ChatGPT Business Profile: Québec SME Checklist
By2Friends · · 7 min read
OpenAI now lets companies claim business profiles in ChatGPT. Here is a Québec checklist for your site, data, French content and policies.
OpenAI just made AI visibility more concrete for businesses. A ChatGPT business profile is no longer only something customers infer from your website, reviews and product pages: eligible businesses can now claim a profile, update details and see limited insights.
For Québec SMEs, the right move is not to rush into another dashboard. It is to make sure the information ChatGPT sees is accurate, bilingual where needed, privacy-aware and consistent with your website.
ChatGPT business profile: what changed in November 2026
On November 10, 2026, OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT in beta. Through Business Hub, a company can claim its business, manage key information, add product feeds in some cases and see aggregated insights such as mentions and website clicks, according to OpenAI’s launch announcement.
That matters because ChatGPT is becoming a discovery channel. A buyer may ask for a supplier, a local service, a software tool, a product comparison or a store recommendation. If your business appears, the user may open a profile, click to your website or, in some markets, chat with a Business Agent.
There are important limits. OpenAI says eligible businesses where ChatGPT is available can claim a profile, but Business Agents are currently available to eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the United States. OpenAI’s help page also says some local stores and restaurants can currently claim only an existing U.S. listing, and that availability depends on business location, business type and verification support. See the OpenAI setup guide.
So the Québec action is simple: prepare and claim if you are eligible, but do not build a sales plan around a Business Agent until it is actually available for your category and market.
Start with your source of truth: the website
A ChatGPT profile will not fix a weak website. OpenAI says ChatGPT may use information a business provides, but it may also use other sources when answering questions. Claiming does not guarantee better placement or sales, according to OpenAI’s Business Hub FAQ.
Before claiming, update the pages ChatGPT, Google, customers and partners already rely on:
- Your legal or operating business name.
- Your service areas: Montréal, Québec City, regions, Canada, U.S. or remote.
- Your categories and plain-language service descriptions.
- Your opening hours, phone number and main email.
- Your return, refund, delivery or cancellation policies.
- Your about page and proof of expertise.
- Your product pages, prices, stock status and variants if you sell online.
For Google, organization structured data can help identify the business behind a website, and merchant listing structured data can help Google understand product details such as offers. Google documents those options in its Organization structured data and merchant listing structured data guides. The same discipline helps AI systems because your business facts become cleaner, easier to reconcile and less contradictory.
A practical test: ask someone who does not work in your company to read your home page for 60 seconds, then answer three questions. What do you sell? Where do you serve customers? What is the next step? If they hesitate, an AI assistant may hesitate too.
Claim carefully: verification, access and ownership
OpenAI’s help page says claiming can involve verification by phone, business email, website domain DNS record or Shopify. After claim approval, Persona identity verification is required before publishing changes, connecting a product feed, viewing insights or creating an eligible Business Agent.
Treat this like a financial or domain account, not like a social post.
Before you start, decide:
- Which email owns the profile. Use a business-controlled account, not a personal inbox that may leave with an employee.
- Who has authority. OpenAI’s policy says you may manage only businesses you own or are authorized to represent.
- Who approves edits. Profile text, photos, product claims and links should be reviewed like website copy.
- Who keeps proof. Save DNS records, verification emails and screenshots of the published profile.
- Who can invite an agency. OpenAI says an admin may add teammates or grant agency access, but each person should use their own ChatGPT account.
Also avoid the temptation to exaggerate. OpenAI’s Businesses in ChatGPT policy, updated November 10, 2026, says business information must be truthful and current, including category, address or service area, hours, contact details and products or services. It also prohibits false or misleading claims about prices, availability, qualifications or likely results. See the Businesses in ChatGPT policy.
Québec checks: French, Law 25 and customer trust
This section is general information, not legal advice. If you have a regulated activity, sensitive data, health information, minors, financing, insurance or cross-border data flows, ask a lawyer or privacy professional.
