Last updated: January 9, 2024
Perplexity AI Optimization is a sub-discipline of generative engine optimization (GEO), the practice of optimizing your company’s online presence in order to be recommended by generative AI chatbots and search engines. It is similar to search engine optimization (SEO), except it caters directly to the recommendation algorithm of these AI search tools instead of the Google Search algorithm.
In this guide, we explain how Perplexity’s recommendation algorithm works, and each factor it comprises. We then explain what businesses should do to maximize the chance that they’re recommended by Perplexity when users make commercial queries.
Perplexity’s Recommendation Algorithm
We recently conducted a survey of generative AI recommendation algorithms, including Perplexity. Compared to the other three most popular generative AI chatbots—ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude—Perplexity has the simplest recommendation algorithm, though it differs based on whether a user’s query is local or general:
Because there are only 3 factors making up either algorithm, understanding how each impacts
Authoritative List Mentions
Perplexity, like most generative AI chatbots, relies heavily on authoritative lists that rank highly on Google in order to create recommendations. These are the same lists that Google serves when a user types in a query like “top seo agencies,” as shown below:
Perplexity and other AI search tools highly prioritize authoritative list mentions when offering recommendations because of how directly and clearly they lay out different product and company options in a given field with a rank order.
These are the reasons authoritative lists matter so much for Perplexity optimization:
- Their structure is easily readable by the various generative AI search engines used to search the web.
- Their structure is also easy for a language model to break down and summarize, as well as include in an easily readable table or webpage as Perplexity is built to do.
- They are built with a rank order that the LLM can use to determine what products and companies are “better” or “worse” than others.
- They tend to receive a lot of traffic, communicating to search engines and generative AI that searchers find valuable.
These benefits make authoritative lists easy and valuable sources that generative AI engines draw from when creating recommendations for their users.
Awards, Accreditations, and Affiliations
Notable awards, accreditations, endorsements, and/or partnerships with authoritative organizations such as the one shown below clearly indicate to generative AI search engines that a company or a product is valuable.
These are ranked highly because they are yet another qualitative assessment that is presented in an organized manner, making it easy for generative AI to translate their information into a recommendation. Perplexity in particular places a major focus on more direct information delivery in the form of lists and tables, thus making awards, accreditations, and affiliations a notable factor in their algorithm.
There are two award types to prioritize when optimizing for Perplexity:
- Popular Awards: “Best of” type awards that are usually granted by a non-industry platform or organization that bases its rankings on criteria like user reviews, market share, or other measurable metrics of popularity/quality.
- Industry Awards: Awards recognizing a company or product’s quality from an in-industry expert organization. Since these carry more authority among well-informed industry professionals, they are much more important for B2B firms.
Affiliations with authoritative organizations are also helpful when generative AI engines search for a company they can deem trustworthy or reputable, as well as endorsements or recognition from both in-industry organizations and cross-industry organizations like the Better Business Bureau.
Online Reviews
Online review sites, aggregators, and forums play a large role in all generative engine search models.
This is for many of the same reasons as authoritative lists, except instead of the source being from an in-industry authority, it is from consumers of the product or service themselves. This makes these pages more valuable when recommending consumer goods, or B2B products and services with larger, less specialized markets.
The most important review sites to target are:
- G2
- Clutch
- CNet
- Capterra
- TrustPilot
- Better Business Bureau
Some of these sources, like Clutch and G2, also create lists that get included in the Authoritative List Mentions portion of GEO criteria. For this portion of the criteria, we refer directly to the reviews and their aggregates/averages.
Local Business Reviews
Perplexity uses online reviews from popular platforms such as Google Business Profiles (GBP), Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Angi to make recommendations for local queries. The most important of these will vary depending on specific industry.
Perplexity AI Optimization Strategy
Based on the recommendation algorithm listed above, and the more specific details we now understand about Perplexity’s more straightforward, information-driven approach to search queries, we recommend the following strategy to optimize for their engine and target more of their searchers:
Perplexity Optimization Strategy
| 1 | Pursue Inclusion in Authoritative List Articles | Perplexity’s algorithm and focus on providing direct, readable data makes authoritative list mentions even more important than in more general GEO strategies. Since they often use tables and lists with very little “fluff” surrounding them, hand-feeding their algorithm your company as a top competitor in that format is key to landing in their responses. This can be done by either reaching out to existing list creators or writing your own comparison lists on your company website that follow SEO best practices. |
| 2 | Submit Your Information to Popular Directories and Databases | Submitting your company’s information to authoritative databases like Wikipedia, Hoovers, and Bloomberg will add clearly identifiable authority to your company and product in the eyes of generative AI engines that excel in sifting through data in all of them. |
| 3 | Make Positive Reviews Easy | An increasing number of review sites have been cracking down on incentivized reviews. However, companies can still facilitate good reviews by presenting the opportunity to leave a review at multiple points post-sale and reaching out to satisfied customers proactively. |
| 4 | Post Company Achievements on Your Website and Social Media | Publicize company accomplishments and third-party recognition like industry awards, positive media coverage, inclusion on authoritative lists and directories, and any articles that cite your business’s content on your social media accounts to increase Perplexity’s awareness of your company and build compelling social sentiment. |
| 5 | Increase Your Google Domain Authority | Optimize your website and consistently publish SEO-optimized thought leadership content to improve your overall domain rating, determining how likely your company’s content is to land high in Google Searches. Perplexity (as well as other generative AI engines) crawls these results when creating recommendations, and a high domain rating allows your pages to influence those recommendations more strongly. |
| 6 | Ensure Local Business Profiles are Up-to-Date | If your business offers local services or has a physical location, then Perplexity will include local business profiles and reviews as a major part of their algorithm when creating recommendations. Updating any relevant profiles on Google My Business, Yelp, and other local directories improves your chance of being recommended. |
Implementing a Perplexity AI Optimization
Perplexity represents yet another step toward more complex and specialized AI search engines. As the market gets more diverse, with a greater quantity of specialized search tools, it will become difficult for companies to stay aware of those most relevant to their industry and optimize for them. Luckily, marketing experts with experience optimizing for these generative engines as they arise understand each of the different strategies necessary to succeed in improving rankings across every search platform in a way that in-house teams will struggle to keep up with.
As a result, many companies choose to contract with an authoritative third-party marketing agency that can handle Perplexity optimization, and more general GEO, for them. If you’d like to learn more about our GEO services, you learn more here, or reach out directly.
