Perplexity SEO: How to Get Your Website Cited by Perplexity AI

## What Is Perplexity AI and Why Does It Matter

Perplexity AI is an AI-powered answer engine that searches the web in real time, reads multiple sources, and generates comprehensive answers with inline citations. Unlike ChatGPT, which sometimes generates answers from training data alone, Perplexity always searches the web and always provides source citations.

This makes Perplexity uniquely valuable for website owners: **every Perplexity answer includes clickable source links**. Getting cited by Perplexity drives direct referral traffic to your site — not just brand visibility, but actual visitors.

As of 2026, Perplexity processes hundreds of millions of queries per month, with particularly strong adoption among researchers, professionals, and technical users — a high-value audience for most websites.

## How PerplexityBot Crawls the Web

Perplexity uses a crawler called **PerplexityBot** (user-agent: `PerplexityBot`) to index web content. Here is what you need to know about its behavior:

- **Respects robots.txt** — If you block PerplexityBot, your content will not appear in Perplexity answers
- **Follows sitemaps** — Submit your sitemap to help PerplexityBot discover all your pages
- **Prefers clean HTML** — PerplexityBot reads server-rendered HTML; JavaScript-heavy pages may not be fully indexed
- **Crawls regularly** — Active sites with fresh content get crawled more frequently
- **Uses Bing as a supplementary source** — Perplexity also queries Bing's index for source discovery

Verify that your `robots.txt` allows PerplexityBot:

```
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /
```

## What Content Gets Cited by Perplexity

Perplexity's citation algorithm favors content with specific characteristics. Based on observed citation patterns:

### 1. Direct, Factual Answers

Perplexity extracts and cites content that directly answers the user's question. Pages that open each section with a clear answer statement — rather than lengthy introductions — are cited far more often.

**Example of citable content:**
"The maximum upload size for WordPress is 2MB by default. You can increase it by editing php.ini, .htaccess, or wp-config.php."

**Example of non-citable content:**
"Many WordPress users have wondered about upload sizes. In this article, we will explore the various aspects of file uploads in WordPress and discuss the implications..."

### 2. Structured Data and Schema Markup

JSON-LD structured data helps Perplexity understand your content's context, authorship, and topic. Implement these schemas:

- **Article / BlogPosting** — with author, datePublished, dateModified, and headline
- **FAQPage** — question-answer pairs that Perplexity can extract directly
- **Organization** — establishes your site's authority and identity
- **HowTo** — step-by-step content that Perplexity can reference for procedural queries

### 3. Unique Data and Original Research

Perplexity heavily favors sources that contain information not available elsewhere. If you publish original research, proprietary data, survey results, or expert analysis, Perplexity is significantly more likely to cite you as the primary source.

### 4. Recent, Updated Content

Perplexity weights content freshness. Pages with recent `dateModified` timestamps and up-to-date information are preferred over stale content. Update your key pages regularly and ensure your schema reflects the modification date.

### 5. Clear Author Attribution

Content with named authors who have demonstrable expertise gets cited more often. Include author bios with credentials, and use `author` fields in your Article schema.

## Practical Optimization Steps for Perplexity

### Step 1: Ensure PerplexityBot Access

Check your `robots.txt` and server configuration to confirm PerplexityBot is not blocked. Use **AEO Scanner's** crawler tracking feature to verify whether PerplexityBot has actually visited your site. If it has not, there may be a blocking issue.

### Step 2: Implement Comprehensive JSON-LD

Add structured data to every important page. At minimum, include Article schema with author, dates, and headline. Add FAQPage schema to any page that answers common questions.

### Step 3: Restructure Content for Citability

Review your top pages and restructure them so each section opens with a direct answer. Use this pattern:

- **H2 heading** as a question or topic statement
- **First sentence** directly answers the question
- **Following sentences** provide evidence and detail
- **Bullet points** for lists and comparisons

### Step 4: Publish an llms.txt File

Create an `/llms.txt` file that describes your site's expertise and most authoritative content. While Perplexity has not officially confirmed it reads llms.txt, the file follows the same structured format that AI crawlers prefer.

### Step 5: Add FAQ Sections to Key Pages

Add 5-10 question-answer pairs to your most important pages, marked up with FAQPage schema. Each Q&A pair is a discrete unit that Perplexity can cite independently.

### Step 6: Submit Your Sitemap to Bing

Since Perplexity supplements its own crawling with Bing's index, ensure Bing has indexed all your important pages. Submit your XML sitemap through Bing Webmaster Tools.

### Step 7: Monitor with AEO Scanner

Run regular scans with **AEO Scanner** to track your AEO score across all 9 metrics. The scanner's crawler tracking feature shows PerplexityBot visit frequency and patterns, helping you correlate optimization efforts with actual crawling behavior.

## Common Mistakes That Prevent Perplexity Citations

- **Blocking PerplexityBot** — Check robots.txt for both explicit blocks and overly broad disallow rules
- **Thin content** — Pages under 300 words rarely get cited; Perplexity needs enough content to extract meaningful answers
- **Client-side rendering only** — PerplexityBot does not reliably execute JavaScript; use server-side rendering
- **No structured data** — Without JSON-LD, Perplexity has less context about your content's meaning and authority
- **Outdated content** — Stale information with old dates gets deprioritized in favor of fresher sources
- **Paywalled content** — If PerplexityBot cannot read the full page content, it cannot cite it

## Measuring Your Perplexity Visibility

Track your Perplexity optimization progress through:

- **AEO Scanner scores** — Monitor your 9-metric AEO score over time
- **AEO Scanner crawler tracking** — Watch for PerplexityBot visits and their frequency
- **Server access logs** — Search for `PerplexityBot` in your web server logs
- **Manual Perplexity testing** — Ask Perplexity questions in your domain and check for citations
- **Referral analytics** — Look for traffic from `perplexity.ai` in your analytics platform

## Start Getting Cited

Perplexity's always-cite model makes it one of the most rewarding AI platforms to optimize for. Every citation is a clickable link back to your site. Begin with a free **AEO Scanner** audit to identify your gaps, then work through the optimization steps above. The combination of structured data, direct-answer content, and AI crawler access will position your site to be cited consistently by Perplexity AI.