How Perplexity finds and cites brands
In short
Perplexity searches the web on every question and shows the pages it read. A site is found for that search by a crawler called PerplexityBot, which Perplexity says is not used to train AI models. This page explains how Agentcites asks Perplexity, how it shows its sources, and what a brand can do to be read by it.
How Agentcites asks Perplexity
Agentcites sends each of your buyers’ questions exactly as written. Nothing of ours is added: no instruction to mention you, and no hint about what we hope to hear.
The question goes to Perplexity’s Sonar model through OpenRouter, a service that reaches many AI providers through one account. Sonar searches the web by itself on every call, using Perplexity’s own search, so nothing has to switch search on.
Every answer is stored word for word, with the list of pages Perplexity returned and the model that wrote it.
How Perplexity uses the web
Perplexity is built around search. It returns a list of the pages it read along with its answer, and marks the sentences that came from each one. That makes it the easiest of the four assistants to trace back to a page.
Being on that list is not the same as being named. A page can be read for one fact while the answer names a different company. Agentcites records both, so you can see where you were a source and where you were the answer.
Which robot reads your site
Perplexity runs two robots and documents them on its bots page.
| Robot | What Perplexity says it is for | Follows robots.txt |
|---|---|---|
| PerplexityBot | Surfacing and linking websites in search results on Perplexity | Perplexity asks sites to allow it there |
| Perplexity-User | Visiting a page when a user asks Perplexity a question | Generally not |
Perplexity says Perplexity-User generally ignores robots.txt rules, because a user asked for the visit.
Perplexity says of PerplexityBot: “It is not used to crawl content for AI foundation models.” It recommends “allowing PerplexityBot in your site’s robots.txt file” to appear in its search results.
It also warns that a firewall may need to let its robots through, and it publishes the addresses they come from. A change to robots.txt can take up to 24 hours to reach its systems.
What you can do to be cited by Perplexity
- Allow PerplexityBot in robots.txt. Perplexity says this is how a site appears in its search results.
- Let its published addresses through your firewall. A firewall rule can block it even when robots.txt allows it.
- Put the answer near the top of the page. Perplexity quotes sentences, and a clear sentence is easier to quote than a long paragraph.
- Be written about on the sites it reads. Perplexity names companies that other pages name, so a mention on a page it trusts can matter as much as your own page.
- Look at the source list, not only the answer. If your page is read but a competitor is named, the page is being found and the copy is the problem.
Questions
Does allowing PerplexityBot mean my content trains AI models?
Perplexity says it does not. Its documentation says PerplexityBot is not used to crawl content for AI foundation models. See Perplexity's bots page.
Why does Perplexity read my page but name someone else?
Being a source and being the answer are different things. Perplexity can take a fact from your page and still recommend a company another page praised. Agentcites shows each case so you can tell them apart.
Can I block Perplexity-User?
Perplexity says this robot generally ignores robots.txt, because a person asked for the visit. A firewall rule is the only control it leaves you, and blocking it can stop Perplexity reading your page for that person.
Can I see which of my pages Perplexity used?
Yes. Perplexity returns a list of the pages it read, and Agentcites keeps that list with each answer.