How to claim your ChatGPT business profile in OpenAI's new Business Hub

On 12 November 2026, day three of OpenAI's Business Hub beta, I sat down to claim Exhibit A Media's ChatGPT business profile from Ontario. By 4:00 PM our website domain was verified, and I then completed OpenAI's government ID check myself. Some issues are still open, so the profile is not fully up and running yet.

Why bother? ChatGPT may already be showing your business to people who ask it for help, and you have probably never read what it says about you. Business Hub lets an owner claim that profile, prove it is theirs and fix it. OpenAI states no fee for claiming, Business Hub asked us for no payment at any point, and OpenAI says in writing that claiming does not guarantee you a higher place in its answers. I still think it is worth your time, and worth showing OpenAI's identity check your government ID. I showed it mine.

Ours was one test by one Ontario agency with a website, and OpenAI's help article still says local stores and restaurants can claim only an existing U.S. listing, so your screens may differ from ours. Here is what launched, the free hub versus the paid plan with almost the same name, what our test showed, what to have ready before a Zoom call with us, the claim steps in order and who does which part, because at Exhibit A Media we help our clients claim theirs.

What OpenAI launched on 10 November

OpenAI announced Businesses in ChatGPT on 10 November 2026, in beta. Its launch announcement says that through Business Hub, businesses "can claim their business, manage their information, and see insights on how people engage with them on ChatGPT." OpenAI puts ChatGPT's audience at 1.2 billion people a week. That is OpenAI's own global count of weekly users. It says nothing about how many people in Oshawa ask ChatGPT for a paralegal, and we found no published figure for that.

You open Business Hub from the ChatGPT sidebar or at chatgpt.com/business-hub. OpenAI's help article on setting up your business lists what a verified owner can update: the website, business description, product or service category, logo and cover photo, plus delivery and return policies. OpenAI reviews each change before it publishes, says updates "can take time to appear," and warns that "ChatGPT may also use other sources." Product feeds exist too. They are for retailers, and a law office, a dental clinic or an accounting practice can ignore them.

OpenAI's pages state no fee for claiming, and the help article says you do not need an Ads account or a ChatGPT Enterprise agreement to claim.

The free Business Hub is a different product from ChatGPT Business

I mixed these two up the first time I read about them, and OpenAI's naming did me no favours. ChatGPT Business, at chatgpt.com/business, is a paid subscription: a team workspace where a firm buys Standard or Premium seats so its staff can use ChatGPT at work, on one bill. Business Hub, at chatgpt.com/business-hub, is free, and it is where you claim the profile that people may see when ChatGPT talks about your business.

You do not need ChatGPT Business to claim a profile. Paying for seats does not prove you are authorized to represent the firm either; only OpenAI's verification steps do that. If someone offers to sell you seats as the way to get your practice "listed in ChatGPT," say no.

Business Agents are a third thing, and US only for now

OpenAI launched Business Agents the same day: an AI agent that answers questions about a business inside ChatGPT. The help article limits them to eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the US with a website. OpenAI's Business Agents policy also says an agent "must not provide users with advice that legally requires a professional license." For an Ontario law firm, paralegal practice, clinic or accounting office, the agent is off the table on geography alone, and the policy limits what one could say even later. This article is about the profile.

Why claim your ChatGPT business profile at all?

One sentence on OpenAI's Businesses in ChatGPT page settled it for me: "ChatGPT may show information about your business whether or not you have an agent when customers ask relevant questions." Put that beside the help article's warning that ChatGPT "may also use other sources." ChatGPT can mention you either way, so the choice left to you is whether your own facts are among the ones it draws on.

Claiming puts you in the supplier's chair. You write the description, choose the category and set the website link, and OpenAI reviews what you submit. Once your identity check is approved, the profile shows a blue check. The help article is specific that claiming alone does not earn the badge; the identity check does.

Claiming also gets you there first. The help article describes a "Dispute ownership" process, run through the same identity check, for a business that someone else has already claimed. Being the verified owner from the start is simpler than proving it after a stranger has.

