Labs / Field notes · Updated 2026-11-10

We tried to claim our business in ChatGPT on day one. The trades can't get in yet.

OpenAI opened business profiles in ChatGPT today. Storefronts and online stores can claim one. The roofer, the plumber and the window installer are marked coming soon.

By Founder

Published

PlannedDecided, not built.
  1. Open the Business Hub
  2. Pick a business type
  3. Prove the website
  4. Prove the email
  5. Verify the owner
  6. Publish
  7. Read the mentions

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What we asked and what we found

Every entry answers the same eight questions, in this order.

Question

What can a local service business claim in ChatGPT today, and what does ChatGPT go on until it can?

Why it matters

A caller told one of our customers that ChatGPT sent them, and the owner closed the sale. Until today nobody at that shop could see how often ChatGPT names them. OpenAI's new Business Hub promises that view, so we went to claim ours the afternoon it opened.

State

Planned Decided, not built.

What we built or tested

  • Nothing new. We walked the claim flow for Lehvel and for our online apparel store, and wrote down what each step asked for.
  • A draft profile for the apparel store, with its domain and email verified. It is not published.

Evidence

Claim types offered (chatgpt.com/business-hub, 2026-11-10)
A physical location or an online store. A third type, for businesses that serve customers at their place or remotely, is marked coming soon and cannot be selected.
Verification steps (same day)
The website is proven with a DNS TXT record. The business email gets a six-digit code. Publishing waits on an ID check of the account holder.
What the draft dashboard shows
Mentions in ChatGPT and website clicks
Same questions, asked twice (Cleveland, 2026-11-09)
ChatGPT named 50 businesses across ten trades. Twelve were gone the second time.

What we learned

  • The businesses that go to the customer are the ones locked out. That is most of the trades.
  • Until a shop can claim a profile, its website is what ChatGPT reads. Hours, service area, the jobs it takes and the jobs it doesn't should be on the page in plain words.
  • The domain and email checks took minutes. The ID check is the slow step, and only the owner can do it.
  • Claiming gives an owner a dashboard. Nothing we saw says it changes what ChatGPT recommends.

Limitations

  • One afternoon in one product on its first day. OpenAI will change the flow.
  • We have not published a profile, so we have no mention counts yet.
  • We do not know when the service type opens or what it will ask for.
  • The Cleveland run was one evening and ten trades.

What changes next

Publish the store profile once the ID check is done and read its mentions for 30 days. Claim Lehvel the day the service type opens. Our customers claim through accounts they own, and we write down what changes.

Related

I asked ChatGPT the same question twice
Failed tests are published as results. A state on this page describes today, not plans.

Sources and credits

These tools belong to the people who made them. Lehvel reviewed and, where noted, tested them. Nothing here is a Lehvel product, and no performance figure attributed to a vendor has been reproduced by us.

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