{
  "meta": {
    "title": "Local Business AI Visibility Audit (2026)",
    "publisher": "Formula Won Labs",
    "publisherUrl": "https://www.formulawonlabs.com",
    "publishedDate": "2026-06-21",
    "sourceUrl": "https://www.formulawonlabs.com/research/local-business-audit-2026",
    "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
    "citation": "Formula Won Labs (2026). Local Business AI Visibility Audit. https://www.formulawonlabs.com/research/local-business-audit-2026",
    "sampleSize": 58882,
    "collectionWindow": "2026-04 to 2026-06",
    "spatialCoverage": "United States",
    "sources": [
      "Google Maps API",
      "Apollo",
      "Public web (LinkedIn, Facebook, business websites)",
      "Apify Google Ads Transparency Center scraper",
      "DataForSEO LLM Responses (AI engine citation tracking)"
    ]
  },
  "findings": {
    "aiEngineMentionRate": {
      "headline": "AI engines mention a specific named local business in only 5% of relevant conversational queries.",
      "samplePromptEnginePairs": 140,
      "windowStart": "2026-05-01",
      "windowEnd": "2026-06-20",
      "perEngine": [
        { "engine": "chatgpt", "sample": 39, "mentions": 1, "mentionRatePct": 3 },
        { "engine": "gemini", "sample": 42, "mentions": 2, "mentionRatePct": 5 },
        { "engine": "perplexity", "sample": 31, "mentions": 2, "mentionRatePct": 6 },
        { "engine": "claude", "sample": 28, "mentions": 2, "mentionRatePct": 7 },
        { "engine": "bing_copilot", "sample": 2, "mentions": 0, "mentionRatePct": 0, "note": "sample too small to report" }
      ]
    },
    "googleAdsUsage": {
      "headline": "99.9% of audited local businesses are not running paid Google Ads.",
      "sampleChecked": 28668,
      "runningAds": 23,
      "notRunningAds": 28645,
      "runningAdsPct": 0.08,
      "amongAdRunners": {
        "multiAdTypeAdvertisersPct": 60.9,
        "adTypeBreakdown": {
          "search": 18,
          "display": 13,
          "video": 7,
          "shopping": 1
        }
      },
      "source": "Apify Google Ads Transparency Center scrape, May 2026"
    },
    "reviewDistribution": {
      "sampleWithRatings": 17076,
      "starRating": {
        "atLeast4_5": { "pct": 82.6, "count": 14108 },
        "atLeast4_0": { "pct": 91.8, "count": 15673 },
        "atLeast3_5": { "pct": 95.1, "count": 16231 },
        "atLeast3_0": { "pct": 97.3, "count": 16613 }
      },
      "reviewCount": {
        "atLeast100": { "pct": 24.3, "count": 4146 },
        "atLeast50": { "pct": 36.8, "count": 6288 },
        "atLeast25": { "pct": 50.1, "count": 8562 },
        "atLeast10": { "pct": 69.2, "count": 11823 },
        "lessThan5": { "pct": 20.1, "count": 3429 }
      },
      "interpretation": "Star rating is a baseline (91.8% at 4+ stars); review count is the differentiator (only 24.3% cross 100)."
    },
    "ownerReachability": {
      "publicPhone": { "pct": 82.6, "count": 48625 },
      "findableEmail": { "pct": 64.8, "count": 38142 },
      "ownerLinkedIn": { "pct": 20.1, "count": 11845 },
      "sampleTotal": 58882,
      "interpretation": "Public-source ceilings before verified contact databases. Matters for both cold outreach reach and AI engine entity resolution."
    },
    "verticalDistribution": {
      "sampleClassified": 782,
      "top10": [
        { "vertical": "dental", "count": 300 },
        { "vertical": "construction", "count": 130 },
        { "vertical": "medical", "count": 107 },
        { "vertical": "restoration", "count": 49 },
        { "vertical": "cleaning", "count": 30 },
        { "vertical": "retail", "count": 25 },
        { "vertical": "roofing", "count": 24 },
        { "vertical": "beverage", "count": 15 },
        { "vertical": "tech_hardware", "count": 14 },
        { "vertical": "other_classified", "count": 88 }
      ],
      "note": "Dental alone is 35% of classified verticals. Highest CPC in the website-design keyword cluster ($63 dentist, $91 chiropractor)."
    }
  }
}