PerplexityBot: what it is and how to block it
Surfaces and links websites in Perplexity search results.
Does PerplexityBot follow robots.txt?
Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot if you want to appear in its results. Its help centre says a blocked page may still be indexed by domain, headline and a brief factual summary.
What blocking it does
Your full page text won’t be indexed by Perplexity; your site may still appear as a link.
Other Perplexity tokens
- Perplexity-User: user-requested fetch. Visits pages when a Perplexity user asks a question that needs them.
Block PerplexityBot everywhere
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Disallow: /
Block only some folders
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Disallow: /members/
Disallow: /drafts/
Explicitly allow it
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /
A group that names PerplexityBot replaces the * group for it. Copy any shared rules into this group too. Test the result.
PerplexityBot questions
What is PerplexityBot?
PerplexityBot is operated by Perplexity. Surfaces and links websites in Perplexity search results.
How do I block PerplexityBot?
Add "User-agent: PerplexityBot" followed by "Disallow: /" to your robots.txt. Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot if you want to appear in its results. Its help centre says a blocked page may still be indexed by domain, headline and a brief factual summary.
What happens if I block PerplexityBot?
Your full page text won’t be indexed by Perplexity; your site may still appear as a link.
Does blocking PerplexityBot block other Perplexity crawlers?
No. Perplexity documents Perplexity-User separately; each needs its own User-agent line if you want to block it.