# How does Perplexity decide which businesses to recommend?

> Perplexity names businesses it finds in its own search index and in licensed data like Yelp. How it picks sources, and how to rank in Perplexity for free.

Canonical: https://www.preferly.ai/blog/how-perplexity-chooses-businesses
Published: 2026-11-12
Last updated: 2026-11-12

By the Preferly team

**Short answer:** Perplexity searches the web, reads the pages it finds and writes an answer that cites its sources, so it recommends businesses it can find and confirm in those sources. For local questions it also draws on licensed listing data: it has used Yelp's reviews, ratings, photos and maps since 2024 and Tripadvisor's travel data since 2025. To rank in Perplexity, let its crawler read your site, state your facts clearly, keep your Yelp and other listings complete, and get named on the pages it cites.

Perplexity is smaller than ChatGPT, but its users are often researching a decision, and every answer shows its sources. That makes it easier to see why a business was picked, and why yours wasn't.

## How Perplexity builds an answer

When someone asks Perplexity "best Thai restaurant in Austin for a group", it runs searches, pulls the pages that look most relevant, and writes an answer with numbered citations to those pages. Two of its own tools do the reading, per [Perplexity's crawler documentation](https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots):

- **PerplexityBot** crawls and indexes sites so they can be surfaced and linked in Perplexity's results. Perplexity says it isn't used to train AI models, and recommends allowing it "to ensure your site appears in search results".
- **Perplexity-User** fetches a page when a user's question calls for it. Since a person triggered the request, Perplexity says it generally ignores robots.txt rules.

Changes to robots.txt can take up to 24 hours to reach Perplexity's systems.

## Where its local recommendations come from

For businesses, three kinds of source matter.

### Your own website

If PerplexityBot can read your site, your pages can be indexed and cited. If it's blocked, by robots.txt or by a firewall, Perplexity has to rely on what other sites say about you. Perplexity's own documentation warns that Cloudflare's Bot Fight Mode can still challenge its crawler even when a site owner tries to allow it.

In our [study of 3,693 small business websites](https://www.preferly.ai/research/ai-crawler-study), 216 showed our crawler a bot check, and most of those owners had never chosen to block AI. See [whether Cloudflare is blocking AI crawlers](https://www.preferly.ai/is-cloudflare-blocking-ai-crawlers) if your site uses it.

### Licensed listing data

In March 2024 Perplexity began using Yelp's maps, reviews, photos and business details for local questions such as restaurant recommendations, with links back to the Yelp page ([The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/12/24098728/perplexity-chatbot-yelp-suggestions-data-ai)). In January 2025 [Tripadvisor announced](https://tripadvisor.mediaroom.com/press-releases?item=126807) a partnership bringing its reviews, ratings and AI summaries into Perplexity for travel planning.

So for restaurants, bars, shops, hotels and attractions, your Yelp and Tripadvisor pages may be part of the data Perplexity reads directly.

### Pages that compare options

Perplexity cites articles, "best of" lists, local news, forums and directories. A business named on several pages that rank for "best [service] in [city]" has more chances to be picked than one that only appears on its own site.

## How to rank in Perplexity: six steps

### 1. Allow PerplexityBot

Check yoursite.com/robots.txt for a rule that blocks PerplexityBot. Then check that no bot check or firewall rule challenges it. Our [free AI crawler check](https://www.preferly.ai/ai-crawler-check) tests both for 10+ AI crawlers, PerplexityBot included.

### 2. Answer the question on the page

Perplexity quotes pages that answer the question directly. Put what you do, where, hours, prices and contact details near the top of your pages in plain text, and add short answers to the questions customers ask, such as "Do you take walk-ins?" or "Do you serve Round Rock?".

### 3. Complete your Yelp listing, and Tripadvisor if you're in travel or food

Claim the page, fill in categories, hours, photos and services, and respond to reviews. Make sure the details match your website exactly.

### 4. Get named on the pages it cites

Ask Perplexity your customers' questions and open the citations. The pages it cites for your competitors are the pages to be on: local roundups, trade directories, community threads. Earn mentions there honestly, through outreach, local press and good service people write about. Our guide on [where AI gets business information](https://www.preferly.ai/where-ai-gets-business-information) lists the usual sources.

### 5. Keep facts consistent everywhere

When your site, Yelp and other listings disagree on hours or phone numbers, Perplexity may quote the wrong one. Fix the mismatches at the source.

### 6. Check again after changes

Ask the same questions a week or two after each fix and compare the answers and citations.

## Perplexity is one of several AI tools your customers use

[BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey](https://www.brightlocal.com/research/lcrs-ai-trust/) found 45% of US consumers used AI tools for local business recommendations in the past year, up from 6% the year before. ChatGPT was the most used, followed by Google's AI Mode. Each tool reads a different mix of sources, so a business can be named in one and missing from another. Most of the fixes above help in all of them, which is why an AEO strategy starts with the basics rather than with one tool. If ChatGPT is your bigger gap, read [why a business doesn't show up on ChatGPT](https://www.preferly.ai/blog/why-is-my-business-not-showing-up-on-chatgpt).

## See what AI says about you

Preferly's [free check](https://www.preferly.ai/start) asks 3 AI models 5 customer questions and shows whether you're named and where AI contradicts your website. The [full report](https://www.preferly.ai/ai-visibility-audit) asks 10 leading AI models, including ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, 5+ questions with web search on, and gives a fix list in priority order. Most of those fixes are the same ones Perplexity reads. It's $99, paid once, with a free re-scan within 30 days. If your report finds no fixes, email us within 7 days and we'll give you a full refund. The report doesn't include Perplexity's answers yet; the crawler check above does cover PerplexityBot.

## Questions

### How long does it take to show up in Perplexity?

Perplexity says robots.txt changes can take up to 24 hours to reach its systems. Page changes show once its crawler revisits, and new listings or mentions on other sites usually take weeks to matter.

### Does blocking PerplexityBot remove me from Perplexity?

It removes your site from the pages Perplexity's search can index. Perplexity says PerplexityBot is used to surface and link websites in its results, and recommends allowing it to appear in search results.

### Is ranking in Perplexity different from ranking in ChatGPT?

The basics are the same: a readable site, clear facts, consistent listings and mentions on pages that compare options. The sources differ. Perplexity licenses Yelp and Tripadvisor data and runs its own index, so it can name different businesses than ChatGPT for the same question.

## Sources

- https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots
- https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/12/24098728/perplexity-chatbot-yelp-suggestions-data-ai
- https://tripadvisor.mediaroom.com/press-releases?item=126807
- https://www.brightlocal.com/research/lcrs-ai-trust/
- https://www.preferly.ai/research/ai-crawler-study