AI Visibility Report — ChatGPT, Perplexity & Local Competitors

AI search is already sending customers somewhere — this report tells you where, and why. It asks ChatGPT and Perplexity live whether they recommend a business, then digs into the evidence behind the answer: the strongest local competitor, the review gap, ads presence, and the sites the AI reads. The quick scan is $1.99 (~2–4 minutes); the full graded research report is $9.99 (typically 10–30 minutes).

Visibility is reported as real appearance counts — "appeared in 2 of 6 answers, ChatGPT 1/3, Perplexity 1/3" — never an invented rating.

Two depths, one engine

Quick scan — $1.99, ~2–4 minutes

Live AI-visibility check (both engines, real counts, who's recommended instead, cited domains) plus an AI research agent that identifies the business's strongest local rival and scouts it: review numbers, offers, recent changes — every finding with a working source URL — and concrete recommended actions.

Deep research report — $9.99, typically 10–30 minutes

A multi-agent research crew sweeps the full picture, and a grader iterates the report until it passes a quality rubric:

• AI-assistant visibility with per-engine appearance counts
• Competitor landscape with reviews/ratings comparison
• Google Business Profile and local-ads observations
• Local events and demand signals worth acting on
• Structured findings JSON (findings[] with key, finding, evidence, sourceUrl) plus every cited source, deduped
• Top recommended actions with effort labels
• The complete report as markdown (reportMarkdown)

Sample output (quick scan, abridged — real run)

{
  "reportType": "scan",
  "businessName": "Graeter's Ice Cream",
  "location": "Cincinnati, OH",
  "aiVisibility": {
    "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"]
  },
  "findings": [
    {
      "label": "Review volume gap",
      "value": "Graeter's (Vine St) 4.6★ / 206 reviews vs Aglamesis Bro's 4.7★ / 1,300 — out-reviewed 6:1",
      "sourceUrl": "https://..."
    }
  ],
  "actions": [
    { "title": "Close the review gap", "body": "...", "tag": "do this" }
  ]
}

Who uses this

• Agencies: the deep report is a client-ready deliverable — the same research a retainer buys, priced per report.
• Owners: one scan answers "does AI recommend us, and if not, who?"
• AI agents: callable via the Apify MCP server. The scan fits a normal tool-call wait; for the deep report, start the run and poll — results land in the dataset.

Input

Field	Required	Notes
businessName	yes	Spell it the way Google knows it
location	yes	City + state/region, e.g. "Cincinnati, OH"
businessType	recommended	Category anchor — enables the AI questions and competitor ground truth
reportType	—	scan (default) or deep_report
website	—	Deep report: grounds findings in your own site
researchFocus	—	Deep report: optional question to focus on

Pricing

Pay per delivered report: one scan-report event ($1.99) or one deep-report event ($9.99), charged only when the result is pushed to the dataset. Failed runs are never charged. Deep-report retries are idempotent — a resurrected run resumes the same report rather than buying a second one.

Not what this does

• No 0–100 ratings, grades, or invented indexes — appearance counts and sourced findings only.
• Not a bulk scraper: one business in, one researched report out. For scraping thousands of listings, use a Maps scraper.
• Not instant: the deep report is real multi-agent research with a quality grader — it takes the minutes it takes.
• Not for businesses without a local market (the analysis is category + city anchored).

Quick single checks

Need one number fast? AI Visibility Check ($0.79) answers "does ChatGPT recommend us?", Review Gap Check ($0.39) measures your Google review gap vs rivals, and Thumbtack Scraper pulls the local-pro competitive field — ratings, hires, and reviews by service and city. The AI Fact-Check checks whether AI assistants state a business’s hours/address/phone correctly.

For AI agents (MCP)

Agents can run this report directly: add Apify's MCP server as a connector — https://mcp.apify.com/?actors=moonlings/local-business-competitor-analysis — and it appears as the moonlings--local-business-competitor-analysis tool, metered through your Apify account like any other run. The scan report type fits inside a long tool call (2–4 minutes); for deep, start the run and poll it with the MCP server's run-status tool rather than blocking.

Long runs don't strand you. Call the tool with waitSecs=0 to get a runId back immediately, then collect the result later with the MCP server's get-actor-run tool. The run lives on Apify's platform independent of your MCP session — an agent can kick off a deep report, end its session, and a different session an hour later can still pick up the finished report.

Deliver the report to your tools (MCP connectors)

This Actor accepts MCP connectors: authorize your Slack, Notion, or any MCP-compatible service once under Settings → API & Integrations, pick it in the Deliver results to your tools input section, and the finished report summary is posted straight into your workspace — top findings, recommended actions, and a pointer to the full dataset. Scheduled weekly scan + summary in the client's Slack channel is the agency workflow this was built for.

Your credentials never enter this Actor: the Apify platform injects them server-side, and the Actor is limited to output-writing tools (send_* / post_* / create_* / write_* / add_*). If the tool needs a destination (a Slack channel, a Notion parent page), set Delivery target. Delivery is best-effort — the report always lands in the run's dataset, and a delivery hiccup never fails the run or changes what you're charged.

FAQ

Which businesses does it work for? Any business with a local market — gyms, salons, restaurants, contractors, med spas, retail.

Where does the data come from? Live research at run time: AI assistants with web search, public listings, review platforms, the business's own website, and ads surfaces. Findings carry source URLs so you can verify.

Who this is for

Marketing agencies, local SEO / AEO consultants, and owners who want the full picture in one run: AI brand visibility audit (ChatGPT & Perplexity, live web search), local competitor analysis, Google review benchmarking, and competitor ad intelligence — the evidence layer behind "why isn't AI recommending my business?" Suitable as a white-label report input.

Works with AI agents

Agent-callable via the Apify API or MCP, and x402-payable — an autonomous agent can buy a scan or a full night report with no account. Returns structured findings JSON alongside the readable report.