Perplexity · AI-search index crawler
PerplexityBot: what it is & how to allow or block it
PerplexityBot crawls the web to build the index Perplexity uses to find and cite sources in its answer engine. Perplexity documents that PerplexityBot honors robots.txt. Allowing it makes you eligible to be cited as a source in Perplexity answers.
- User-agent
PerplexityBot- Operator
- Perplexity
- Type
- AI-search index crawler
- robots.txt
- Perplexity documents that PerplexityBot honors robots.txt. Allowing it makes you eligible to be cited as a source in Perplexity answers.
- Official docs
- docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots
What allowing or blocking PerplexityBot means
Perplexity prominently links cited sources, so allowing PerplexityBot is a direct referral channel. Blocking it removes you from Perplexity citations.
Block PerplexityBot (robots.txt)
# Block PerplexityBot User-agent: PerplexityBot Disallow: /
Allow PerplexityBot (robots.txt)
# Allow PerplexityBot User-agent: PerplexityBot Allow: /
Declare your policy in llms.txt
robots.txt controls access; llms.txt states your intent in a machine-readable way LLMs prefer. Keep them consistent. The llms.txt generator lets you set PerplexityBot to allowed or restricted and emits a compliant file.
FAQ
How do I let Perplexity cite my site?
Allow PerplexityBot in robots.txt (and llms.txt). Perplexity surfaces and links cited sources, which can drive click-through traffic.