OpenAI on November 10, 2026 opened Businesses in ChatGPT, a beta program that lets companies claim a profile inside ChatGPT, correct their details, add product feeds with prices and stock levels, and see how often the assistant mentions them and how many people click through to their websites. The reporting sits in a new portal called Business Hub. Alongside it, OpenAI added Business Agents, branded chat assistants that eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the United States can build, test and publish inside ChatGPT.

The company framed the program as a new way for businesses "to connect with the 1.2 billion people who use ChatGPT each week," according to the announcement. Businesses can also pay to promote their agent. According to OpenAI, a business can "sponsor their Business Agent and use it as the destination for ChatGPT Ads to reach more potential customers." That sentence connects the free listing to the advertising business OpenAI has been building since February.

Four days earlier, PPC Land reported that ChatGPT was building mention and click charts for verified businesses, based on an interface spotted before OpenAI had said anything. The launch confirms the core of that report. It also adds what the early sighting could not show: how verification works, what OpenAI withholds, and how the agents tie into ads.

In Short

OpenAI now lets businesses claim a profile in ChatGPT, update their details and products, and see how often ChatGPT mentions them and how many people click to their website. That matters to brands, retailers and agencies that have had no first-party numbers on ChatGPT's unpaid answers, although the prompts behind each mention stay hidden and a click is not a confirmed visit. US online shops and service businesses can also build a chat agent that ChatGPT Ads can send people to, which ties the free profile directly to OpenAI's ad sales.

What OpenAI opened

Business Hub is the entry point. "In Business Hub, companies can claim their organization in ChatGPT and, once verified, update key details and add self-service product feeds with pricing and availability," OpenAI wrote. The company described the product feed function as "a new way to provide information to ChatGPT, helping people explore products and services using the most accurate and up-to-date details." On the page where businesses sign up, the commitment is softer: retailers can upload feeds, and "ChatGPT may use this information to answer customer questions." May, not will.

Access is wide on paper. "Any eligible business located where ChatGPT is available can claim their business in ChatGPT through Business Hub," according to OpenAI. The sign-up page's FAQ adds that eligibility "depends on factors including industry, location, and our verification and integrity checks," and that the person managing a profile must own the business or be authorized to represent it. OpenAI publishes a separate Businesses in ChatGPT policy and a Business Agents policy listing eligible categories.

Three groups get shortcuts. Existing OpenAI Enterprise customers and advertisers "can work directly with their OpenAI representative to claim their business," according to the announcement. Shopify merchants can connect a store from Business Hub or from the Shopify admin, which OpenAI said would "streamline verification." The company also noted that "eligible products from Shopify merchants are already integrated into ChatGPT through Shopify Catalog." The sign-up page reduces the Shopify route to three steps: connect the store, review the product details, pricing and availability that flow in automatically through Shopify's catalog, then preview and publish an agent.

Shopify has reasons to push the route. The company told investors on November 3 that orders originating from AI searches were up 3.3 times year over year, from an undisclosed base, and that searches powered by Shopify Catalog converted at twice the rate of general AI search.

Inside the Hub, the interface published by Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable lists three sections: Overview, Agent builder and Products.

The numbers a business sees

OpenAI's description of the reporting is brief. Business Hub "provides aggregated insights into how people engage with a business in ChatGPT," and "this includes the number of mentions and website clicks a business receives." The third element is what OpenAI calls discovery topics, defined in the announcement as "common themes across conversations where their website is cited."

That definition differs slightly from the one on the sign-up page, which describes discovery topics as the conversation themes in which the business appears. A website cited as a source and a business named in an answer are not the same event, and OpenAI has not said which one drives the topic list.

The dashboard splits into two tabs, Brand insights and Agent insights, with seven-day and 28-day views. Brand insights shows tiles for mentions, profile views and website clicks, a mentions trend chart and a panel of the top five discovery topics. A help note on the clicks tile, published by Search Engine Roundtable, reads: "Number of recorded clicks on links to your website in ChatGPT. Clicks don't confirm website visits or conversions."

