Perplexity AI SEO Guide: 5 Top tips to increase citations

Perplexity’s growth, as with the wider AI search landscape, has exploded in recent months – 30 million monthly users and 40% MoM search increases – making it unmissable for forward-thinking SEOs. At MRS Digital, we’ve tested these strategies to boost citations and AI visibility, and now we want to share our insights.

This guide delivers the exact playbook: build authority, welcome PerplexityBot, prioritise content freshness, master Q&A formats, and implement the perfect on-page structure.

What is Perplexity?

Perplexity is an AI-powered search and answering engine that combines advanced language models with real-time web data to deliver concise, sourced, conversational responses. It aims to provide clear, direct answers rather than pages of search results.

It doesn’t rely on a single large language model (LLM) but uses a mix of OpenAI’s GPT‑5 series, Anthropic’s Claude 4 ‑series (Sonnet and Opus), Google’s Gemini Pro, xAI’s Grok, and Perplexity’s own Sonar models (built on advanced Llama‑family checkpoints) when generating answers.

Perplexity uses its own indexing crawler, known as PerplexityBot, as well as Google and Bing APIs to pull data from the web.

It’s regarded by many as a great source of fresh, up-to-date information as the platform leans heavily on live web retrieval and relies less on training data alone, unlike ChatGPT, for example. This is known as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).

According to data in Backlinko’s January 2026 report, Perplexity now has 30 million monthly users. This is thought to equate to approximately 5.8% of the market, making them the 4th largest global AI platform.

What’s more, a recent study by BrightEdge found that Perplexity searches are growing by 40% each month, hence why we were eager to dig into the detail and share our experiences with you.

How to optimise for Perplexity AI SEO

“Perplexity SEO” is a term increasingly used to describe the strategies and techniques used to optimise web content in such a way that it is more likely to be included in answers generated by Perplexity.

Below we have detailed our 5 top tips to help you optimise your website content in an ever-evolving search landscape, to stay ahead of the curve.

(Spoiler alert: if you have been doing SEO well for the last few years, you will already be well on your way to AI search success!)

#1 Build topic authority

Authority is a core ranking signal for Perplexity, just as it is in traditional SEO.

AI SEO (often called GEO or AEO) still depends on a trustworthy domain with clear expertise, strong user-focused content, and a solid backlink profile. But because Perplexity is an answer engine, it also relies more heavily on off-site authority signals: who talks about you, the sentiment of the discussion, how you’re being mentioned, and in what context.

You’re not just optimising webpages; you’re training models to ensure your brand is seen as a credible entity. That means earning high‑quality backlinks, yes, but also securing brand mentions and citations on reputable, topic‑relevant third‑party sites – think industry blogs, review platforms, niche communities or forums, and authoritative resources your audience already trusts.

Research into AI search shows that brands appearing in Perplexity answers for top‑of‑funnel queries are often referenced via third‑party content, which makes digital PR, genuine thought leadership, and strategic contributions to trusted publications critical levers if you want to get cited.

#2 Allow PerplexityBot and AI crawlers full access to your site

This may sound like stating the obvious, however you may be surprised by how many websites we audit which knowingly or unknowingly block AI bots in their robots.txt.

If you block PerplexityBot and other major crawlers, your content simply can’t be discovered, indexed, or cited – no matter how good it is. Perplexity relies on its own crawler to follow links, read robots.txt, and use signals like sitemaps and last modified tags to understand what’s new, what’s updated, and how your pages relate to each other. If those bots are disallowed, your site is effectively invisible.

To maximise visibility, ensure PerplexityBot, Google, Bing, and similar agents have clear access to all important pages you want indexed. Use robots.txt and meta robots tags to guide (not block) crawling, and keep your technical SEO aligned with best practices.

This opens the door for Perplexity (and other important search engines and AI systems) to digest your amazing content, evaluate its relevance and freshness, and ultimately surface it as a cited source in answers.

