Hi there, this is our full guide for Perplexity.AI SEO (some people call it already Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) over SEO) and how to rank your content and websites in Perplexity.AI.
Introduction to Perplexity AI for SEO
So, you’re probably thinking: Is Perplexity.AI a relevant search engine for me and my audience? Well, let’s check out their own website traffic. According to Similarweb, Perplexity.AI gets about 50M monthly visits, which isn’t that huge compared to Google, but still very significant considering that its still a very young search engine.
If we trust this statistic from SEMrush, it’s very interesting to see how incoming and outgoing traffic looks like for perplexity.ai. About 73% of their incoming traffic comes direct, which speaks for its brand recognition already, followed by 11.9% coming from Google. Outgoing traffic is pretty diverse – with Google (3.77%) leading the race.
In other words: Google benefits in this way the most from perplexity.ai traffic.
Step-by-Step Guide to Keyword Research Using Perplexity AI SEO
Finding Keywords and Prompts
Hey, so when you’re diving into SEO, the starting point is always keyword research.
You can obviously use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs here. Alternatively, I would recommend two tools:
- Perplexity.ai itself: Just type “Give me 20 keyword ideas for [your niche]” and don’t forget to sprinkle in some local keywords to reach your nearby peeps.
- Otterly.AI: Keep in mind that modern AI search engines like perplexity.ai are used more in conversational than pure keywords. With Otterly.AI’s Keyword Research Tool, you can generate ideas for prompts based on certain keywords.
Monitoring Keywords & Prompts
Before you start creating content clusters or articles in order to rank on Perplexity.AI, you need to perform an audit even to understand:
- Which websites are ranking for my particular keywords?
- Which text is being generated by AI for particular keywords?
- Is my brand mentioned for those particular keywords?
Since most traditional SEO tools do not support Perplexity.AI for monitoring, we built Otterly.AI in the first place. With Otterly.AI, you can monitor any keyword and prompt and get answers to those questions.
Let’s dive in.
How to track your brand on Perplexity.AI
Otterly.AI allows you to monitor how visible your content and brand are within Perplexity.AI. In addition, Otterly.AI will give you all the links mentioned in those AI-generated answers. In other words, You will now be able to know if your websites (or any other URLs) are mentioned for any prompt/keyword you’d like to monitor.
If you are new to Otterly.AI, you can sign up for free right here.
After signing up for Otterly.AI, you can add the first keyword that you’d like to monitor.
Wait a minute or two, and Otterly.AI will provide you with direct insights into the following questions:
- What URLs are mentioned on Perplexity.AI for this particular keyword?
- Which brands (if any) are mentioned on Perplexity.AI for this particular keyword?
- What’s the brand sentiment (if any) within the AI-generated answer?
What URLs are mentioned on Perplexity.AI for this particular keyword?
As a marketer, I’m all about that website traffic!
I’m curious to see which URLs are getting some love on Perplexity.AI. I’m especially keen to know if my page is in the mix and where it’s placed. Just like in regular search results, the higher the link, the more clicks and traffic I’ll snag. Otterly.AI lays it all out for you with the links, anchor texts, and positions. You can even click on them to scope out the pages. It’s a cool way to see how your URLs stack up against the rest. Check out the screenshot below!
Which brands (if any) are mentioned on Perplexity.AI for this particular keyword?
Otterly.AI helps you see which brands are talked about and how people feel about them when it comes to business-related keywords. In the screenshot, the search query “What is Perplexity?” gives us a brand sentiment analysis of Perplexity.AI as well as some mentioned competitors.
With a long list of brands mentioned, the marketing and SEO team can now start working on the optimization part. Is my brand correctly described and do I feel comfortable with the brand sentiment How can I increase my visibility by being better positioned on Perplexity.AI?
Overview of the Ranking Algorithm: What are the key ranking factors for Perplexity.AI SEO?
According to a few resources and Perplexity.AI’s statements themselves, we can say: Yes, the traditional SEO work does still matter. But in addition, there are specifics that you need to know.
SEO ranking factors for Perplexity AI differ from traditional search engines, as the platform emphasizes content helpfulness and relevance over click probability. Here are some key factors to consider when optimizing for Perplexity:
- Content Helpfulness: Perplexity prioritizes ranking content based on its ability to provide helpful answers to user queries. This approach involves reinforcement learning from human feedback, where both user feedback and annotators evaluate the quality of answers and retrain models accordingly.
- Topical Credibility: Establishing credibility in specific topics is crucial. Perplexity’s index is curated from trusted sources, so ensuring your site is cited by these trusted sources can enhance its credibility and ranking potential.
- Current and Accurate Content: Given Perplexity’s reliance on a curated data set, it is vital to keep content accurate and up-to-date. This ensures that the information remains relevant and trustworthy.
- Authority and Trustworthiness: Engaging with authoritative communities, such as Reddit, and maintaining accurate information on platforms like MarketWatch and Yahoo Finance can influence search outcomes. Partnerships with top retailers can also enhance product visibility on Perplexity.
- Keyword Optimization: Utilizing AI models to optimize keyword density and placement can help improve rankings. Perplexity supports content generation and optimization workflows, making it easier to create SEO-friendly content.
- Citations and References: Perplexity provides generous citations to websites, which can enhance content credibility. Incorporating external links and references into your content can improve its value and trustworthiness.
By focusing on these factors, SEO professionals can better align their strategies with Perplexity’s unique approach to ranking content.
How does Perplexity.AI’s approach to ranking differ from Google’s?
Perplexity’s approach to ranking differs from Google’s in several key ways:
- Content Helpfulness vs. Click Probability: Perplexity prioritizes the helpfulness and accuracy of content in answering user queries rather than focusing on click probability. This involves reinforcement learning from human feedback to evaluate and improve the quality of answers.
- Ad-Free Model: Unlike Google, which integrates advertising into its search results, Perplexity operates an ad-free model, focusing solely on organic search traffic. This provides a different landscape for search marketers who rely on organic strategies.
- Authority in Specific Topics: Both Perplexity and Google rank authoritative sites, but Perplexity shows significant overlap with Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) in health and education topics. However, Perplexity tends to reference different types of sites, such as Reddit for product information, whereas Google might use Quora or Consumer Reports.
- Smaller Index and Focus: Perplexity’s index is smaller than Google’s, which means it focuses more on the head of the distribution curve, dealing with fewer niche queries. This makes Perplexity more selective in the content it indexes and ranks.
- SEO Optimization Techniques: Perplexity utilizes AI models to optimize content for keyword density and placement, similar to traditional SEO practices but with a focus on AI-driven content generation and optimization workflows.
Overall, while both search engines aim to provide relevant and authoritative content, Perplexity’s approach is more focused on the helpfulness of content and operates without the influence of advertising, which can alter the dynamics of search result rankings.
Measuring Traffic coming from Perplexity.AI
To track the traffic coming from Perplexity AI to your website, you can start by analyzing your referral traffic within Google Analytics 4 or your other analytics software. You will easily find out how much traffic you received so far and to which pages.
Simply head over to Traffic Acquisition and look at the referral sources:
Summary: How to Rank in Perplexity.AI with SEO
I hope you found this article helpful and provided you with some first insights on how to rank in Perplexity.AI by conducting proper SEO. BTW: Please check out Otterly.AI for monitoring your SEO efforts ongoingly – we support Perplexity.AI, Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT.
PS:
Why not try Otterly.AI for monitoring your brand’s and product’s ranking in AI-based searches?