And you get numbers you have never had from ChatGPT: how often it showed your business and how many people clicked through to your website. What those numbers mean, and what they leave out, comes later in this article.

What claiming will not do

OpenAI is blunt about this, and so are we. The product page says "Claiming does not guarantee higher placement or sales." The help article says claiming "doesn't guarantee increased visibility or give you direct control over ChatGPT's independent recommendations," and adds: "Advertising doesn't influence ChatGPT's independent answers."

We will not promise that a claimed profile brings you a single client, and be wary of anyone who does. What gets a business recommended is mostly what your own pages and other websites say about you, which is the subject of how to get ChatGPT to recommend your business by name. Lawyers cannot buy their way in either, because legal ads are off the table in ChatGPT. The profile is the one piece of that picture you control directly, and it costs nothing to claim.

Can an Ontario business claim a ChatGPT profile yet?

Partly, on the evidence so far. OpenAI's own pages do not answer this cleanly, two of its sentences pull in different directions, and our test adds one data point rather than a rule.

The announcement says "Any eligible business located where ChatGPT is available can claim their business in ChatGPT through Business Hub." I use a paid ChatGPT account here in Ontario, so on that sentence alone an Ontario business would seem to qualify. The help article then says "Local stores and restaurants can currently claim only an existing U.S. listing," and that availability "depends on the business's location and type." A paralegal office, a law firm or a physiotherapy clinic that sees clients at an address looks like a local business. OpenAI does not define "local store," and it does not say where an office-based professional firm fits.

Our own test, on day three of the beta, shows that an Ontario business with a website could add itself in Business Hub, verify its domain and complete the identity check. It was one test by one kind of business: a marketing agency with a website. It does not show that a paralegal office or a law firm will get the same screens.

One US firm that went through the setup, Wealthtender, reports that Business Hub asked how customers usually interact with the business, and that the "through a service" choice was marked "coming soon." If you visit clients or work only remotely, that may matter to you later.

What OpenAI's pages and our one test still leave open for an Ontario practice:

• Whether an office-based practice that sees clients at an address is offered the option to add its business, as we were, or is treated as a local store that can claim only an existing U.S. listing.
• Whether the identity check accepts a sole proprietor without an HST number.
• Whether legal and other regulated services are held back for now. OpenAI's Businesses in ChatGPT policy says it may "hold off on allowing businesses in other categories to create or claim profiles until we have the safeguards needed to support them responsibly."
• When anything changes. The announcement says OpenAI plans to expand "to more markets and business categories" and gives no dates.

Whatever OpenAI's screen shows when you try, the preparation stays the same. If the option is open for your kind of business, you can claim now. If it is half open or still closed, you will have everything ready for the day it opens. OpenAI's help article is the page to watch, because it carries the eligibility wording and OpenAI was still editing it during launch week.

What happened when we tried it

Exhibit A Media is an Ontario business with a website, exhibitamedia.ca, so I tested the claim on us. I did it on the afternoon of 12 November 2026, Eastern time, signed in to a paid ChatGPT account I already had. Business Hub did not ask for payment at any point.

I added the business in Business Hub. At one point it put me on a waiting list. We do not know yet which feature that list was for, so that is all I will say about it.

For proof of ownership I chose the website domain method. Business Hub showed a DNS TXT record with the host name openai-business-profile, and a notice that the record expires in about half an hour. The notice appeared around 3:55 PM, with an expiry of 4:25 PM. We added the record to the domain's DNS at 3:56 PM, and it was visible on public DNS inside a minute. By 4:00 PM the domain was verified.

Business Hub then showed a profile for "Exhibit A Media Inc." tagged DRAFT. The Overview had Brand insights for Mentions and Website clicks, both blank so far, with a switch between 7 days and 28 days. The sidebar listed "Agent builder" and "Products." A banner read "Verify your identity with a government-issued ID," with the line "To keep your business secure, this is required before editing business info or publishing your business agent." And a card invited me to upgrade to a ChatGPT Business plan, the paid team subscription that a profile does not require. Even in beta, the upsell arrived on time.