Privacy limits apply throughout. "We don't share users' conversations or Business Agent chats with businesses," OpenAI wrote. "Insights are aggregated and are only available when there are enough conversations or interactions to meet certain thresholds." The thresholds are not quantified. In the empty dashboard Schwartz published for RustyBrick, Inc., each tile showed a dash, the chart stayed blank until "there are enough mentions," and the topics panel promised that themes would appear on the same condition.

Demonstration figures and the first real ones

OpenAI's launch materials use a fictional toy shop, Colorful Clatter. Over seven days, the example dashboard shows 15,356 mentions, 1,234 profile views and 5,432 website clicks. Its top discovery topics, listed under a column headed "Registered topic," are "Affordable kids activities" with 5,375 mentions and a 35% topic share, "Gift for kids" with 3,993 (26%), "San Francisco toy shops" with 2,610 (17%) and "Fun toy brands" with 1,996 (13%). In that example, website clicks equal about 35% of mentions, by PPC Land's calculation.

The first live dashboards shared on November 10 looked very different. Conrad O'Connell posted the Business Hub view for BuildUp Bookings on X, showing 690 mentions and 24 website clicks over 28 days. Another account, posting as Second, shared a Spanish-language dashboard for Zianvo with 28 mentions and one click on a link to the website. By PPC Land's calculation, both come to about 3.5% of mentions producing a click - a tenth of the ratio in OpenAI's illustration. Two dashboards are anecdotes, not a benchmark, and the example figures were never presented as typical.

Both live dashboards also carried the label "Data through Nov 9 (UTC)," a day before the launch. That points to a reporting delay of at least a day, and suggests the counts cover activity from before the businesses claimed their listings rather than starting at verification. Neither showed a profile views tile, which appeared in OpenAI's example and in Schwartz's empty dashboard. OpenAI has not explained when that metric is displayed.

How a claim works

Claiming starts with a search. In the flow Schwartz documented, a business types its name and picks from a list of existing entries with street addresses, or creates a new one. The next screen promises three things: tracking of how often the business is mentioned in ChatGPT conversations, a place to add products and keep details current, and a business agent that answers customer questions with context the business controls. The flow then requires proof of authority to represent the company.

According to Search Engine Roundtable, verification runs through a text or phone call to the main business number, or through DNS verification. Schwartz used DNS. A review stage follows - "Claim received," then "Review in progress" - with the decision sent by email and an option to withdraw the claim during the review. Even after that, the Hub asks the person to verify their identity with a government-issued ID, which it describes as required before editing business information or publishing a business agent. The same prompt appears on a draft dashboard for Growth Memo that Kevin Indig shared. OpenAI's own example claim screen offers a blue checkmark to show that a profile "is managed by the actual business."

The layered checks address a problem that local search has lived with for years. Google Business Profile, the nearest equivalent, verifies owners by phone, text, email, video, live call or postcard, and Google's 2025 Trust and Safety Report counted more than 13 million fake Business Profiles removed. Schwartz was candid about the risk: "I am honestly nervous about people hijacking businesses on here but I guess OpenAI will figure it out?" OpenAI's announcement does not describe how a wrongly claimed profile would be disputed.

Not every claim went through on launch day. Fabio Ricotta replied to Schwartz's post on X that "I wasn't able to claim mine. They put me in a waitlist," posting a Portuguese-language notice saying that the claim for Agência Mestre would continue later by email. Publishers asked a different question. "Can publishers signup? We tried and it is geared towards businesses selling things," the food site Inspired Taste wrote on X, quoting a similar question from Gagan Ghotra. OpenAI's materials talk about products, services and offerings throughout. They do not mention publishers.

