How to Improve Visibility on Perplexity AI: GEO Guide | Qwairy

How to Improve Your Brand's Visibility on Perplexity AI: The Ultimate GEO Guide

Perplexity is an AI-powered answer engine. Instead of showing a list of websites like Google, it gives users direct answers, often using just a few trusted sources. Learn how to make your brand one of them.

Luca Fancello • July 28, 2025 • Updated Dec 22, 2025 • 20 min read

How Perplexity AI Actually Works?

Perplexity is not a search engine in the classic sense. It's an AI answer engine. To do that, it combines two technologies:

1. A Large Language Model (LLM)

Like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, Perplexity is built on top of a foundational AI model (called " Sonar") trained on a massive corpus of text data: books, websites, academic papers, and more. This gives it general knowledge about almost every topic.

2. Real-Time Web Search via RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

Here's where it gets really powerful. Perplexity doesn't just rely on what it has learned during training. It also performs a live web search every time a user submits a query - a process known as RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation). This means it can access fresh, up-to-date information and cite actual sources.

According to our findings, the process typically looks like this:

  1. The user enters a prompt (a question or request).
  2. Perplexity processes the intent and identifies missing information in its internal model.
  3. It launches a real-time web search. (on Google from what we know so far)
  4. It selects a limited number of trusted sources.
  5. It summarizes the information into a readable answer.
  6. It cites the original sources under the answer.
💡 Perplexity typically cites between 2 and 6 sources per query  -  far fewer than a traditional SERP. That means the bar for inclusion is much higher, but also that visibility is more powerful when you earn it.

What Kind of Sources Does Perplexity Trust?

Based on a study of 32,961 queries across Perplexity, Gemini and ChatGPT Search made by Qwairy, the most commonly cited domains include:

In short: You don't optimize for keywords, you optimize to be the best possible answer.

Step 1 : Understand the Prompts Users Type in Perplexity

Before you can improve your visibility on Perplexity, you need to know what your audience is asking. Unlike traditional SEO where you optimize for short keywords, Perplexity works with conversational prompts - full questions, often long and specific. Think:

"What is the best project management tool for small teams?"

not just
"project management tool".

Why This Matters

Perplexity doesn't rank pages like Google. It builds answers based on relevance to the user's question, and it tends to cite only a few trusted sources. If your content doesn't match the intent and format of those prompts, you'll be invisible. So your first mission is to identify the right prompts. Here's how 👇

1. Use Qwairy to Generate Real User Prompts

Qwairy is a GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) platform that helps brands identify which prompts users type into LLMs like Perplexity. You can:

💡 Qwairy uses insights from SERP data, People Also Ask boxes, and LLM outputs to generate real, and potentially high-volume prompts.

This gives you a starting list of questions to target with your content strategy.

2. Use Google Search Console with Regex Filters

Even though Perplexity doesn't give keyword data, you can use your Google Search Console to find real user questions. Most users ask similar things on Google and Perplexity. Apply this Regex to your queries:

^(who|what|where|when|why|how|which|can|should)\s

This will show you all the queries starting with questions - great candidates for Perplexity prompts. You can also use:

^(best|vs|top|cheapest|reviews)

These reveal comparison-style prompts, which LLMs love to answer.

3. Use Perplexity's Own Suggestions

Go to perplexity.ai and type in a basic keyword. Example: Type "best CRM for startups" and press enter.

→ You'll get an answer, and underneath, a list of follow-up questions like:

These related questions are golden - they're exactly what Perplexity users are clicking next. They reveal intent, framing, and language you should reuse in your own content.

4. Use Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT Suggestions

Other LLMs like Copilot or ChatGPT (especially with web access enabled) can give you prompt ideas too. Try asking:

"What are common questions users ask about \[your product or topic\]?"

Or even:

"What would a startup founder ask about CRM tools?"

These tools simulate user behavior and often suggest very natural, high-intent prompts.

5. Add Your Own Business Logic

Don't forget your internal knowledge:

Many high-performing prompts are hiding in plain sight.

✅ Key Takeaway

You need to build your visibility on real, high-intent prompts - not keywords. Use Qwairy, regex filters, and the LLMs themselves to reverse-engineer the questions your users care about. Then, you'll know exactly what to write for. The future of SEO is topical. You don't optimise for keyword anymore: you build a content media optimise for everything that your client might search on the web.

💡 A good read about [how SEO is evolving from Keyword to Topic from Kevin Indig](https://www.growth-memo.com/p/topic-first-seo-the-smarter-way-to).

