How to Get Your Business Into Perplexity's Answers
Your customer is on the couch with a leak under the sink, and instead of Googling, they type the question into Perplexity. The answer is clear and quick, with a little numbered link after almost every sentence. They tap number one, then number two. Neither is you, even though you fixed the same problem two streets over last week.
Perplexity has its own way of finding pages, and that matters for what you can fix. As a Santa Barbara SEO company, we went to Perplexity’s own documentation for how it finds pages, and that’s what this post sticks to. Where something below is our opinion rather than Perplexity’s words, we say so.
Perplexity sends two different visitors
Perplexity’s help center says that when you ask a question, it uses advanced AI to search the internet in real-time, gathering insights from top-tier sources.
Its “What is Perplexity?” page puts it more plainly: Content is sourced from the web in real-time as you ask your questions
. So the page that gets cited is a page Perplexity could actually reach.
It reaches pages with two user agents, and Perplexity’s crawler documentation describes them separately:
PerplexityBot is designed to surface and link websites in search results on Perplexity. It is not used to crawl content for AI foundation models.
To ensure your site appears in search results, we recommend allowing PerplexityBot in your site's robots.txt file
When users ask Perplexity a question, it might visit a web page to help provide an accurate answer and include a link to the page in its response.
Since a user requested the fetch, this fetcher generally ignores robots.txt rules.
Source: Perplexity Docs, "Perplexity Crawlers" (last modified October 29, 2026).
Two things in there are worth slowing down for. First, PerplexityBot is the one Perplexity itself ties to appearing in its search results, and Perplexity says it isn’t used to train AI foundation models. If you’ve been blocking every AI bot on principle because you don’t want your work used for training, this one isn’t doing that, per Perplexity. Second, Perplexity-User is a fetch on behalf of a person who just asked a question, which is why Perplexity says it generally doesn’t follow robots.txt.
Where a Perplexity block can hide
A block isn’t always something you chose. It can come from a setting someone else picked years ago. Perplexity’s crawler page points at three places to look:
- robots.txt. Type your domain followed by /robots.txt into a browser. Look for a line naming PerplexityBot with
Disallow: /under it, or a blanket block on every user agent. - Your firewall. Perplexity says:
If you're using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to protect your site, you may need to explicitly allow Perplexity's bots to ensure they can access your content.
It recommends allowing itspublished IP ranges
and links them from the same page. - Cloudflare's Bot Fight Mode. Perplexity's page warns:
Cloudflare's Bot Fight Mode can't be skipped with WAF custom rules. If Bot Fight Mode is enabled, it can still challenge Perplexity bots that match this rule.
If your site sits behind Cloudflare, someone should know whether that switch is on.
After a fix, give it a day. Perplexity’s page says Each setting works independently, and it may take up to 24 hours for our systems to reflect changes.
Blocking is a fair choice for some sites. A publisher that sells its articles may not want them summarized. A local service business that wants to be recommended is usually in the opposite position, and a block left behind by a plugin or a security setup works against it without anyone noticing. Checking this is part of every AI search visibility review we do.
Each numbered link is a page it read
For a business owner, this is the most useful thing about Perplexity. Its help center says: Each answer includes numbered citations linking to the original sources, allowing you to easily verify the information or explore further.
You don’t have to guess what it read. It tells you, by number.
- 1A directory page listing plumbers in the area
- 2A competitor's slab leak service page
- 3A local newspaper article quoting a plumber
- 4Mesa Plumbing's own page? Not cited.
An illustration we made up. Mesa Plumbing is an example name, not a real business, and this is not a real Perplexity answer.
Read the sources in a real answer as types, not names: a directory, a competitor’s page, an article, a forum thread. Each kind points to different work. A competitor’s page getting cited for a question you can answer better is a content gap. A directory getting cited is a listing you should be on and keep accurate, which is ordinary local SEO. An article is press.
Press coverage and other people's pages
The searches that bring people to this post ask some version of “can press coverage get my brand into Perplexity?” We haven’t found anywhere Perplexity publishes how it chooses one source over another, so nobody can promise that. What it does say about the pages it uses is this. On “How does Perplexity work?”: it searches the internet, gathering information from authoritative sources like articles, websites, and journals.
On “What is Perplexity?”: All responses are supported by citations from reputable news organizations, academic publications, and established content sources.
That’s Perplexity describing itself, not a guarantee about any one answer. But it tells you which kinds of pages it says it reaches for, and news organizations are named. So, in our view, a real story about your business in a real local outlet is worth more than it used to be, because it’s a page that can be cited about you on a question you’ll never see. The same goes for a trade association listing or a supplier’s dealer page that names you.
- Pitch a local reporter a real story: a project, a milestone, a useful seasonal warning.
- Get listed on your trade association's and suppliers' directories, with the same name, phone and address you use everywhere.
- Write the answer to each question customers ask, on its own page or section, in plain words.
- Paid "press release distribution" that lands on pages nobody reads.
- Buying mentions on sites that exist only to sell mentions.
- Any package that promises a spot in Perplexity's answers. Nobody can promise how it will answer a question it hasn't been asked yet.
The column on the left is our advice, not Perplexity’s. It follows from the kinds of sources Perplexity says it cites. The third item is the one fully in your hands: if your site doesn’t answer a question, there’s nothing on it to number. Turning the questions you answer on the phone into pages and short videos is the heart of our content and video work.
Who gets cited when nobody names you
You can see where you stand in about ten minutes, and you don’t need a tool. Perplexity’s own help center asks people to check its work: While we aim for accuracy, we encourage you to double-check sources for added confidence.
Do exactly that, with your business in mind.
- Ask what a customer would ask. Use their words and your town. Try four or five versions: who to hire, what it costs, how long it takes, whether it's worth fixing.
- Write down every numbered source. Note the site and the kind of page: directory, competitor, news, forum, manufacturer.
- Open the ones that aren't you. Read what the cited page says that yours doesn't. That difference is your list.
- Check the door is open. robots.txt, your firewall, and Bot Fight Mode if you use Cloudflare. If PerplexityBot can't get in, nothing else on this page matters.
- Ask again in a month. Same questions, same notes. Perplexity searches the web live each time, so the sources can change.
If an agency sells you “Perplexity optimization,” ask which of those five steps it changes and what you’ll see in the numbered sources afterward. If they can’t tell you, that’s BSEO: paying for something and not knowing what you bought.
Send us your website. We'll check that Perplexity's bots can reach it, run the questions your customers ask, and show you which pages get cited instead of yours and why. No charge, and no obligation. Or call or text 805.243.8321.
Get My Free Market AssessmentSources: Perplexity Docs, "Perplexity Crawlers" (docs.perplexity.ai, last modified October 29, 2026); Perplexity Help Center, "How does Perplexity work?" (last modified October 26, 2026), "What is Perplexity?" (last modified October 26, 2026), "What is an answer engine and how does Perplexity work?" (last modified August 25, 2026).
Every page Perplexity numbers is a page it was able to find and read. Making yours one of them is what SEO done properly has always meant.