How to Get Recommended by Perplexity

Short answer: Perplexity builds its answers from web pages it finds, and it shows you those pages. So the path is: (1) make sure Perplexity's crawler can reach your site, (2) ask Perplexity your buyers' questions and study which sources it cites, and (3) earn a place on those sources, and make your own pages the clearest answer to the question.

Not sure if Perplexity names you today? MadeTheAnswer's free check asks Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude 5 questions like the ones your buyers ask, one run each, and shows whether your product comes up. We work out your category and suggest likely competitors. Your score shows on screen right away, and the full report comes by email. No card. It's a one-run snapshot, not a verdict, since AI answers change from run to run.

What makes Perplexity different

Perplexity is an answer engine. When you ask it something, it searches the web and writes an answer with numbered sources you can click.

That's good news for you. With many AI tools, you have to guess why a competitor was picked. With Perplexity, the answer usually shows its work. The sources it lists are a map of the pages that shaped the answer.

There are two goals here, and they aren't the same:

• Being cited: one of your pages shows up as a source.
• Being recommended: your product is named in the answer itself, ideally as a good choice.

Ahrefs makes the same split for AI answers in general: a mention is your name in the text, and a citation is a link to your page (Ahrefs). You want both. A citation to your blog post that ends up recommending a competitor doesn't help you much.

Step 1: Make sure Perplexity can read your site

This is the step people skip, and it's the easiest to fix.

Perplexity has a crawler called PerplexityBot. Perplexity's docs say it is built to surface and link websites in Perplexity's search results, and that it is not used to train AI models (Perplexity Crawlers). Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot in your robots.txt file and allowing its published IP addresses at your firewall or CDN (Perplexity Crawlers).

A simple robots.txt rule that allows it looks like this:

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

Things to check with your developer:

• robots.txt: Is PerplexityBot blocked, either by name or by a "block all bots" rule?
• Firewall or CDN: Some bot-protection settings block AI crawlers by default. Perplexity's docs include setup notes for tools like Cloudflare and AWS (Perplexity Crawlers).
• Timing: Perplexity says changes can take up to 24 hours to show up (Perplexity Crawlers).

There is a second agent, Perplexity-User. It visits a page when a user asks Perplexity about it. Perplexity says it generally ignores robots.txt, because a person asked for that page (Perplexity Crawlers). So blocking PerplexityBot mostly hurts your chances of showing up in search answers. It doesn't stop every visit.

Step 2: See what Perplexity says today

Before you change anything, get a baseline.

1. Write 10 buyer questions. Use the words buyers use: "best [category] for [use case]," "alternatives to [competitor]," "how do I [solve the problem]."
2. Ask each one in a new thread. If you can, use a logged-out or private window, so your own history doesn't color the results.
3. Ask each question more than once. AI answers change from run to run (Ahrefs). One run is not a result.
4. Record three things for each answer: Were you named? Who was named? Which sources were cited?

Step 3: Study the sources

This is where Perplexity really helps you. Open every cited source, and sort them into groups:

• Your own pages. Great. Check that they describe you correctly.
• Competitor pages. Look at what those pages do well. Are they clearer? Do they answer the exact question?
• "Best of" lists and comparison posts. These are often written by blogs or review sites. If you aren't on the list, that's likely why you aren't in the answer.
• Forums and community threads. Reddit posts, Q&A sites and niche communities.
• Directories and review sites. Places where buyers compare products.

After 10 questions, you'll usually see the same sites again and again. Those are your targets.

Step 4: Make your pages the clearest answer

Perplexity has to turn a page into a short answer. Help it.

• Lead with the answer. If the page is "Best tools for X," put the short answer at the top, then the details.
• Say what you are in one sentence. "[Brand] is a [category] for [type of customer] that [does the main job]." Put it on your home page, about page and product pages.
• Answer real questions with real pages. Make a page for each big buyer question you found in Step 2, if you can answer it honestly.
• Be specific. Real prices, real features, real limits. Specific facts are easier to quote than slogans.
• Keep it current. Out-of-date pricing or features can lead to wrong answers about you.
• Use plain HTML text. Put the key words on the page as text, not only inside images or behind tabs that need clicks to open.

