# AI Visibility Check — ChatGPT & Perplexity for Local Business (`moonlings/ai-visibility-check`) Actor

AI brand visibility tracker for local businesses: asks ChatGPT & Perplexity live with web search who they recommend in your category and city. Real appearance counts, competitors named instead of you, and the sites AI answers cite — AEO/GEO ground truth, never an invented score.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/moonlings/ai-visibility-check.md
- **Developed by:** [moonlings](https://apify.com/moonlings) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Lead generation, SEO tools
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$790.00 / 1,000 ai visibility checks

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use 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 Visibility Check — Is ChatGPT Recommending Your Business?

When locals ask ChatGPT or Perplexity for "the best gym near Cincinnati," your
business either comes up or a competitor gets the customer. This Actor asks
both assistants **live, with web search on**, exactly like a real searcher —
and returns what actually happened: how many answers named you, who was
recommended instead, and which local sites the AI pulled from. One check costs
**$0.79** and takes about 10–30 seconds.

No invented metrics. You get real observed counts — "appeared in 4 of 6
answers, ChatGPT 3/3, Perplexity 1/3" — because that's what the assistants
actually said, and that's the only honest way to measure this.

### What you get back

```json
{
  "businessName": "Graeter's Ice Cream",
  "location": "Cincinnati, OH",
  "asked": 6, "sampled": 6, "appeared": 2,
  "engines": [
    { "engine": "ChatGPT", "sampled": 3, "appeared": 1 },
    { "engine": "Perplexity", "sampled": 3, "appeared": 1 }
  ],
  "recommendedInstead": ["Aglamesis Bro's Ice Cream", "Hello Honey"],
  "citedDomains": ["cincinnatirefined.com", "365cincinnati.com", "yelp.com"],
  "label": "Asked live with web search near Cincinnati"
}
````

- **`appeared` / `sampled`** — real appearance counts over live category
  questions, split per engine.
- **`recommendedInstead`** — the businesses the AI named instead of you.
  This is who is winning your customers in AI search.
- **`citedDomains`** — the local sites the AI answers drew from. Getting
  listed *there* is the concrete lever to change the answer.

### Who uses this

- **Business owners**: find out in one run whether AI search knows you exist.
- **Marketing agencies**: run it on a prospect before the pitch — "ChatGPT
  recommended your competitor in 3 of 3 answers" opens doors.
- **Local SEO consultants**: `citedDomains` is a ready-made citations
  worklist, sourced from what the AI actually reads.
- **AI agents**: callable via the Apify MCP server; returns structured JSON
  and finishes inside a normal tool-call window.

### Input

```json
{
  "businessName": "Graeter's Ice Cream",
  "location": "Cincinnati, OH",
  "businessType": "ice cream shop",
  "website": "https://www.graeters.com"
}
```

`businessType` is required — the assistants are asked category questions, so
without it there is nothing to check. `website` is recommended: a cited
domain counts as an appearance even when the answer words your name
differently. Spell the business name the way Google knows it.

### Pricing

One `visibility-check` event ($0.79) per **delivered** check. Failed runs are
never charged — if no AI answer could be sampled, you pay nothing.

### Not what this does

- It does **not** produce a 0–100 "AI SEO" rating — no such number exists in
  reality, and we won't fabricate one.
- It does **not** track rankings over time in one run — each run is a fresh
  live sample (schedule it weekly if you want a time series).
- It does **not** fix your visibility — it tells you who's winning and which
  sites the AI reads, which is where the fixing starts.
- Not for national brands with no local market: the questions are
  category-plus-city, so a business without a local footprint isn't a fit.

### For AI agents (MCP)

Agents can run this check directly: add Apify's MCP server as a connector —
`https://mcp.apify.com/?actors=moonlings/ai-visibility-check` — and it
appears as the `moonlings--ai-visibility-check` tool, metered through your
Apify account like any other run. Useful as a scheduled watchdog: have your
agent re-check weekly and flag when the appearance counts move.

### FAQ

**Why do counts differ between runs?** AI answers genuinely vary — that's the
point of sampling live. Each run reports exactly what was said this time.