An other good read on our blog about [How to identify prompts users type into AI search engines](/content/blog/how-to-identify-prompts-ai-search-engines/index.html)

Step 2 : Identify Your Current Visibility in Perplexity

Once you've identified the prompts your audience is typing, the next step is to measure where your brand currently stands. In traditional SEO, you'd check your Google rankings. In the world of LLMs like Perplexity, the logic is different - but just as measurable. Your brand can appear in two different ways on Perplexity:

To succeed in GEO, you want to track both.

1. Search Your Brand and Products Directly

Start simple: go to perplexity.ai and type:

"What is \[Your Brand\]?"

"Is \[Your Brand\] a good \[product/service\]?"
"
"Best alternatives to \[Your Brand\]"
"Top \[category\] tools"
"Best tools for \[what your products do\]"

👉 Look at the answer.

If you're not showing up at all, that's a red flag - but also an opportunity.

💡 Further read: This article about [how to track if your brand is mentioned on LLMs for free](/content/blog/how-to-track-if-your-brand-is-mentioned-in-llms/index.html) will help you.

2. Track Brand Presence with Qwairy

Tools like Qwairy let you automate this process. Here's how it works:

It even shows a score of visibility vs your competitors, so you can know exactly:

3. Do It Manually If Needed

If you don't use a GEO tool, you can still do it by hand. Here's a simple method:

  1. List your most strategic prompts (from section 2)
  2. Search them one by one on Perplexity
  3. Check:
    • Who is mentioned in the answer?
    • What URLs are cited below the response?
  4. Create a spreadsheet:
    • Column A: Prompt
    • Column B: Brand mentioned (Y/N)
    • Column C: URL cited (Y/N)
    • Column D: Competitors mentioned

This might take time, but it gives you full control over the audit. You can copy paste the following table in your favorite Excel file:
Prompt / Question LLM Tested Date Brand Mentioned? Type of Mention Notes
"Best CRM for startups" ChatGPT July 2025 Yes Brand + Source Linked to blog
"Top running shoes 2025" Perplexity July 2025 No - -

4. Understand the Difference Between Brand and Source Visibility

Let's take an example: 🔍 Prompt: "What is the best drill brand in Europe?"

Step 3 - Optimize Your Content for Perplexity Citations

Now that you know the right prompts and where your brand stands, it's time to take action. This is where GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) really starts: shaping your content so Perplexity can find it, understand it, and want to cite it. Unlike traditional SEO where keyword density or backlinks dominate, GEO is about clarity, authority, and structure. LLMs don't "rank" you - they decide whether your content is useful for answering a question. Let's break down what works.

1. Make sure you have some content to answer the prompt

This is obviously the first step to optimise for LLM visibility. If you want to rank for a query you have to answer this query somewhere with a page or with a dedicated passage in a page.

2. Structure Your Content Like an LLM Would Write It

Imagine: When you type a question, perplexity has to search the web and analyse documents in a couple of seconds. That means your document need to be very easy to digest. What this means in practice:

🧠 Example:

"To choose the right CRM, consider your business size, budget, and required features."

Then:
- For startups: look for ease of use and low cost
- For enterprises: integrations and scalability matter
- For remote teams: check collaboration features

This makes it easier for the LLM to quote exactly the portion it needs.

3. Focus on Information Density and Precision

Perplexity doesn't want fluff. It wants useful, fact-based content. Include:

📌 Pro tip: LLMs prefer impersonal and neutral tone - avoid "we believe", "our product", or too much promotional language. Focus on helpful content first.

4. Add Sources and External References in Your Content

LLMs trust content that already cites other sources. Why? Because they prefer verified, well-contextualized information. - Link to studies, white papers, or industry benchmarks

This creates second-degree credibility: you become a "source that trusts other good sources".

5. Use Schema Markup and Structured Data (Optional, But Smart)

LLMs like structure - and structured data helps. Add:

This isn't as important for Perplexity as it is for Google, but it does help LLMs parse content more easily when crawling your page.

6. Refresh Old Content With GEO-Optimized Structure

Don't just create new content - rework your best existing articles to match LLM patterns:

🧠 Example of a great opening:

"Looking for the best drill in 2025? We've analyzed the top models based on power, durability, and price. Here's what you need to know."

7. Create "Best X for" content

Perplexity (and LLMs in general) love comparison content. They can transform it easily to make an answer. A good GEO strategy is creating this content on your website and ranking well with this content so that LLM can use it easily.

