The short answer
Perplexity is an AI answer engine that searches the web for each question and writes an answer with numbered source citations. Its crawler is PerplexityBot and its live fetcher is Perplexity-User.
Updated Oct 18 2026
Why Perplexity matters
Citations are central to its interface, so a cited page gets a visible link and can send a visit.
How to measure or use it
Run your question panel in Perplexity and log which URLs appear in the numbered sources, then check your server logs for its bots.
How I handle it
I test it separately from the other assistants, because its source choices differ from the other assistants.
Related terms
Perplexity questions
Does Perplexity send traffic?
It can, because its sources are linked. Check your analytics referrals to see how much arrives on your site.
Should I allow PerplexityBot?
If you want to be cited there, yes. Check your robots rules so it is not blocked by accident.