How To Get My Business On ChatGPT: 9 Steps I'd Run (2026)

How to get my business on ChatGPT comes down to two jobs: claim your listing in OpenAI's Business Hub, and make your website something ChatGPT search is allowed to read.

Most owners do one and forget the other, so I run both in one pass with nine steps and a checklist at the end.

Nobody can promise you a mention, and OpenAI's own web search help page says placement is not guaranteed.

If you want my team to run it with you, book a free SEO strategy session and bring your domain.

The Two Doors Into ChatGPT: Business Hub And Web Search

Door one is the Business Hub, which OpenAI updated on 11 November 2026.

It lets a verified owner claim a business, edit its details, connect a product feed and read insights such as mentions and website clicks.

Door two is ChatGPT search, which pulls live pages from the web and cites them in answers.

For door two, OpenAI's crawler overview says sites that block OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers.

The two doors feed each other, because the help article also says ChatGPT may use other sources when it answers questions about your business.

So a perfect profile with a blocked website still leaves gaps, and a wide-open website with no claimed profile leaves you with no insights.

Step 1: Open robots.txt To OAI-SearchBot

Start with the file every crawler reads first: yourdomain.com/robots.txt.

These are the lines I put in, and the GPTBot block is optional because it only covers model training:

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
Allow: /

OpenAI treats each bot as a separate setting, so you can stay in search while keeping your content out of training.

Gotcha one: a firewall or CDN can block the bot even when robots.txt allows it.

Whitelist the published ranges in OpenAI's searchbot.json file inside Cloudflare or whatever sits in front of your host.

Gotcha two: OpenAI says changes take roughly 24 hours to register for search, so don't panic on day one.

Gotcha three: ChatGPT-User is the agent for user-triggered visits, and OpenAI says it does not decide search inclusion, so allowing it alone does nothing for visibility.

The same split exists elsewhere: Perplexity's crawler docs say PerplexityBot powers its results, and Anthropic's help page says blocking Claude-SearchBot may reduce your visibility in Claude.

Step 2: Claim Your Listing In Business Hub

You need to own the business or be authorized to represent it, and you don't need an Ads account to claim.

Sign in to ChatGPT and open Business Hub from the sidebar.
Search for your business by name and pick the listing that matches.
Confirm which ChatGPT account will manage it, ideally a shared company login rather than a staff member's personal one.
Choose a verification method: business phone, business email, website domain or Shopify.
Wait for OpenAI to email its decision or ask for more information.

Domain verification is the one I pick for clients, because it proves control of the website you want cited.

You add a TXT record to your DNS, copying the type, host and value exactly, then return to ChatGPT and select Verify domain.

If a web developer controls your DNS, send them the record before you start so the claim doesn't sit half-finished.

Example for a small firm: a two-person accounting practice signs in with the partners' shared account, searches its trading name, verifies through its domain and asks its web host to add the TXT record the same afternoon.

Step 3: Pass Persona Identity Verification

An approved claim is not the finish line, because Persona identity verification comes next.

OpenAI says you need it before you can publish changes, connect a product feed, view insights or create a business agent.

Have a government-issued ID, your business registration details and proof that you can represent the company ready.

The blue verified check only appears after Persona approves you, so claiming alone does not earn the badge.

Gotcha: if you use Persona to create a brand-new profile, approval publishes it automatically, so finish your description and logo first.

📞 Want a second pair of eyes before you hit verify? Book a free SEO strategy session and my team will walk through your robots.txt, your claim and the pages ChatGPT should be citing. → Book a free SEO strategy session

Step 4: Fill Every Profile Field OpenAI Lets You Edit

Once both checks pass, open your profile and work through each field in this order:

Website: the canonical homepage URL, with https and the same www choice your site uses.
Business description: two or three plain sentences on what you sell, who it's for and where you serve.
Product or service category: the closest match, not the broadest one.
Logo and cover photo: the same files you use on your site and social profiles.
Delivery policy and return policy: copy them from your live policy pages so the wording matches.

