GEO FixAI search readiness check

AI search fix

PerplexityBot user-agent: what it is and how to allow it

PerplexityBot is the user-agent Perplexity uses when its crawler requests public URLs to support AI answers and citation-oriented retrieval. It appears in server logs and CDN bot dashboards separately from human visitors. Perplexity-User and other Perplexity-related strings may show up for different client flows — treat each user-agent on its own policy. Allow PerplexityBot in robots.txt and unblock it at Cloudflare or similar WAF layers if you want Perplexity to fetch your pages. Allowing the bot does not guarantee your brand will be cited in Perplexity answers.

Pair UA monitoring with the same robots.txt discipline you use for GPTBot and ClaudeBot: one coherent allow list for AI crawlers you trust, without opening the site to unrelated scrapers.

PerplexityBot quick reference

  • Operator: Perplexity — crawler for answer and citation pipelines.
  • Typical log string: PerplexityBot (confirm in current Perplexity publisher docs).
  • Not the same as: Perplexity-User — different product surface.
  • Policy layers: robots.txt + CDN allow or skip rules for PerplexityBot.
  • Verify: logs, Clarity Bot Activity (when connected), or Express Check.

Free · 2 minutes · no card

See what AI crawlers hit on your site

Technical blockers, missing context, weak AI-readiness signals — in one HTML report.

No card and no payment for the free check. Prices for Starter and Pro exclude VAT as shown on the site. GEO Fix does not guarantee AI visibility or citations.

You'll get an HTML report on PerplexityBot access alongside other AI user-agents.

Frequently asked questions

How is PerplexityBot different from Perplexity-User?

PerplexityBot is automated crawling of your URLs. Perplexity-User often reflects end-user browser or app traffic hitting your site, not the citation crawler. Policy them separately if both appear.

Why do I see zero PerplexityBot requests but Bingbot is active?

Perplexity may crawl on a different schedule or path mix. Zero requests in a 24-hour window does not always mean a block — check robots.txt and WAF over a longer period.

Does PerplexityBot respect robots.txt?

Like major AI crawlers, PerplexityBot generally follows robots.txt directives on sites that publish them. Conflicts at the CDN edge can still block requests before robots.txt is read.

Related questions

Updated