OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT in beta on November 10. Business owners claim a profile in Business Hub, keep their details current, and see how often ChatGPT mentions them. If you build websites for local businesses, some of this work is going to land on you, so here are the technical bits from the setup guide.

Verification is partly a DNS job

A claim can be verified with a business phone, a business email, a Shopify store, or a website domain. The domain route asks you to add a TXT record to the domain's DNS settings, copying the type, host and value exactly, then click Verify domain in ChatGPT. DNS changes can take a while to appear.

That's step one. To publish changes, view insights, connect a product feed or create an agent, someone also has to pass identity verification through Persona. That step can ask for a government ID, business registration info and proof of authority, and the name, address and registration or tax number have to match official records. The blue check on the profile only appears after Persona approval.

So the owner does Persona themselves, and you handle the domain and the data consistency around it.

Product feeds have a spec

Retailers can connect a product feed with prices and availability, either through Shopify or by uploading a CSV that follows OpenAI's product feed specification. You can also point it to a hosted feed URL. Connecting a feed doesn't publish an agent and doesn't guarantee ChatGPT recommends the products.

If your client already exports a catalog, keeping a hosted feed in sync is a small automation job.

How the insights count

Insights cover the past 28 days:

  • For an online business, a mention counts when ChatGPT references the business's website. The brand name alone doesn't count.
  • For a local business, a mention counts when ChatGPT shows a result for that location, even without a click.
  • Website clicks and discovery topics (aggregate themes, not prompts) are also reported.

A blank metric can mean the activity hasn't reached the reporting threshold yet. Worth explaining to a client before they panic about a zero.

Access for agencies

The admin who claimed the business can add teammates and grant an agency access to manage the business or its agent, each using their own ChatGPT account. Don't forward a personal claim invitation.

What isn't there yet

  • Local stores and restaurants can currently claim only an existing US listing.
  • Business Agents are limited to eligible US ecommerce and online service businesses. They can explain products and policies and link out, but they can't complete purchases, make bookings or check orders.
  • Claiming doesn't guarantee more visibility, and ads don't influence ChatGPT's independent answers.

For local clients outside the US, the useful work today is the groundwork: a domain they control, a business email on it, consistent name and address data across the web, and registration documents that match. Once claiming opens up for their business type, they will have what verification asks for.

Setup guide: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001635-setting-up-your-business-on-chatgpt

Product feed spec: https://developers.openai.com/commerce/specs/file-upload/products

Announcement: https://openai.com/index/introducing-businesses-chatgpt/