How to get your business cited by Perplexity

Perplexity searches the web each time it answers and shows numbered citations that link to the pages it used. If your site can be crawled, says plainly what you do and where, and is mentioned on the sites Perplexity already trusts, you give it a reason to cite you.

Last updated 19 October 2026 · Written by GPT Visibility

The short answer

Allow PerplexityBot in your robots.txt and make sure your firewall or CDN isn’t blocking it.
Answer customer questions on your own pages in plain sentences: the service, the town and the details people compare.
Find the sources Perplexity cites for your customers’ questions, and get listed accurately on them.
Keep your name, address and phone number identical everywhere they appear.
Test and re-test with the same questions so you can see whether citations change.

How Perplexity picks what to cite

Perplexity’s help centre describes the product as answering questions with cited sources: it searches the web, summarises what it finds and shows where each part of the answer came from. Its Pro Search mode draws on a wider set of sources than a basic search. Perplexity doesn’t publish a ranking formula for which pages it cites, so treat any claim of a secret “Perplexity algorithm” with caution.

What you can control is whether Perplexity can reach your pages, whether those pages state the facts a customer’s question needs, and whether other websites back those facts up.

Step 1: Let Perplexity’s crawlers in

Perplexity documents two user agents:

User agent	What Perplexity says it does
`PerplexityBot`	Surfaces and links websites in Perplexity’s search results. Perplexity says it is not used to crawl content for AI foundation models, and recommends allowing it if you want to appear in results.
`Perplexity-User`	Visits a page when a user’s question needs it, and may link to that page in the answer. Perplexity says it is not used for web crawling or training, and generally ignores robots.txt because a person requested the fetch.

A robots.txt that welcomes Perplexity looks like this:

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

User-agent: Perplexity-User
Allow: /

Perplexity says changes can take up to 24 hours to be reflected. If your site sits behind Cloudflare or another web application firewall, bot protection can block Perplexity even when robots.txt allows it. Perplexity’s documentation recommends an allow rule that matches both the user agent and its published IP ranges. Our AI crawler guide covers the ChatGPT and Google crawlers too.

Step 2: Write pages Perplexity can quote

An answer engine can only cite a page that actually contains the answer. For a local business that usually means:

Say the service and the place together, in text rather than only in images: “Boiler servicing in Leeds and Wakefield”, not just “Our services”.
Give one clear page per main service, with prices or price ranges, areas covered, opening hours and how to book, where you can share them.
Answer the questions customers ask in short, direct sentences, for example “Do you do weekend appointments?” followed by a plain yes or no and the detail.
Keep facts current. Old hours or a service you no longer offer can be repeated back to customers.
Add matching structured data. LocalBusiness schema helps machines read your name, address, phone and hours, as long as it matches what the page shows.

Step 3: Get onto the sources Perplexity already cites

Every Perplexity answer shows its sources, which makes it unusually easy to see what it relies on. Ask it the questions your customers would ask, without your business name, and note every site it cites: directories, review sites, local news, trade bodies or “best in town” lists.

If the same few sites keep appearing, being listed on them with accurate, complete details is often the quickest win. Reviews that mention the job and the town (“fixed our boiler in Headingley the same day”) give those pages useful detail that matches the questions people ask.

Step 4: Keep your details consistent

When your business name, address, phone number or opening hours differ between your website, Google Business Profile and directories, an AI assistant has to guess which is right. Pick one exact version and use it everywhere.

Step 5: Measure whether it’s working

Perplexity, like other AI assistants, can give different answers to the same question. Ask each question several times, record whether you were named or cited and which sources appeared, and work out a mention rate. Our guide on how to check if ChatGPT recommends your business sets out a test you can use for Perplexity too.

Common mistakes

Blocking PerplexityBot by accident through a blanket “block AI bots” setting.
Putting key facts only in images, PDFs or pop-ups.
Testing once with your business name in the question.
Ignoring the cited sources and only changing your own website.
Paying anyone who promises guaranteed placement in AI answers.

Frequently asked questions

Why isn’t Perplexity citing my website?

Common causes are that PerplexityBot is blocked in robots.txt or by a firewall, your pages don’t clearly say what you do and where, or other sites Perplexity trusts don’t mention you. Check crawler access first, then whether your pages answer the questions customers actually ask.

Should I allow PerplexityBot in robots.txt?

Yes, if you want to appear in Perplexity. Perplexity says PerplexityBot is used to surface and link websites in its search results and is not used to crawl content for AI foundation models, and it recommends allowing it.

What is the difference between PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User?

PerplexityBot crawls the web so Perplexity can surface and link sites in its results. Perplexity-User visits a page when a user’s question needs it. Perplexity says Perplexity-User generally ignores robots.txt because a person asked for the fetch.

How long does a robots.txt change take to work in Perplexity?

Perplexity says it may take up to 24 hours for its systems to reflect robots.txt changes.

Can I pay to be cited by Perplexity?

No one can guarantee or sell a citation in Perplexity’s answers. The realistic route is to make your site easy to crawl and understand, and to be listed accurately on the sites Perplexity already cites for your kind of question.