Everything you add must follow OpenAI's Businesses in ChatGPT policy, and OpenAI reviews changes before they go live.

Updates can take time to show in an answer, so log the date of each edit and compare it with your insights later.

Step 5: Make Your Website Say Exactly The Same Thing

The profile is only half of what ChatGPT sees, so your site has to match it word for word on the facts.

Check that your business name, address, phone number, opening hours and service area read the same on the homepage, contact page, footer and profile.

Add Organization markup, or LocalBusiness markup if you have a storefront, and list your social and review profiles in sameAs as Google's Organization guide suggests.

Keep the markup accurate, since Google asks that structured data matches the visible text on the page.

Put your key facts in real HTML text rather than inside images or sliders, because crawlers read text.

Skip the shortcuts: Google's AI optimization guide says you can ignore llms.txt files and content chunking for Google Search, and nothing in OpenAI's pages asks for them either.

Step 6: Get Indexed Where ChatGPT's Search Partners Look

OpenAI says ChatGPT search sometimes rewrites your question and sends it to other search providers.

Its help article links Microsoft's privacy statement when it explains this, so I treat Bing indexing as part of the job.

Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools, submit a clean XML sitemap and set up IndexNow so new pages are pinged the day they go live.

The Bing Webmaster Guidelines say Copilot uses the same crawling, indexing and ranking base as classic Bing search.

ChatGPT also uses approximate location from a user's IP for local questions, so name your city and neighborhoods on your service pages.

Example for a local trade: a roofing company builds one page per town it covers, each with real job photos, the crew's phone number and the same address as the profile.

Step 7: Earn Mentions And Reviews On Other Sites

This step is our view rather than an OpenAI rule, but it fits what the help article says about other sources.

When ChatGPT compares businesses, it reads what others say about you, not just what you say about yourself.

Ask happy customers for reviews on the platforms they already use, and never pay for them, because Google's review tips policy bans incentives of any kind.

Pitch trade associations, local news sites and supplier partner pages for a listing or a short feature.

If a placement is paid, mark the link rel="sponsored", which Google's outbound link guide prefers for paid placements.

Example for a café: list the café with the local chamber, ask the farmers' market that stocks your pastries for a supplier mention and add a reviews prompt to receipts with no discount attached.

🔥 Want to learn AI SEO yourself and run these steps in-house? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom you get step-by-step video trainings, the installable Agent OS and four live coaching calls a week, so you can learn AI SEO yourself and apply it to your own business. → Join the AI Profit Boardroom

Step 8: Track Mentions, Clicks And Referrals

Business Hub insights cover the past 28 days and show mentions, website clicks and discovery topics.

Read the mention count carefully: for an online business it only counts when ChatGPT references your website, and your brand name alone doesn't count.

For a local business, a mention counts when ChatGPT shows a result for that location, even if nobody opens it.

A blank metric can mean the data hasn't hit the reporting threshold yet, so don't read it as zero.

In our own analytics, ChatGPT referrals usually arrive with chatgpt.com as the source, often tagged utm_source=chatgpt.com, so build a filter for it.

For Copilot, Bing's AI Performance report shows how often your pages are cited in AI answers.

Step 9: Add A Product Feed Or Agent Only If You Qualify

If you sell products, you can connect a CSV feed or a Shopify feed so ChatGPT has your product details and availability.

OpenAI is clear that connecting a feed doesn't guarantee ChatGPT recommends your products.

Business agents are for eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the US with a website, and they follow a separate Business Agents Policy.

The agent can explain products and policies and link to your site, but it can't complete purchases, take bookings or check orders.

Test it with a real customer question, such as a return on a sale item, and fix the source data if the answer is wrong before you publish.

Where AI Agents Speed Up The Work

An agent can't pass Persona for you, but it can clear most of the groundwork in an afternoon.