The Hub also sells. The claim-review screen promotes a switch to ChatGPT Business, OpenAI's workplace subscription, and a card on the dashboard invites an upgrade to a ChatGPT Business plan to invite teammates and create workspace agents. The near-identical names - ChatGPT Business for the subscription, Businesses in ChatGPT for the listings program - describe different products.

Business Agents, organic and sponsored

After claiming, eligible organizations "can build, test, and launch a Business Agent," which OpenAI described as "a new way to answer questions and help people explore their offerings." The mechanics follow from the profile. When a business appears in an answer, a user can open its ChatGPT profile; in OpenAI's example, that panel carries delivery and returns terms, a short description, product cards with prices, and two buttons, "Start chat" and "View website." Choosing the first opens a conversation with the business's agent.

OpenAI gave an example: "someone comparing products could ask about the differences between two options and which features fit their needs." According to the sign-up page, the agent answers with the business's product and policy information, following guidelines the business sets. OpenAI drew the line between the agent and its own answers explicitly. "The Business Agent conversation is clearly labeled, separate from the customer's original ChatGPT conversation, and distinct from ChatGPT's independent answers," the company wrote.

Business Agents are limited for now to eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the United States. Schwartz repeated that restriction in a reply on X, under a post announcing that Business Hub was live "with click data, mentions, query'ish data and more."

The paid route is where the launch changes most for advertisers. "Businesses can also sponsor their Business Agent and use it as the destination for ChatGPT Ads to reach more potential customers," OpenAI wrote, adding that "sponsored placements are clearly labeled and separate from ChatGPT responses." The ChatGPT Ads reference in the announcement links to OpenAI's September 16 advertising post. That was the post in which the company began testing Sponsored Agents with select US advertisers, an ad unit that opens a separate, labelled conversation with a business's agent after a click.

PPC Land's November 6 report had asked whether the agent in Business Hub was related to that paid format. The answer is now on the record: the same agent can serve as the organic chat a user opens from a profile and as the landing point of a paid campaign. A dashboard card labelled "Reach more people" already promotes the agent across ChatGPT to reach more potential customers.

The ad business behind it is broad. OpenAI said on October 21 that ChatGPT ads were available in 89 countries and that over 100,000 advertisers had run campaigns since launch, a cumulative figure. Ads appear only on the Free and Go plans. The value of those visits remains contested: a working paper by Kaiser and Schulze, covered on November 2, found that a paid ChatGPT ad visit generated $0.89 in revenue for US shops, against $2.45 for a visit from a paid Google search ad.

Business Agents also revisit a question OpenAI has already tested once: should the sale happen inside ChatGPT or on the merchant's site? The company launched Instant Checkout on September 29, 2025, with US Etsy sellers. In March 2026, Walmart said its in-chat checkout had converted three times lower than click-out links, and OpenAI ended Instant Checkout that month. OpenAI's description of Business Agents mentions questions, comparisons and taking "the next step" with a business. It does not mention payment.

Three companies, one product name

OpenAI is the third large platform to offer merchants a "Business Agent." Google introduced Business Agent on January 11, letting US retailers activate branded assistants in Search through Merchant Center, with Lowe's, Michael's, Poshmark and Reebok at launch. Meta unveiled its own Business Agent on June 3 for WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, with a free entry tier and paid tiers to follow. The three products share a name and an idea - a branded assistant answering product questions inside someone else's platform - but each runs on different data, rules and ad systems.

Product data is the common currency. Amazon opened a free Shop Direct Merchant Workspace on November 4, letting outside stores submit feeds so their products appear in Amazon search and Alexa for Shopping. Google's Merchant Center added AI performance insights in May, with share of voice across AI Mode, AI Overviews and the Gemini app. OpenAI's offer works the same way: structured prices and availability go in, and mention counts come back.

Clicks without the queries

For search marketers, the reporting gap matters more than the agent. Google's Search Console gained dedicated AI reports that reached every site on August 31, covering impressions by page, country, device and date - with no click or query data. Bing went the other way on queries: its Webmaster Tools added a Topics Portfolio beta in October that groups grounding queries into topics and shows queries where other sites are cited and the site is not.

