Guide

Perplexity SEO: how to get cited by Perplexity

Perplexity searches the web for every question and shows numbered sources next to its answer. Perplexity SEO is about becoming one of those sources: let its crawler in, keep pages fresh and factual, and write passages that can be quoted on their own.

How Perplexity chooses sources

Perplexity runs live searches, reads the top results and pulls the passages that best answer the question. Pages it can't fetch are skipped, and clear, specific, up-to-date pages are favoured over vague marketing copy.

1. Allow PerplexityBot

PerplexityBot indexes pages for answers. Perplexity-User fetches pages a user asks about.

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

User-agent: Perplexity-User
Allow: /

Also check your firewall or CDN isn't blocking bots. A robots.txt "Allow" doesn't help if a bot challenge page answers instead.

2. Write source-style content

Perplexity quotes facts. Lead with a direct answer, use specific numbers you can stand behind, and break pages into clearly headed sections so each passage makes sense on its own.

3. Keep pages fresh and structured

Update key pages when facts change and show the date. Add Schema.org structured data (Organization, Product, Article) and an llms.txt file so your brand and offer are unambiguous.

Perplexity SEO checklist

• PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User are allowed in robots.txt and not blocked by your firewall.
• Key pages open with a direct, quotable answer.
• Facts are specific, current and dated where relevant.
• Structured data describes your organization and products.
• You have pages for comparison and "best X for Y" questions in your category.

Most of this also helps with ChatGPT. See our ChatGPT SEO guide.