Learn · How AI answers
How does Perplexity answer local questions and choose which businesses to cite?
By Cloute · Published October 1, 2026
The short answer
Perplexity searches the web in real time for each question, reads the sources it finds, and writes an answer with numbered citations linking to them. For a local question, the businesses it names are the ones described in the pages it opens. Its index is built by PerplexityBot, and pages are fetched live by Perplexity-User. In Cloute's data, Perplexity named a local business 81.3% of the time when it had read one of the business's own pages, and 16.7% when it had not.
Perplexity answers naming the business after reading one of its own pages
when it had not
PerplexityBot visits in Cloute's server logs of local business pages, 2026
What happens when someone asks Perplexity a local question?
- It searches the web in real time for the question.
- It reads a set of the sources it finds, which can include businesses' own websites, review sites, directories and local articles.
- It writes a short answer and attaches numbered citations, so the reader can see which page each claim came from.
- Answers can change between runs and as a conversation goes on, so one check shows little.
Which crawlers does Perplexity use?
| Crawler | What Perplexity says it does | robots.txt |
|---|---|---|
| PerplexityBot | Surfaces and links websites in Perplexity's search results. Not used to crawl content for AI foundation models. | Respects it. Perplexity recommends allowing it so a site appears in its results. |
| Perplexity-User | Visits a page when a user's question needs it, to help answer accurately. | Generally ignores it, because the visit is user-requested. |
Blocking PerplexityBot can keep a site out of Perplexity's search results. Because PerplexityBot is not a training crawler, blocking it does nothing to stop model training and only costs visibility.
Why do citations matter for a local business?
- They show which pages Perplexity relied on, so a business can see whether its own site or a rival's was read.
- A business named without a citation to its own page is being described by someone else's page.
- Citations can be clicked, so being the cited page can also send visits.
How does Perplexity differ from ChatGPT and Google?
All three search before answering local questions, but each searches and reads differently, so the same business can be named on one and missing on another. In Cloute's data, the gap between businesses Perplexity had read and those it had not was 4.9 times, against 3.8 times on ChatGPT and 2.7 times on Google AI Overviews.
What should a business check?
- That robots.txt does not block PerplexityBot.
- That its pages show their text in the HTML the server sends, since crawlers generally do not run JavaScript.
- That its name, address, hours and services match everywhere Perplexity might read about it.
- How often Perplexity names it, and who it names instead, measured on repeated questions from the towns customers ask from.
Read next
What is PerplexityBot? (and Perplexity-User) Should a local business block AI crawlers? Study: AI recommends what it has read How to measure AI visibilityQuestions people ask
Does Perplexity cite its sources?
Yes. Perplexity's answers include numbered citations linking to the pages it used.
Should I block PerplexityBot?
Usually not. Perplexity says PerplexityBot surfaces sites in its search results and is not used to train AI foundation models, so blocking it costs visibility without stopping training.
Does Perplexity read my website?
It can. PerplexityBot builds Perplexity's index, and Perplexity-User opens pages live when a question needs them. Both appear by name in server logs.
Why does Perplexity recommend a competitor instead of me?
Usually because the pages it read while answering described the competitor and not you. Measuring which businesses it names, and which pages it cites, is the first step.
About Cloute. Cloute is an AI visibility company for local businesses. It measures how often ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews recommend a business against its local competitors, and works every month to move it to the top.