**Which engines?** ChatGPT and Perplexity, both with live web search, asked
as a searcher in the business's own city.

**Want the full picture?** The
[AI Visibility Report](https://apify.com/moonlings/local-business-competitor-analysis)
adds the competitor, review, and ads evidence behind the answer, up to a full
graded research report. The
[Review Gap Check](https://apify.com/moonlings/review-gap-check) measures
the review signals the assistants lean on. The
[Thumbtack Scraper](https://apify.com/moonlings/thumbtack-scraper) pulls the
local-pro competitive field — ratings, hires, and reviews by service and city. The
[AI Fact-Check](https://apify.com/moonlings/ai-fact-check) goes further —
it checks whether what AI says about a business (hours, address, phone) is
actually *correct*.

### Who this is for

Local business owners, marketing agencies, and local SEO / AEO (answer engine
optimization) practitioners who need **AI search visibility** ground truth:
brand monitoring across ChatGPT and Perplexity for "near me" buyer queries,
citation sources worth targeting (GEO), and honest appearance counts to put in
a client report. A lightweight alternative to domain-level AI brand visibility
trackers when the question is a *local* market, not a global brand.

### Works with AI agents

Agent-callable end to end: run it from any agent runtime via the Apify API or
MCP, and it is **x402-payable** — an autonomous agent can discover, pay for,
and run a check with no account. Structured JSON out, ready to pipe onward.

# Actor input Schema

## `businessName` (type: `string`):

The local business to check, e.g. "Harbor Fitness".

## `location` (type: `string`):

City and state/region, e.g. "Cincinnati, OH". AI assistants are asked as a local searcher there.

## `businessType` (type: `string`):

Category, e.g. "gym", "salon", "HVAC contractor". Required — the AI assistants are asked category questions ("best gym near…"), so without it there is nothing to check.

## `website` (type: `string`):

Optional but recommended: if an AI answer cites your domain, that counts as an appearance even when it words your name differently.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "businessName": "Harbor Fitness",
  "location": "Cincinnati, OH",
  "businessType": "gym",
  "website": "https://harborfitness.com"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Appearance counts (asked/sampled/appeared), per-engine split, recommendedInstead, citedDomains.

## `run` (type: `string`):

Console view of this run, including the charged event and log.

# 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 = {
    "businessName": "Graeter's Ice Cream",
    "location": "Cincinnati, OH",
    "businessType": "ice cream shop"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("moonlings/ai-visibility-check").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 = {
    "businessName": "Graeter's Ice Cream",
    "location": "Cincinnati, OH",
    "businessType": "ice cream shop",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("moonlings/ai-visibility-check").call(run_input=run_input)

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "businessName": "Graeter'\''s Ice Cream",
  "location": "Cincinnati, OH",
  "businessType": "ice cream shop"
}' |
apify call moonlings/ai-visibility-check --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=moonlings/ai-visibility-check",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "AI Visibility Check — ChatGPT & Perplexity for Local Business",
        "description": "AI brand visibility tracker for local businesses: asks ChatGPT & Perplexity live with web search who they recommend in your category and city. Real appearance counts, competitors named instead of you, and the sites AI answers cite — AEO/GEO ground truth, never an invented score.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "ilawJjoqp4fNmr35w"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/moonlings~ai-visibility-check/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-moonlings-ai-visibility-check",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/moonlings~ai-visibility-check/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-moonlings-ai-visibility-check",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/moonlings~ai-visibility-check/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-moonlings-ai-visibility-check",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "businessName",
                    "location",
                    "businessType"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "businessName": {
                        "title": "Business name",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "The local business to check, e.g. \"Harbor Fitness\"."
                    },
                    "location": {
                        "title": "Location",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "City and state/region, e.g. \"Cincinnati, OH\". AI assistants are asked as a local searcher there."
                    },
                    "businessType": {
                        "title": "Business type",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Category, e.g. \"gym\", \"salon\", \"HVAC contractor\". Required — the AI assistants are asked category questions (\"best gym near…\"), so without it there is nothing to check."
                    },
                    "website": {
                        "title": "Business website",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Optional but recommended: if an AI answer cites your domain, that counts as an appearance even when it words your name differently."
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```