OpenAI sits between the two. It reports clicks, which Google's AI reports omit, and grouped themes rather than raw prompts, which Bing partly exposes. It offers no competitive view at all.

Reactions on X split along those lines. Kevin Indig, who writes the Growth Memo newsletter, called it "one of the most impactful developments for AI Search: we're finally getting 1st party data from ChatGPT!" and described Business Hub as "a sort of Search Console for ChatGPT." Sandilya Miduthuri read the same features more narrowly. "They're giving topics and click counts, not the actual prompts, so this is closer to a brand listing dashboard than search console," Miduthuri wrote. David Yang wanted to know how the numbers would compare with those from Profound and other third-party trackers.

That comparison will shape budgets. The vendors that measure AI visibility estimate presence by running prompts at scale and recording which brands appear. OpenAI's counts come from actual usage, but without the prompts, without a definition of a mention, and with thresholds that hide small businesses until volume builds. Scale explains the interest. OpenAI's Adam Fry has said that ChatGPT's search-like query volume is roughly one-fifth of Google's. Until now, a business appearing in those answers without paying for placement had no figures from OpenAI at all.

What OpenAI calls the next step

OpenAI presented the launch as a beginning. "Today's announcement is an early step in bringing businesses more deeply into ChatGPT," the company wrote, adding that it starts with "accurate business information, useful insights, and conversations that help people make informed decisions." It plans to extend Businesses in ChatGPT and Business Agents "to more markets and business categories, and build tools for organizations with more complex needs." The company also said it will "explore more ways for businesses to connect with customers - directly or through agents - in ChatGPT and beyond." No dates were given.

What is not established

Several points remain open after the launch:

  • Thresholds. OpenAI does not say how many conversations or interactions a business needs before any data appears.
  • Definitions. The announcement does not define a mention, explain whether repeated appearances in one conversation count once or several times, or say whether discovery topics follow website citations or business appearances.
  • Effect of claiming. OpenAI says ChatGPT may use claimed information. It does not say that claiming changes how often a business is mentioned or ranked.
  • Disputes. No process is described for contesting a profile claimed by someone without authority.
  • Eligibility. The announcement says any eligible business where ChatGPT is available can claim, yet at least one claim outside the US went to a waitlist on launch day. Publishers are not addressed.
  • Cost. OpenAI's pages mention no fee for claiming a business or publishing an agent, and no pricing for sponsoring one beyond its existing ad formats.
  • Website access. Schwartz's dashboard included a "Website access" panel reporting "Access confirmed" for the RustyBrick site. OpenAI has not explained what that check covers.

Timeline

Summary

Who: OpenAI, which opened the program; businesses located where ChatGPT is available, which can claim profiles; eligible US ecommerce and online service businesses, which can publish Business Agents; Shopify merchants and OpenAI's existing Enterprise customers and advertisers, who get faster routes to verification; and search marketers such as Barry Schwartz and Kevin Indig, who tested the Hub on launch day.

What: Businesses in ChatGPT, a beta program with a Business Hub where verified businesses update details and product feeds and see aggregated mentions, website clicks and discovery topics, without prompts or conversations. Business Agents let eligible US businesses run branded chat assistants that can also be sponsored as the destination for ChatGPT Ads.

When: OpenAI announced the program on November 10, 2026. Early dashboards showed data through November 9, 2026 (UTC).

Where: Inside ChatGPT, through Business Hub. Claiming is open to eligible businesses wherever ChatGPT is available, with at least one launch-day claim placed on a waitlist; Business Agents are limited to the United States.

Why: OpenAI said the program gives businesses a way to keep their information accurate and to reach ChatGPT's 1.2 billion weekly users. For marketers, it is the first first-party data from OpenAI on unpaid appearances in ChatGPT answers, and the sponsorship option links that free presence to OpenAI's growing ad business.