquiries, appointments and purchases in your own systems.
• Review whether the inquiries fit your services and service area.
• Compare equivalent periods before drawing conclusions about a change.
• Use recurring customer questions to improve your website's explanations.

Document your starting point before making changes. A rise in attention is useful context; a qualified inquiry or completed sale answers a different business question. Keep those measures distinct in your reporting.

What if claiming or verification gets stuck?

OpenAI's setup guide directs locked listings to Contact support and already-claimed profiles to Dispute ownership in the profile menu. Review timing varies.

Before contacting support, our recommendation is to collect the exact business name, the step you reached, the displayed error and a screenshot with sensitive information removed. Compare the public listing and official records for mismatches. Keep a timeline of submissions so your team can describe the issue clearly.

If a code does not arrive, check access to the displayed destination before repeatedly requesting another one. If a DNS check fails, ask the administrator to confirm the exact host, record type and value. If an agent option is missing, revisit the published eligibility requirements before assuming it is a technical fault.

What claiming changes, and what still needs attention

OpenAI's business overview states that claiming does not guarantee higher placement or sales. Its Businesses in ChatGPT Terms also explain that a claimed listing remains subject to OpenAI's review and may include information from other sources. Claiming does not give the business exclusive control over the listing's content.

That is why we recommend maintaining the underlying website alongside the profile. Give each important service a useful page. Keep contact details accurate. Explain pricing conditions. Publish authentic customer proof with appropriate permission. Make it easy for a visitor on a phone to understand the offer and get in touch.

How Apex Blue can help

We can help you organize an approved business fact sheet, clarify your service pages, coordinate website or DNS work and test customer-facing AI answers against your actual offer. Where a Business Agent is available, we can help prepare the information and review its responses. For broader automation, we can scope a separate implementation around your systems and operating needs.

Our enthusiasm comes from using OpenAI in real work over time. This feature brings business information, customer questions and the next step closer together. Making that useful still takes accurate facts, clear writing and an owner who keeps the information current.

Tell us about your business and the help you need, explore our OpenAI expertise or listen to Navigating AI with Apex Blue for practical discussions about applying AI to business.

Apex Blue is an independent service provider. OpenAI controls eligibility, verification, review and feature availability.