First, French. The OQLF says that if a business does business in Québec, its website must be accessible in French, and the whole content, including product sheets, must be offered in French with equivalent quality. The OQLF also says commercial publications, brochures, catalogues and advertising on a website or social media must be in French when they target Québec customers. See the OQLF PDF on websites, social media and advertising documents.
That means your ChatGPT profile preparation should include the French version, not only the English one:
- French service descriptions.
- French product names and descriptions where required.
- French policies for delivery, returns, appointments and cancellations.
- French contact paths for Québec customers.
- French FAQ answers for common buying questions.
Second, privacy. Québec’s Commission d’accès à l’information explains that since September 2023, organizations must provide clear information when collecting personal information, including purposes, means of collection, access and rectification rights, withdrawal of consent and possible communication outside Québec. The CAI also says the information must be provided in simple and clear terms. See the CAI page on Law 25 changes.
If your website has contact forms, appointment booking, chat, newsletter signup, checkout or quote requests, make sure your privacy policy matches what actually happens. The CAI notes that when personal information is collected using technology, a privacy policy must be published on the website or made available by another appropriate means. See the CAI page on collecting personal information.
The principle is practical: do not feed AI channels information that your own site cannot support.
If you use Shopify, check these 6 items
Shopify merchants have a separate reason to act. Shopify says the ChatGPT channel is a discovery-focused referrer platform, active by default for eligible stores, and purchases complete on the merchant’s own online store checkout. Shopify also says business profiles and business insights are available globally, while AI business agents are available only to eligible U.S.-based stores. See Shopify’s help page on selling on ChatGPT.
Before you worry about advanced AI commerce, check the basics:
- Eligibility: in Shopify admin, review Sales channels > Agentic and the Shopify Catalog status.
- Policies: Shopify says selling on ChatGPT requires Terms of service, Privacy policy, and Return and refund policy completed in Shopify settings.
- Product data: titles, descriptions, options, images, price and availability should be clean and current.
- Legal disclosures: Shopify recommends including relevant legal disclosures in the first 6,000 characters of product descriptions.
- B2B products: Shopify says B2B-only products are not supported for agentic storefronts; do not accidentally expose wholesale-only products.
- French content: for Québec customers, product sheets and commercial content should not be English-only.
Shopify also explains that Shopify Catalog is the main method for agentic storefronts to receive product data, and that robots.txt blocking affects open-web discoverability but does not stop product data from being sent by Shopify Catalog to activated agentic storefronts. See Shopify’s page on Shopify Catalog and product discovery.
Measure it without overreacting
OpenAI’s insights are useful, but early. OpenAI says insights show aggregate activity over the past 28 days, including mentions, website clicks and discovery topics. It also says businesses do not receive individual prompts or customer conversations, and a blank metric may mean the threshold was not reached, data is still being collected or reporting is unavailable.
Track three things monthly:
- ChatGPT Business Hub: mentions, website clicks and discovery topics.
- Website analytics: traffic from ChatGPT, conversions, contact forms and quote requests.
- Search Console: branded searches, service-page impressions and product-page changes.
Do not rewrite your website every time one AI answer looks wrong. Instead, build a small correction loop: identify the wrong fact, fix the source page, update structured data or Shopify fields, then test again later.
This is where the trend is going. Statistics Canada reported in October 2026 that 25.2% of Canadian businesses planned to use AI to produce goods or deliver services over the next 12 months, up from 10.6% in the third quarter of 2024. Among those planning to use AI, large language models were cited by 39.3% in the third quarter of 2026. See Statistics Canada’s Q3 2026 analysis.
Customers, competitors and platforms are moving. Your job is to make sure your business facts are ready.
Doing it with By2Friends
If you want help, start with a practical audit: website facts, French and English content, privacy basics, structured data, Shopify product data and the ChatGPT claim path. By2Friends can also design the next step: an AI-ready website, a customer portal, a Shopify cleanup or an internal assistant that uses your approved business information.
For a Québec business, the goal is not to chase every new AI button. It is to make your digital presence accurate enough that Google, ChatGPT and real customers understand the same thing. If you want that foundation, talk to us about AI integration.
Cover photo: Tiger Lily / Pexels
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