Perplexity · Search crawler guide
PerplexityBot: who runs it and how to allow or block it
PerplexityBot surfaces and links websites in Perplexity search results. Perplexity states it is not used to crawl content for AI foundation models.
PerplexityBot at a glance
- Operator
- Perplexity
- Purpose
- Search It builds the search index behind AI answers.
- Kind
- Crawler. Visits your pages under its own user agent and reads the robots.txt group that names PerplexityBot.
- What it feeds
- Perplexity search results
- What Perplexity says about robots.txt
- To appear in Perplexity search results, Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot in robots.txt and permitting requests from its published IP ranges.
- User agent string
Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; PerplexityBot/1.0; +https://perplexity.ai/perplexitybot)- Verified
- against Perplexity's official docs (opens in a new tab).
robots.txt lines
Allow or block PerplexityBot.
Paste one group into the robots.txt at the root of your domain. A group that names PerplexityBot replaces your * group for PerplexityBot, so copy any * Disallow lines you still want applied into it.
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Disallow: /
# AI crawler access, generated by Suede AI Agent Studio
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Allow: /
User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: Claude-User
Allow: /
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /
User-agent: Perplexity-User
Allow: /
User-agent: Amzn-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: Amzn-User
Allow: /
Opens PerplexityBot together with the other search and assistant crawlers in one paste.
Precedence
How PerplexityBot reads your robots.txt
Major crawlers apply the robots.txt standard (RFC 9309) the same way. Three rules decide every path.
- A named group beats *. When a group says
User-agent: PerplexityBot, PerplexityBot follows that group and ignores the * group entirely. With no named group, the * group applies; with neither, every path is allowed. - The longest matching rule wins. Inside the group, the Allow or Disallow line with the longest matching path decides, so
Allow: /checkout/helpoverridesDisallow: /checkoutfor the help pages.*matches any run of characters and$marks the end of the path. - Allow wins a tie. When an Allow and a Disallow match with the same length, the path is allowed.
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Disallow: /checkout
Allow: /checkout/help
Disallow: /*.pdf$
| Path | Result | Deciding rule |
|---|---|---|
/ | Allowed | No rule in the PerplexityBot group matches, so it is allowed |
/checkout/cart | Blocked | line 5: Disallow: /checkout |
/checkout/help | Allowed | line 6: Allow: /checkout/help |
/menu.pdf | Blocked | line 7: Disallow: /*.pdf$ |
Line 2 still blocks every crawler without a group of its own. PerplexityBot reads only lines 4 to 7, which is why the homepage stays open to it.
Your site
See which line decides PerplexityBot on your site.
FAQ
PerplexityBot, answered.
What is PerplexityBot?
PerplexityBot surfaces and links websites in Perplexity search results. Perplexity states it is not used to crawl content for AI foundation models. PerplexityBot is run by Perplexity and builds the search index behind AI answers.
How do I allow PerplexityBot in robots.txt?
Add a group that names it: a line reading "User-agent: PerplexityBot" followed by "Allow: /". A group that names PerplexityBot replaces your * group for PerplexityBot, so repeat any Disallow lines from your * group that should still apply to it. To block it instead, use "Disallow: /" in that group.
Does blocking PerplexityBot remove me from Perplexity search results?
It can. PerplexityBot builds the index behind Perplexity search results, so blocking it keeps your pages out of that index and out of the answers drawn from it. To appear in Perplexity search results, Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot in robots.txt and permitting requests from its published IP ranges.
Related crawlers
Crawlers to set alongside it.
Every crawler, its operator and its docs are in the full AI crawler list.
Last updated .
Keep PerplexityBot where you want it. Every Monday.
Run the free check for the full crawler table and ranked fixes, unlock the $9.99 fix kit for paste-ready files, then let the AI Visibility Watch template read your robots.txt weekly and flag any answer bot that becomes blocked.