How to claim your business on ChatGPT: a UK guide to Business Hub

On 10 November 2026 OpenAI opened Businesses in ChatGPT, a beta that lets a business claim its profile inside ChatGPT, correct the details ChatGPT shows, and see how often ChatGPT mentions it and sends people to its website. You do all of it in a new area called Business Hub. This guide covers how to claim and verify your business, what UK businesses can and cannot do yet, and what to do when verification fails, which it often does in launch week.

In short: sign in to ChatGPT, open Business Hub, search for your business, prove you are connected to it by phone, email, a DNS record or Shopify, then pass an ID check with Persona. It is free. It does not move you up ChatGPT's recommendations. In the UK, online businesses can claim now; shops, restaurants and most local service businesses mostly cannot yet.

What is ChatGPT Business Hub?

Business Hub is where a business manages how it appears in ChatGPT. Once you are verified you can edit your website link, description, category, logo, cover photo and delivery and return policies, connect a product feed, and open an Insights dashboard. Eligible US online businesses can also publish a Business Agent, a separately labelled chat that answers customer questions about their products. OpenAI explains all of this in its setup guide and launch announcement.

It is easy to confuse with ChatGPT Business, the paid team plan for staff. They are different products. Business Hub is free, and you do not need a ChatGPT subscription, an Ads account or an Enterprise agreement to use it. If you search Google for "ChatGPT Business Hub", many of the results and suggested questions are actually about the paid plan, so check which one a page means.

Interest has been sharp. In the UK on 11 November, Google searches for "ChatGPT Business Hub" reached roughly a third of the searches for "Google Business Profile" that day, by Google Trends' relative measure. A lot of those people are searching for help with the verification steps: Cloudflare, GoDaddy and "trade name" were among the fastest rising related searches that week.

Can UK businesses claim their business in ChatGPT?

Some can. OpenAI says any eligible business located where ChatGPT is available can claim, but that availability depends on the business's location and type, and on its verification and integrity checks. The line that matters most for the UK is in the help article: local stores and restaurants can currently claim only an existing US listing. Eligible online businesses may be able to add a new listing if they cannot find one.

These rules are a beta and are likely to change. OpenAI says it plans to bring the programme to more markets and business categories. If your business type is not open yet, you are not missing out on a ranking advantage, because claiming does not affect how often ChatGPT recommends you.

How to claim your business on ChatGPT, step by step

We went through the start of this flow for WebWisp on 13 November 2026. The screenshots below are from that session.

1. Sign in with the right account

Sign in to ChatGPT with the account that should own the profile long term, ideally one on your company email address. Whoever claims the business becomes its admin, and the admin is the person who can invite colleagues or an agency later. Business Hub opened for us on a free ChatGPT account. Avoid claiming with a freelancer's or a junior employee's personal login, because getting it back is hard once they leave.

2. Open Business Hub and search for your business

Open Business Hub from the ChatGPT sidebar, or go straight to chatgpt.com/business-hub. Type your business name. If ChatGPT already has a listing for you, it appears with its address; pick that one, even if some details are wrong, because you can fix them after verification and duplicate profiles are not allowed. If nothing matches, you will see an option to create one.

The small print under the search box says that by continuing you accept OpenAI's Businesses in ChatGPT Terms. Read the section further down this page before you go on.

3. Start the claim

Choosing a listing, or Create, opens a short explainer of what claiming gives you: tracking how often you are mentioned, keeping your products and details up to date, and, where eligible, a business agent. Select Get started.

4. Say how customers reach you

If you are creating a new profile, Business Hub asks how customers usually interact with you. On our UK account there were two choices: at a physical location, or through a website. There was no separate option for service businesses. Choose the one that honestly describes how you sell, because it decides which rules apply to you.

5. Verify that you are connected to the business

Business Hub then shows the verification methods available for your business. You only need one, and you will not always see all four.

6. Wait for OpenAI to review the claim

OpenAI reviews each claim and emails you a decision or a request for more information. You can cancel a claim while it is pending. Review times vary: some businesses report approval within hours, others are still waiting days later.

7. Pass the Persona ID check

This is the step that unlocks everything else. Until Persona approves you, you cannot publish changes, connect a product feed, see insights or create an agent, and you do not get the blue check. The blue check appears after Persona approval, not when the claim is approved. The section below covers what to have ready.

Adding the DNS record without it failing

Domain verification is the most reliable route for most online businesses, and it is also where people get stuck. Business Hub shows you three values: a type (TXT), a name or host, and a value starting with openai-business-claim=. You add them as a new record wherever your domain's DNS is managed. That is often Cloudflare, GoDaddy, 123-reg, IONOS or your web host, and it is not always the company you bought the domain from.

1. Use the copy buttons in Business Hub rather than retyping anything.
2. Check how your DNS panel wants the host. Many panels add your domain to the end automatically. If yours shows existing records as short names, enter only the first part of the host, for example openai-business-claim, not the full name. Pasting the full name into one of those panels creates a record ending in your domain twice, and verification fails.
3. Paste the value exactly, including the openai-business-claim= prefix.
4. Save, wait a few minutes, then select Verify domain. If it fails, wait and try again before changing anything. DNS changes can take time to appear.
5. Note the expiry time shown on screen. If the record expires, go back and get a fresh one.