I then completed the identity check myself. Some further issues are not resolved yet, and as I write this the profile is not fully up and running. It'll be in full swing soon, and I will update this article when it is.

What to have ready before our Zoom call

If you are a client, prepare this list before we meet on Zoom. Each item is something OpenAI's help article asks for, or something only you can do.

• A ChatGPT account the business owns. Use a login tied to the firm, such as an email address on your own domain, and never a staff member's personal account. The help article says the admin who claimed the business is the one who can add teammates, so a profile claimed from your assistant's personal login is run, as far as ChatGPT can tell, by your assistant. The same logic sits behind owning your website instead of renting it.
• Your government-issued photo ID, for the identity check run by Persona, a third-party identity service. You complete that check yourself. We never see your ID.
• Your business registration details exactly as they appear on your official records: the legal name, the address, and your business number or HST number if you have one. The help article tells owners to "make sure the business name, address, and any registration or tax number you provide match your official business records."
• Access to the business phone or the business email during the call, because ChatGPT may send a verification code to either one.
• Whoever controls your domain's DNS, on the call or reachable during it. When we verified our own domain, Business Hub's TXT record came with a notice that it expires in about half an hour. We added it within a minute and the domain was verified within four minutes, but a record that waits on a support ticket at your web host could miss that window.
• Proof that you are authorized to represent the business, which the help article says Persona may ask for.

One more decision before the call: who will be the admin. The person who claims the business is the one who can later add teammates and grant us access, so pick the person who will still be running the firm in five years.

How to claim your business on ChatGPT, step by step

These steps follow OpenAI's help article as it read in launch week. OpenAI is still changing that page, so a screen may look slightly different by the time you get there.

1. Sign in to ChatGPT with the business's account and open Business Hub, from the sidebar or at chatgpt.com/business-hub.
2. Search for your business by name and select your listing. An online business may see an option to add itself if no listing exists.
3. Confirm the ChatGPT account that will manage the business.
4. Prove the business is yours, using one of the methods ChatGPT offers: a code by text or automated call to the business phone, a code to the business email, a DNS TXT record on your website's domain, or Shopify.
5. Wait for OpenAI's review. OpenAI emails a decision or a request for more information, and you can cancel while the claim is pending.
6. Complete identity verification with Persona. The help article says you need it "before you can publish changes to your business information, view insights, or create an eligible business agent," and that you "may need a government-issued ID, business registration information, and proof that you're authorized to represent the business."
7. Once Persona approves you, the blue check appears and you can edit the profile. Each edit goes to OpenAI for review before it publishes.
8. Add your team and your agency. The help article says "the admin who claimed your business can add teammates in Business Hub and grant an agency access to manage the business or its agent," and asks you to "use each person's own ChatGPT account."

Two snags early users reported

Forum posts from launch week are anecdotes from a handful of people, not OpenAI rules, but two are worth knowing. On OpenAI's community forum, one user reported that domain verification seemed to allow only a 30-minute window, while DNS changes can take far longer to spread. Our own screen said the same thing: the record expires in about half an hour. Another user suggested setting the record's TTL to 5 minutes and checking about 15 minutes later. That is why we add the record as soon as ChatGPT shows it, with you still on the call.

On the same forum, sole traders who are not VAT-registered reported that the Persona form insisted on a VAT number they did not have, and one who typed N/A still failed the final check. We found no report yet of how the Canadian version handles a missing HST number. If your check fails, the help article says to follow the instructions in the email, use "Try again" if it appears, and make sure your details match your official records.

We hit one of our own. The identity form offered "Ontario Corporation Number" as a registration type and showed a seven-digit example. Our corporation number, issued in 2026, has ten digits, and the form answered "Invalid format for selected identification type". If your corporation number has ten digits, expect the same message, and bring your other registration numbers to the call.

