What OpenAI launched
Businesses in ChatGPT is a free beta run through a new Business Hub. According to OpenAI's announcement, a verified business can:
- Claim its business and keep its details current.
- See aggregated insights: how often ChatGPT mentions it, website clicks, and common topics in the conversations where it is cited.
- Build a Business Agent that answers customer questions inside ChatGPT. For now this part is limited to eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the US.
OpenAI says it does not share people's conversations with businesses. Reports on the launch say the Hub is free for now, and that Shopify merchants can connect their store directly.
Should a local business claim it?
Yes. It's free, it takes little time, and the insights alone are worth having: for the first time you can see whether ChatGPT shows your business for your area, instead of guessing. Claim it under the business email or domain your customers already know, and make the details match your website and Google profile exactly.
The beta is new and the rules are still moving. Who can claim what, and how verification works, may change. Start from OpenAI's own announcement and avoid third-party "claim your ChatGPT listing" links.
What claiming does not do
This is the part most people will miss. In launch coverage, OpenAI said claiming a business should not change how often it appears. Claiming gives ChatGPT accurate details and gives you numbers. It does not get you recommended.
When someone asks "best dentist in Gilbert", ChatGPT still searches the web and names whoever the pages it finds agree on. In my own checks of 119 local businesses, those pages were mostly review hubs and "best of" directories. The businesses' own websites were cited in 2% of answers. The full data, by category.
What to do after you claim it
- Check whether ChatGPT names you today. Ask the questions your customers ask, for your city, a few different ways. My free check does this and shows who gets named instead and which sites the answers cited.
- Get onto the sites the answers cite. If the answers for your category keep citing the same directories, claim and fill in those profiles and ask happy customers for reviews there.
- Keep your name, address and phone identical everywhere, including your new ChatGPT listing.
- Watch your mentions in Business Hub after each fix, and re-check in a few weeks.
Want it done for you?
The full audit ($149) asks ChatGPT 50 buyer questions about your market, lists every business it names and the sources behind them, checks your website and listings, and gives you the fix list in order, by email with no call. Nobody can promise an AI will name you. I measure it and fix what is in your control.