If someone else manages your website, send them the host and value as soon as you have them and keep the Business Hub screen open. Treat the value like a password while the claim is open.

The Persona ID check: what UK businesses need ready

Persona is the identity verification company OpenAI uses. OpenAI says you may need a government-issued ID, business registration information and proof that you are authorised to represent the business, and that the business name, address and any registration or tax number must match your official records. Before you start, have these to hand:

• A passport or photocard driving licence, and a phone with a decent camera. Low camera resolution on a laptop is a common reason people switch devices mid-check.
• Your legal business name exactly as registered. For a limited company that is the name on Companies House. For a sole trader it is usually your own name, with your brand as the trading name.
• Your registered address, as it appears on your official records.
• Your Companies House number if you are a limited company, and your VAT number if you are VAT registered.
• If you are not the owner, something that shows you are authorised to act for the business.

One UK problem has come up repeatedly. On OpenAI's own forum, a UK sole trader reported that Persona made the VAT number field mandatory even when Sole Proprietor was selected. Another UK user entered N/A, got past the form, and still failed. We have not found a confirmed fix. If you are not VAT registered and hit this, contact OpenAI Support rather than entering a number that is not yours.

My verification failed. What now?

Failed checks are the most common complaint from launch week. Several owners on OpenAI's forum report Persona failing with no reason given, and some say there was no way to try again. OpenAI's guidance is:

1. Read the email from OpenAI or Persona and follow its instructions.
2. If you see Try again, select it and resubmit with details that match your official records character for character.
3. Do not open a second claim for the same business.
4. If there is no retry option, or Business Hub still shows verification as incomplete after you were told it was approved, contact OpenAI Support. Include the step you were on, any error message and a screenshot with personal details removed.

Two patterns from early reports are worth avoiding. People who claimed several businesses one after another with the same ID seem to run into trouble, and brands trading under a name that differs from the registered entity often fail. Neither is confirmed by OpenAI, but if you have several businesses, start with the one whose records are cleanest.

Does claiming help you get recommended by ChatGPT?

No, not directly. OpenAI's product page says ChatGPT keeps making independent recommendations and that claiming does not guarantee higher placement or sales. OpenAI's head of monetisation told Digiday that claiming should not affect how often a business appears, though clearer information may help ChatGPT match a business to more relevant conversations.

So claim it for accuracy and for the data, not for rankings. What earns recommendations is the same work as before: a website ChatGPT can read, pages that answer the questions your buyers ask, and other trusted sites that describe you consistently. We explain those signals in how AI engines choose who to cite.

ChatGPT Business Hub vs Google Business Profile

Business Hub is closest to a mix of Google Business Profile and Google Search Console. You should keep both Google tools as they are.

What the Insights numbers mean

Insights shows aggregated figures for the past 7 or 28 days. Read them carefully, because the definitions are narrower than most AI visibility tools use. An OpenAI spokesperson told Digiday:

• Mentions: for an online business, a mention counts only when ChatGPT references your website. Naming your brand without linking your site does not count. For a local business, a mention counts when ChatGPT shows a result for your location.
• Website clicks: clicks on links to your site from ChatGPT, not confirmed visits or sales.
• Discovery topics: common themes in conversations where your website is cited. You do not see the actual prompts or conversations.
• Low numbers may be withheld for privacy, so a blank tile does not always mean zero. There is no share of voice and no view of competitors.

If you start using Insights, write down your first figures as a baseline. Then compare them with ChatGPT referrals in your own analytics each month.

What you agree to when you claim, in plain English

Continuing in Business Hub accepts OpenAI's Businesses in ChatGPT Terms. They are short, but a few parts go further than a free listing usually does. This is a summary, not legal advice, so ask your solicitor if any of it matters to your business.

• The basic details you submit for public display, such as your name, address, contact details, category, hours and website, come with a perpetual and irrevocable licence. You cannot take that back later.
• Claiming does not give you exclusive control. OpenAI can add to, edit or replace your information using other sources.
• Section 10 is a promise not to sue OpenAI over certain claims, including ones about content on your own websites. Read it before you continue.
• Coverage of the terms reports that you also agree ChatGPT's AI assistant may phone your business on behalf of its users, with a link to opt out. Tell whoever answers your phones.
• Separately, OpenAI's help article says a published profile cannot be deleted, unpublished or hidden by OpenAI Support as part of a setup or ownership request. Only unpublished drafts can be deleted, so check the details before a new profile goes live.

Can't claim yet? What to do meanwhile

ChatGPT already describes businesses whether or not they have claimed a profile, using their website and other sources. If Business Hub is not open to you yet, the useful work is the same:

• Make sure ChatGPT can read your website. Check that your site does not block OpenAI's search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, and that your main content is in the page HTML, not loaded only by JavaScript.
• Keep your name, address, phone number, hours and services identical on your website, Google Business Profile, Companies House and the directories you use.
• Write clear pages that answer what buyers ask about your service, in their words, including prices or price ranges where you can.
• Ask ChatGPT about your business and your service in your area, and note what it gets wrong. That list is your to-do list.

If you would like to know how ChatGPT and Google's AI answers describe your business today, our AI visibility audit checks it for you.

Last checked on 13 November 2026. Business Hub is a beta and OpenAI's rules are changing quickly, so check OpenAI's setup guide for the latest. We will update this page as UK eligibility changes.