At a glance
| robots.txt name | Perplexity-User |
|---|---|
| Company | Perplexity |
| Kind | Fetch on request. Opens a page when someone asks Perplexity about it |
| Visits sites | Yes |
| Official page | docs.perplexity.ai |
Perplexity-User opens a page when someone asks Perplexity about it. This means the crawler visits sites on demand, not as part of a broad crawl. For businesses, this matters because it affects how AI assistants can access and potentially recommend your content. If Perplexity-User is blocked, the assistant may not be able to read your page when a user asks about it.
Whether to block or allow Perplexity-User depends on your goals. Allowing it means Perplexity can fetch your page when users ask about it, which may help your site appear in AI responses. Blocking it prevents Perplexity from reading your page in those moments. Remember that robots.txt is a request, not a lock, and reputable crawlers follow it. You can also use a firewall or bot-protection service to block a crawler even when robots.txt allows it.
robots.txt lines
User-agent: Perplexity-User Disallow: /
User-agent: Perplexity-User Allow: /
Questions
What is Perplexity-User?
Perplexity-User is a user fetcher from Perplexity. It opens a page only when a person asks the assistant about that page or a link. It is not a general crawl.
Should I block Perplexity-User?
It depends on whether you want Perplexity to read your page when users ask about it. Allowing it may help your content be available in AI responses. Blocking it prevents Perplexity from fetching your page in those moments. Consider your business goals and the general fact that robots.txt is a request, not a lock.
How do I block Perplexity-User in robots.txt?
To block Perplexity-User for the whole site, add these two lines to robots.txt: User-agent: Perplexity-User Disallow: /
Does blocking Perplexity-User affect AI search or Google?
Blocking Perplexity-User affects whether Perplexity can fetch your page when a user asks about it. It does not affect Google. Being readable by AI does not mean being recommended. Vasukai's free AI check asks ChatGPT the questions customers ask.