What we do and what you do

The split follows OpenAI's rules more than our preferences. Someone other than the owner can add the DNS record; the help article says "If someone else manages your domain, ask them to add the record for you." Nobody can do the identity check for you, because it is your ID.

What you do

• Sign in to the business's ChatGPT account and start the claim.
• Complete the Persona identity check yourself.
• Grant Exhibit A Media agency access in Business Hub once you are verified.
• Approve the profile text before we submit it.

What we do

• Add the DNS TXT record to your domain so ChatGPT can verify your website.
• Write the profile: the description and category, and prepare the logo and cover photo, all checked against your registration details.
• Watch the insights each month and tell you what moved.

Please do not send us your ChatGPT password or forward us your claim invitation. The help article says "Don't forward a personal claim invitation to give someone access," and agency access is the proper door. If an agency invitation is blocked, OpenAI's advice is to contact its support team. You still deal with one person at our end, the way an agency account manager should work.

What goes in the profile, and why we write it first

Write the profile before the identity check is approved. For a business creating a new profile, the help article says "OpenAI's approval automatically publishes the profile. There's no separate publishing step." Once a profile is published, "OpenAI Support is unable to delete, unpublish, or hide a published profile as part of a business setup or ownership request." You can edit it later, and OpenAI reviews each edit, but OpenAI describes no way to take it down. Whatever goes out first stays public until your correction is approved.

OpenAI's content rules will sound familiar to anyone in a regulated profession. The Businesses in ChatGPT policy says "Do not make false or misleading claims about prices, availability, qualifications, or likely results," and rules out "fabricated reviews or endorsements, unsupported guarantees." It also says businesses "remain responsible for the information they provide even though OpenAI does not verify every detail."

So the profile says what you do, where, for whom and how to reach you. It does not say "we win," and it does not call you the best anything. I spent 33 years in Ontario courtrooms, and one habit from there carries straight over: the name on the form matches the name on the record. Your firm name, address and phone number should read the same in ChatGPT, on your website and on your Google profile.

What the insights tell you, and what they don't

Once you are verified, Business Hub shows totals for the past 28 days: mentions, website clicks and discovery topics, which the help article describes as "common themes in ChatGPT answers that mentioned or cited your business." For a local business, the help article says a mention counts "when ChatGPT shows a result for that location, even if the customer doesn't open the listing or visit the website." A mention means ChatGPT showed you. It does not mean anyone visited. On our own Overview, Business Hub also offered a 7-day view beside the 28-day one.

You never see the conversations themselves. OpenAI says businesses do not receive individual prompts or chats. Figures only appear once activity passes a threshold, and the help article says a blank "doesn't necessarily mean zero activity." Because the window rolls over every 28 days, we record your figures each month, so you have a trend to look at instead of a snapshot that keeps replacing itself.

How a ChatGPT business profile compares with a Google Business Profile

The shorthand going around is that this is ChatGPT's version of the Google Business Profile. The shape matches: claim a listing, prove it is yours, correct the facts, see some numbers. The maturity and the features do not. Every Google fact in this comparison comes from Google's own help pages.

Question	ChatGPT business profile	Google Business Profile
Cost to claim	No fee stated by OpenAI; no Ads account needed	Google says you can add or claim your business "at no charge"
Where it shows	In ChatGPT's answers	Google Search and Maps
Proving it is yours	Business phone, business email, a DNS TXT record or Shopify, then a Persona identity check	Phone, text, email, live video call, video recording or postcard; Google says its verification methods "are automatically determined by Google and can't be changed"
Reviews	None described in OpenAI's help article	Customers leave reviews, and a verified owner can reply to them
Activity data	Mentions, website clicks and discovery topics for the past 28 days, per OpenAI's help article (our screen also offered 7 days); no individual prompts	Search terms, views, calls, website clicks, directions, messages and bookings in Google's performance report, over a date range you choose
No public office	One US tester saw the "through a service" option marked "coming soon"	A service-area business can remove its address and list up to 20 service areas