Step 4 - Optimize Your Authority via Trusted Sources

You've structured your content. You've aligned it with real prompts. But if your domain isn't trusted by Perplexity's underlying model - or cited by other trusted sources - you still might not appear. Like other LLM-based answer engines, it relies on a limited set of highly trusted sources. The model needs to ensure that what it cites is reliable, objective, and easy to summarize. So how can you become one of those trusted sources - or, at least, get cited by them?

🎯 The Goal: Be the Kind of Source Perplexity Trusts

In the Qwairy study, over 59,000 sources were identified across SearchGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. While the data isn't split by model, strong patterns emerge. Among the most cited types of websites, we find:

💡 Perplexity often selects just 2 to 5 sources per query, so being cited requires more than relevance -  it requires authority and trust.

1. Get Cited By Trusted Domains

If your domain isn't yet highly authoritative, aim to get mentioned by those that are. Here's how:

2. Improve Your Domain's Trust Signals

Even if you can't change your DA overnight, you can optimize signals that Perplexity and LLMs consider when evaluating a site:

3. Boost Your Visibility Through Strategic Partnerships

Perplexity may not index your site directly - but it might crawl the site that mentions you. Tactics:

4. Publish Evergreen, High-Trust Content

Certain content types tend to earn more citations:

These formats are more likely to be interpreted as useful, fact-based and shareable by LLMs. Make sure your content includes:

6. Technical Optimization for LLM Bots

1. Make Sure LLMs Can Crawl Your Pages

Make sure that Perplexity's engine can access your content.

2. Optimize Metadata for Clarity and Intent

LLMs do look at meta information - not to rank you like Google, but to better understand what your page is about.

3. Optimize Load Speed and Mobile Rendering

LLMs access your page content similarly to browsers. If a page takes 5 seconds to load or requires JS rendering, it might not get parsed correctly.

4. Monitor Crawl & Visibility Logs Regularly

Use server logs or tools like Qwairy to check:

Conclusion

Perplexity AI is reshaping how users search - and how brands get discovered. Unlike traditional search engines, it doesn't offer dozens of blue links. It chooses just a handful of trusted answers, favoring clarity, authority, and usefulness over everything else. If your brand isn't part of the answer, you're simply invisible. But that invisibility is not inevitable. By applying the GEO principles outlined in this guide, you can:

FAQs

  1. How to rank on Perplexity AI To improve your visibility on Perplexity AI, identify the conversational prompts your audience is typing, optimize your content structure with clear headers and bullet points, ensure your site is crawlable by PerplexityBot, and build authority by getting cited by trusted domains. Focus on creating fact-based, neutral content that directly answers user questions.
  2. How to optimize content for AI search engines Optimize content for AI search engines by using clear headers, short paragraphs, and bullet points. Focus on information density with definitions, stats, comparisons, and how-to steps. Use an impersonal and neutral tone, add external references from trusted sources, and implement schema markup like FAQPage and HowTo to help AI models parse your content easily.
  3. How to track brand mentions on Perplexity Track brand mentions on Perplexity by manually searching relevant prompts and checking if your brand appears in answers or citations, or use automated tools like Qwairy to monitor visibility across multiple prompts. Create a tracking spreadsheet with columns for prompts, brand mentions, URL citations, and competitors mentioned to measure your performance over time.
  4. What sources does Perplexity trust Perplexity trusts a limited set of authoritative sources including YouTube, official government websites, comparison platforms like G2 and Trustpilot, Wikipedia, major media outlets, forums like Reddit, and topical niche expert blogs. These sources are selected based on authority, neutrality, and usefulness for answering specific user queries.
  5. How to get cited by Perplexity AI To get cited by Perplexity AI, structure your content with clear summaries and bullet points, publish fact-based evergreen content like comparisons and how-to guides, ensure your robots.txt allows PerplexityBot crawling, build citations from trusted domains through guest posts and reviews, and optimize your site for fast loading and mobile rendering.
  6. Difference between GEO and SEO GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) focuses on optimizing content for AI answer engines like Perplexity that provide direct answers from limited sources, while SEO optimizes for traditional search engines that display ranked lists of websites. GEO prioritizes clarity, authority, and structure over keyword density, and requires optimization for conversational prompts rather than short keywords.
  7. How to find prompts users type in AI search Find prompts users type in AI search by using GEO platforms like Qwairy, applying regex filters to Google Search Console data to identify question-based queries, checking follow-up suggestions on Perplexity itself, asking other LLMs like ChatGPT for common user questions, and analyzing your own customer support tickets and sales call transcripts for recurring questions.