Fetch robots.txt and flag any rule that blocks OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or Claude-SearchBot.
Crawl your contact, footer and location pages and list every mismatch in name, address or phone.
Draft Organization or LocalBusiness JSON-LD from your real details for a human to check.
Pull the questions customers ask in your inbox and turn them into an FAQ brief.
Build a list of associations and local sites to contact, as a draft only for you to send.

Keep a human on every publish and every outreach email, because you are responsible for what goes out under your name.

Gotchas That Stall A Claim

If you see Contact support, the listing is locked, and only OpenAI support can open it.
Local stores and restaurants can currently claim only an existing US listing, so availability outside the US depends on your location and type.
Never forward a personal claim invitation, because the admin should add teammates or an agency inside Business Hub instead.
Each brand is claimed separately, and claiming the main brand does not claim its locations.
Only unpublished drafts can be deleted, and support can't unpublish a live profile for you.
Disputing ownership or claiming a profile doesn't change its visibility.

The Operator Checklist

robots.txt allows OAI-SearchBot, with GPTBot set to your training preference.
CDN and firewall allow OpenAI's published search IP ranges.
Business Hub claim approved through domain, phone, email or Shopify.
Persona verification approved and blue check showing.
Website, description, category, logo and policies filled and matching the site.
Organization or LocalBusiness markup live and matching visible text.
Bing Webmaster Tools verified, sitemap submitted and IndexNow running.
Review requests running with no incentives.
Analytics filter for chatgpt.com referrals saved.
Insights reviewed every 28 days against your edit log.

Once the profile is live, my companion guide on how to rank in ChatGPT covers the content side in more depth.

When To Hand It To A Team

Run the checklist yourself if you have one location, one brand and someone who can edit DNS.

Bring in help when you have several brands or locations, a site that hides its content behind JavaScript, or no time to earn mentions month after month.

Google's guide to hiring an SEO says nobody can guarantee a #1 ranking, and the same candour applies to ChatGPT mentions.

Goldie Agency is an SEO, GEO, AEO and link building agency, and Julian's own published numbers list 1,000+ campaigns and 240+ clients.

Its link work is described as manual outreach, no PBNs, and you can Book a free SEO strategy session to see whether it fits.

📞 Rather have my team run the nine steps with you? On a free 30-minute call we check your crawler access, your Business Hub status and the gaps between your profile and your site. → Book a free SEO strategy session or use the Book a free SEO strategy session calendar directly.

🎁 Two free resources for the groundwork Grab the 200+ AI SEO Prompts for briefs, schema and audits, and download the free link building book to plan your mentions.

Also On Our Network

FAQ: How To Get My Business On ChatGPT

Which robots.txt line matters most for ChatGPT search?

The User-agent: OAI-SearchBot group with Allow: /. OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT search answers, and GPTBot is a separate training setting.

Which Business Hub verification method should I choose?

Website domain is the strongest proof that you control the site you want cited. You add a TXT record to DNS, then select Verify domain in ChatGPT.

Why can't I see insights after my claim was approved?

Insights, publishing changes and product feeds all need Persona identity verification first. Once that is approved, Insights shows the past 28 days.

Can an agency manage my Business Hub listing?

Yes. OpenAI says the admin who claimed the business can grant an agency access inside Business Hub, and each person should use their own ChatGPT account.

Does a product feed make ChatGPT recommend my products?

No. OpenAI says connecting a feed shares product details but does not guarantee recommendations.

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About Julian

I'm Julian Goldie, an SEO entrepreneur, author and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.

I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.

I've built a 7-figure SEO and link building agency, Goldie Agency, with a team of 70+ SEO experts.
I've grown a YouTube channel to 400,000+ subscribers.
I wrote "Link Building Mastery".
My Udemy courses have taught over 29,000 students.

→ Get my best AI training inside the AI Profit Boardroom

Run the checklist, log every edit, and if you want help with any step, book a free SEO strategy session or learn it yourself inside the AI Profit Boardroom.

That is the full operator playbook for how to get my business on ChatGPT.