Step 5: Earn a place on the sources it trusts

You can't control what other sites say. You can earn mentions honestly:

• Ask to be added to "best of" lists where you clearly fit. Send the writer facts, not hype.
• Offer a free trial or demo to reviewers in your space.
• Answer questions in communities where you have real expertise. Say who you are. Don't spam links.
• Fill out directory and review profiles fully and the same way everywhere.
• Ask happy customers to leave honest reviews. Don't write fake ones or pay for good ones.

This is slower than a quick hack. But it builds the same thing Perplexity is looking for: many trusted pages that say you're a good answer.

Step 6: Check again, on a schedule

Run the same questions again after a few weeks. Use the same wording, so you're comparing fairly. Look for changes in:

• How often you're named
• Which competitors are named
• Which sources are cited

Be patient, and be honest with yourself about what changed. No one can promise you a spot in Perplexity's answers.

What the MadeTheAnswer check looks at

Doing Steps 2, 3 and 6 by hand takes time. Doing it for more than one AI tool takes more. MadeTheAnswer is a hosted tool built to do that part. It asks AI tools your buyers' kind of questions, then shows you what came back.

• The free check: 5 questions in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude, one run each. Your score shows on screen right away, and the full report comes by email. No card. It's a quick snapshot, not a verdict.
• Paid weekly reports (from $29/month): all 4 assistants, with each question asked 3 times every week, so you see a trend over time, plus a weekly Fix plan. A new report comes every Monday about 8 AM in the time zone set in the dashboard. Your first report starts right after checkout once your site is added. See plans and prices

A report shows three things:

1. Whether AI names you
2. Which competitors get mentioned
3. Which sites it cites

We show our work. Each assistant's score links to the actual AI answers behind it. You can read the answers yourself instead of trusting a score.

Why repeat runs? The same question can get a different answer on the next try. One run can catch a lucky or unlucky answer. Asking 3 times every week will show how often you're really named, and whether that's going up or down.

That fits Perplexity well. Perplexity already shows its sources, so the report can list them for you.

Want to see what a report looks like? View the sample report → (demo data)

MadeTheAnswer doesn't change your rankings or promise results. It shows you where you stand.

FAQ

Does Perplexity use my site to train its AI? Perplexity says PerplexityBot is used to surface and link sites in its search results, and is not used to train AI models.

Should I block PerplexityBot? If you want to show up in Perplexity's answers, no. Blocking it makes it harder for Perplexity to include and link your pages. That choice is yours, but know the trade-off.

Why does Perplexity recommend my competitor and not me? Look at the sources in the answer. Most of the time, the competitor is on pages that you aren't on, such as a "best of" list or a review site, or their page answers the question more directly.

How long does it take to get cited? There's no set time. Perplexity says robots.txt changes can take up to 24 hours to apply. Earning mentions on other sites and improving your pages takes longer.

Is "Perplexity SEO" different from normal SEO? A lot of it is the same: be crawlable, be clear, be useful, and be talked about by trusted sites. The big difference is that Perplexity shows its sources, so you can see more directly which pages matter.

Can someone guarantee I'll be recommended? No. Be careful with anyone who promises a spot in AI answers.

Related guides

• How to Get Your Product Recommended by ChatGPT: A Step-by-Step Plan — The ChatGPT version of this plan.
• How to Get Recommended by Claude — How Claude finds and cites web pages.
• How to Track AI Visibility: A Plain-English Guide — How to track mentions across more than one assistant.
• Why Does ChatGPT Recommend My Competitor? — Why a competitor may show up instead, and how to test it.

See if Perplexity names you

You can do all of this by hand. If you want a quick first look at Perplexity and the other big assistants together, start with MadeTheAnswer's free check: 5 questions in Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, one run each. Your score shows on screen right away, and the full report comes by email. No card. It's a snapshot. Paid weekly reports, from $29/month, ask each question 3 times to show the trend. See plans and prices.

See a sample report →

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Sources: Perplexity, "Perplexity Crawlers"; Ahrefs, "How to Monitor Brand Mentions in ChatGPT".