In plain words: both cost nothing to claim, since OpenAI states no fee and Google says adding or claiming a profile is free. Google's profile appears in Search and Maps, and ChatGPT's appears in its answers. Google verifies a business by phone, text, email, video or postcard, while ChatGPT uses a phone, email, DNS or Shopify step and then adds a government ID check through Persona. Google lets a business with no public office hide its address and list up to 20 service areas, and ChatGPT's option for businesses that visit clients or work remotely was still marked coming soon in one US firm's test. Google also lets you choose the date range for your activity figures, where ChatGPT offered us a switch between 7 and 28 days.

The review gap matters most to professionals, because reviews are the one part of a listing you cannot write yourself. The search terms matter too: Google shows you the words people used to find you, and ChatGPT shows topics. Claim the ChatGPT profile in addition to your Google profile, never instead of it. If your Google profile needs work first, start with why your Google Business Profile outranks your website.

Connect your ChatGPT profile with us

If we host your website, log in at exhibitamedia.ca/account/login or book an Exhibit Agency Update Meeting so we can connect your profile with you as soon as OpenAI lets your kind of business claim one. Setup is $25 per business, charged only when the registration succeeds. If OpenAI will not let your kind of business claim yet, you do not pay. On the call we start by searching Business Hub for your business together, so you know where you stand before anything else happens. Bring your checklist to the call, and we will do our half while you do yours. The preparation is the same whether you run a law firm, a paralegal practice, a dental clinic, an accounting office or a vet clinic.

Common questions

Can a Canadian business claim a ChatGPT profile?

Partly, and it depends on your kind of business. On 12 November 2026, Exhibit A Media, an Ontario agency with a website, added its business in Business Hub, verified its domain and completed the identity check, with some issues still open. OpenAI's announcement opens claims to eligible businesses where ChatGPT is available, but its help article says local stores and restaurants can currently claim only an existing U.S. listing. An office-based practice may see different screens.

Is the ChatGPT Business Hub free to use?

OpenAI states no fee for claiming a business profile in Business Hub, and its help article says you do not need a ChatGPT Ads account or an Enterprise agreement to claim. The paid product with a similar name, ChatGPT Business, is a separate team subscription that you do not need for the profile.

What is the difference between Business Hub and ChatGPT Business?

Business Hub, at chatgpt.com/business-hub, is where a business claims and manages the free profile that ChatGPT may show about it. ChatGPT Business, at chatgpt.com/business, is a paid team workspace where a firm buys seats so its staff can use ChatGPT at work. Buying ChatGPT Business does not claim or verify your profile, and you can claim a profile without it.

Will claiming my profile get me more clients from ChatGPT?

Nobody can promise that. OpenAI's product page says claiming "does not guarantee higher placement or sales," and its help article says claiming does not give you control over ChatGPT's independent recommendations and that advertising does not influence its answers. Claiming lets you submit your own facts for your profile, earn a blue check after identity verification and see 28 days of mentions and website clicks.

What ID do I need to verify my business on ChatGPT?

OpenAI's help article says the identity check runs through Persona, a third-party identity service, and that you may need a government-issued ID, business registration information and proof that you are authorized to represent the business. The business name, address and any registration or tax number you enter should match your official records exactly. You need this check before you can publish changes or view insights.

Can a marketing agency claim my ChatGPT profile for me?

Only partly. An agency can add the DNS record that verifies your website, and OpenAI's help article lets the admin who claimed the business grant an agency access to manage it. The owner or an authorized representative still has to sign in, start the claim and complete the Persona identity check personally, because it uses their own government ID. Never hand an agency your password or forward your claim invitation.

Can I delete my ChatGPT business profile?

Not once it is published. OpenAI's help article says support is unable to delete, unpublish or hide a published profile as part of a business setup or ownership request; only unpublished drafts can be deleted. You can still edit a published profile, and OpenAI reviews each change before it appears. Because approval of a new profile publishes it automatically, write and check the text first.