Original research · Dataset · en español
The short version: 257 real, locally-owned businesses across seven Napa Valley and Solano County towns, machine-checked with the same tool for whether AI can actually read them. This page is the dataset behind our seven published town reports - the method, the license, and every underlying link, in one place, so the claim can be checked instead of taken on faith.
| Town | Businesses examined | Report |
|---|---|---|
| Napa | 40 | Report No. 1 |
| American Canyon | 28 | Report No. 2 |
| St. Helena | 35 | Report No. 3 |
| Fairfield | 43 | Report No. 4 |
| Vacaville | 48 | Report No. 5 |
| Calistoga | 37 | Report No. 6 |
| Yountville | 26 | Report No. 7 |
| Total | 257 | - |
Every business was checked for: whether the website is reachable at all, whether it carries LocalBusiness-type structured data, whether it has an llms.txt AI-instructions file, whether it publishes visible prices a machine could quote, and whether it has a meta description. The full per-town breakdowns, including which businesses have no website at all, live on each linked report.
One automated scanner, the same one behind every free AO Audit scan, run against real, currently-operating, locally-owned businesses - not directory listings, not chains. Each town's roster was built and verified independently (see each report's own method notes for that town's specific inclusion and exclusion decisions). We publish aggregates only; no individual business's result is named here or in any report without that business's consent.
Honest limit: this is a snapshot of 257 businesses across seven towns as of the scan dates above, not a census of the region and not a permanently live dataset - if you're reading this months later, some of the underlying sites will have changed. The reports themselves carry each town's specific roster notes and exclusions in full.
This dataset is published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Use it, cite it, build on it - credit The AO Audit and link back to this page or the specific report you're citing.
257 real, locally-owned businesses across seven Napa Valley and Solano County towns, each checked with the same automated tool for whether machines - including the AI tools people now ask for recommendations - can actually read them. It's the aggregate data behind our seven published Scan-the-Town reports, not a separate download, so it can be checked against the reports it came from.
The same automated scanner we use for every free AO Audit scan, run against real, verified, currently-operating businesses in each town between July 26 and August 17, 2026. Every business was checked for reachability, LocalBusiness structured data, an llms.txt AI-instructions file, visible prices, and a meta description. We publish aggregates only - no individual business's result is named without its owner's consent.
Yes, under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license - credit The AO Audit and link back. If you want the underlying town-by-town breakdowns, they're already published: the links are on this page.
Because a claim and a dataset are different things. Anyone can write "most local businesses are invisible to AI." Fewer people publish the actual counts, the method, and a license to check it. That's the whole point of Answer Optimization done honestly - verifiable beats persuasive.