If you are unsure whether different AI bots can fully access your website, why not use our market-leading AI access crawler?

#3 Keep content fresh and backed by credible sources

Fresh content is vital for all SEO, but it’s especially critical if you want Perplexity to find, surface, and cite your pages.

As a leading answer engine, Perplexity is designed to respond to timely questions with current and importantly trustworthy information, so it regularly re-crawls the web to obtain the latest facts, stats, and developments. This means static, outdated pages that potentially misinform the user are far less likely to be selected, especially on fast-moving topics.

To remain competitive, treat your content as a living asset to be nurtured and maintained, rather than simply a one-and-done blog post. Regularly audit key pages to check whether the examples used, data cited and product details displayed are still 100% relevant.

When reviewing your content attempt to add genuine value which benefits the user and which gives you an advantage over your competitors, instead of just tweaking a few words here and there for the sake of it.

By systematically refreshing and expanding content in this way, you strengthen both recency and relevance signals – two factors that significantly improve your chances of being cited in Perplexity’s answers.

#4 Pose questions, provide credible answers and position yourself as an authority

Perplexity is built primarily to answer questions, not just match keywords, so content that explicitly uses a Q&A format has a clear advantage. Frame sections around conversational questions that mirror how real users search, then follow with short, direct answers in natural language – think Natural Language Processing (NLP).

For example, use headings like “What is the best way to enhance a websites E-E-A-T signals” and immediately provide 3 or 4 proven, practical ways in which to meet this goal. This structure makes it easy for Perplexity to detect intent, extract a self-contained answer, and reuse it in its own responses.

As an experienced SEO, I think of this optimisation as simply ‘Featured Snippet thinking for AI’: clear question, concise answer, with enough surrounding depth to show topical expertise.

#5 Optimise content structure – Readability and depth

Optimising your content structure is essential if you want Perplexity to understand, trust, and cite your pages. Implementing a clear structure makes your intent obvious to both LLMs and users.

Focus each page on a single primary intent. Use a logical heading hierarchy (H1, H2, H3 with <p> tags providing the contextual body copy) with descriptive, keyword-rich headings. Break dense paragraphs into short, scannable sections.

Utilise bullet points, numbered lists, and tables where appropriate to express key facts and comparisons. This helps AI extract clean snippets and makes answers easier to quote.

Write concise, factual sentences, avoiding ‘fluff’ and heavy jargon. Anticipate logical follow-up questions and answer them directly on page.

Format FAQs as explicit Q&A blocks (you can also use “FAQPage” schema markup to help platforms better understand your content). Highlight important terms with simple formatting such as bold or italics.

Where relevant, support the text with images or simple diagrams that reinforce your main points. Employing descriptive file names and alt text – again implementing traditional SEO best practices.

A well-structured page improves comprehension, user experience, and your odds of being selected as a cited source.

How to use Perplexity AI for SEO

In this article we have focused primarily on how best to optimise your content so to enhance your chances of appearing in Perplexity. However, you can also utilise this AI platform to help carry out some of the required ‘leg work’ when devising a SEO strategy too. Although it goes without saying that as a human, it is important that you always use your own professional judgement.

For example, you could use Perplexity as a research copilot, not just another chatbot. Ask it to summarise top-ranking pages, surface common user questions, and map search intent across the funnel. Alternatively, have it compare your draft against competitors to spot missing topics, weak sections, or explanations which are unclear.

Generate FAQ ideas and longtail, conversational queries to feed into briefs. Use it to brainstorm outlines, create alternative title tags, and meta descriptions aligned with real questions people ask. Finally, validate facts, stats, and examples through Perplexity’s cited sources to keep content accurate and trustworthy.

While Perplexity and other AI tools can dramatically speed up research and elements of content creation, we believe it’s still essential that a human carefully factchecks the outputs and adapts them so they’re accurate, onbrand, and aligned with your specific business goals.