# AI Readability Checker — Can ChatGPT & Claude Read Your Site? (`eliai/ai-readability-checker`) Actor

Audit a site the way AI crawlers see it: robots.txt rules per bot (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot), real per-bot fetches, and how much text exists before JavaScript runs. Weighted from crawler logs, not blog advice. $0.05 per audit.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/eliai/ai-readability-checker.md
- **Developed by:** [Broke to Built](https://apify.com/eliai) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $40.00 / 1,000 site audits

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## AI Readability Checker (GEO Audit)

**Can AI actually read your site?** ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google's AI summaries can only
cite what their crawlers can ingest. This actor audits any URL exactly the way those crawlers see it
and returns measurements, not opinions.

### What it checks

1. **robots.txt AI-crawler rules** — GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, CCBot,
   Bytespider: allowed, partial, blocked, or unmentioned.
2. **llms.txt / AI-native index** — present or missing (the cheapest GEO win).
3. **Per-bot fetches** — what each AI user-agent is actually served: status, bytes, block-shaped
   responses (403/429/captcha walls).
4. **Server-rendered text ratio** — JS-walled pages are invisible to most AI fetchers.
5. **schema.org JSON-LD** — structured data blocks and their types.
6. **Sitemap** — reachable, and a sample of real pages measured for text ratio.
7. **Anti-AI headers** — x-robots-tag noai directives.

### Output

One dataset item with a 0–110 score, an A–D grade, per-check findings with plain-language details,
per-bot fetch results, and page samples. The `summary` field is a one-line verdict you can paste
anywhere.

### Why this matters (GEO)

Generative Engine Optimization starts one level below content: **readability**. If GPTBot is blocked
in robots.txt or your content only exists after a JS render, no amount of good writing gets you into
AI answers. This audit finds those structural blockers in under a minute.

### Example output

A real record, trimmed. Every finding carries its own `weight`, so you can see what is actually
costing you rather than a single opaque number:

```json
{
  "url": "https://example.com/store",
  "auditedAt": "2026-08-16T16:17:06.378Z",
  "score": 65,
  "maxScore": 110,
  "findings": [
    { "id": "robots-ai-access", "ok": true,  "weight": 25, "detail": "no robots.txt (HTTP 404) — crawlers default to allowed" },
    { "id": "bots-served",      "ok": true,  "weight": 25, "detail": "all 5 AI user-agents receive HTTP 200 content" },
    { "id": "server-rendered",  "ok": false, "weight": 33, "detail": "text ratio 2.1% (14861 text bytes in the raw HTML, before any JavaScript runs). BURIED: there is real text, but it is a small fraction of the markup." },
    { "id": "robots-sitemap",   "ok": false, "weight": 5,  "detail": "no robots.txt, so no sitemap pointer" },
    { "id": "llms-txt",         "ok": false, "weight": 2,  "detail": "llms.txt missing. Deliberately near-zero weight." }
  ]
}
```

### Pricing

**$0.05 per site audited.** One charge per URL, whatever the score. A run that cannot fetch the site
is reported with an error and is not charged.

That covers several fetches per audit — robots.txt, llms.txt, the page itself once per AI user-agent,
and a sitemap sample — so the price is per *audit*, not per request.

### FAQ

**Is a missing llms.txt really only worth 2 points?** Yes, and that is deliberate. Measured crawler
logs show the overwhelming majority of published `llms.txt` files are never requested. It is the most
marketed GEO fix and one of the least load-bearing. Server-rendered text (33) and robots access (25)
are where the score actually moves, so the weights say so out loud.

**What does the score mean?** It is out of 110, not 100 — the extra headroom is for checks that are
bonuses rather than requirements. Read the `findings` array, not just the total: two sites on 65 can
be failing for completely different reasons, and the `weight` on each finding tells you which repair
buys the most.

**Does this render JavaScript?** No, and that is the point. It fetches the way AI crawlers fetch, so
if your text only exists after a client-side render, this reports it as buried — because that is what
the crawler sees.

**Which bots does it check?** GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended and CCBot, each with
its real user-agent string, so a server that treats one differently from another is caught.

**Can I audit a whole site?** Pass several URLs in one run; each is scored separately and charged
separately. The audit also samples pages from your sitemap to check whether the problem is one page
or the whole template.

### For AI agents

This Actor is built to be called by software, not just by people.

- **Mount it directly as an MCP tool** — no Store search, no ranking, just this one tool:
  `https://mcp.apify.com/?actors=eliai/ai-readability-checker`
- **Or call it over HTTP** and get the results in the same request:
  `POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/eliai~ai-readability-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items`
- **Pay with x402, without an Apify account.** This Actor is whitelisted for agentic payments, so an agent holding USDC on Base can buy a prepaid token and spend it here. The minimum purchase is $1, the token balance is an absolute spending cap, and it expires 14 days after purchase.
- **Costs are predictable before you call.** Pricing is pay-per-event (see Pricing above), so an agent can budget a run in advance instead of discovering the bill afterwards.
- **Send only the field you mean.** If you pass the bulk field, it is used on its own; the single-value field is a fallback, never merged into your request. You are charged for the items you sent and nothing else.

# Actor input Schema

## `url` (type: `string`):

The site or page to audit for AI readability (e.g. https://example.com). Scheme optional — https:// is assumed.

## `checkPages` (type: `integer`):

Besides the given URL, pull up to this many pages from the site's sitemap and measure their text ratio too (0 = just the given URL).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "checkPages": 3
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Every item this run produced, as JSON.

## `resultsCsv` (type: `string`):

The same items as a spreadsheet-ready CSV.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "checkPages": 3
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("eliai/ai-readability-checker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "checkPages": 3,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("eliai/ai-readability-checker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "checkPages": 3
}' |
apify call eliai/ai-readability-checker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,eliai/ai-readability-checker"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/E4go5cglvimXYXuAA/builds/sdvQrzwqdl5C74DqG/openapi.json