Skip to content
AI Rank

Perplexity AI

Perplexity is fundamentally different from ChatGPT or Claude. It's "search-first", meaning every response is grounded in real-time web retrieval with citations. This makes it the most SEO-influenced AI assistant.

In this guide

  • How Perplexity's search-first approach works
  • Why your SEO directly impacts Perplexity visibility
  • Understanding Perplexity's citation system
  • Optimisation strategies specific to Perplexity
6 min read Prerequisite: Model Comparison
Real-time

Knowledge

127K

Context Window

Always

Web Search

With Sources

Citations

How Perplexity Works

Unlike ChatGPT or Claude which can answer from training data, Perplexity searches the web for every query:

?
User Query
Web Search
📄
Retrieve Sources
💬
Answer + Citations

Every claim in Perplexity's response is linked to a source. This means:

Key Takeaway

Perplexity is essentially SEO-powered AI.

If you rank well in Google, you're likely to appear in Perplexity responses. This makes Perplexity the most straightforward AI to optimise for because your existing SEO work transfers directly.

Perplexity Models

Default

Sonar

Built on Llama 3.3 70B with real-time web search. Runs at 1200 tokens/second via Cerebras infrastructure.

Sonar Pro

Deeper content understanding with 2x more citations. Best-in-class factuality (0.858 F-score on SimpleQA).

Sonar Reasoning Pro

Advanced reasoning for complex multi-step queries. Competes with Gemini 2.5 Pro on benchmarks.

Sonar Deep Research

Expert-level research mode for comprehensive analysis. Ideal for in-depth market and competitor research.

Optimisation Strategies for Perplexity

1. Double Down on SEO

Your Google rankings are your Perplexity rankings. Focus on:

  • • Featured snippet optimisation (Perplexity loves these)
  • • Question-based content that matches user queries
  • • High domain authority through quality backlinks

2. Create Citable Content

Perplexity cites sources for specific claims. Make your content cite-worthy:

  • • Include specific facts, statistics, and data points
  • • Use clear, quotable statements
  • • Structure content with clear headings that match queries

3. Answer Questions Directly

Perplexity users ask questions. Structure your content to answer them:

  • • Use FAQ sections on product and service pages
  • • Start articles with direct answers, then elaborate
  • • Target "what is", "how to", "best" query patterns

Technical Implementation

FAQ schema markup helps search engines (and Perplexity) understand your Q&A content, making it more likely to be selected and cited.

Schema for FAQ Content

The Citation Advantage

Unlike ChatGPT or Claude, Perplexity actually drives traffic to your site. When it cites your content:

This makes Perplexity visibility more directly valuable than other AI assistants because you get brand mention AND potential traffic.

Monitoring Perplexity Visibility

Track how often your content appears in Perplexity:

Sources