7.4%
of brand locations were recommended by Perplexity, against 35.9% that appeared in Google's local 3-pack.
SOCi, 2026 Local Visibility Index, 350,000+ locations, Jan 2026
4.2
average star rating of the locations Perplexity recommended, a practical floor to aim above.
SOCi, 2026 Local Visibility Index, 350,000+ locations, Jan 2026
60,000
OpenTable restaurants people can find and book without leaving Perplexity.
Perplexity, Book a table with Perplexity and OpenTable, Aug 4, 2025
Where Perplexity gets local business information
Perplexity is an answer engine. Every answer starts with a live web search, and the pages it reads are listed as numbered citations. For a local question that means your own website, review sites, directories and articles about your area can all show up as sources.
On top of the open web it licenses place data. In March 2024 it added Yelp data, bringing maps, reviews, photos and links to Yelp pages into answers about restaurants and other local businesses. In January 2025 it added Tripadvisor for hotels, and in March 2025 hotel booking through Selfbook. In August 2025 it added OpenTable, so people can reserve a table inside the answer.
Since October 2025, Perplexity shows restaurants, hotels and destinations on a map on the web and on iOS. Perplexity also reaches people outside its own app. Since February 2026 it is built into Samsung Galaxy S26 phones, and Samsung's Bixby uses Perplexity for search and reasoning.
For products, PayPal merchants have been discoverable in Perplexity with checkout in the chat since November 2025. That is for retail goods. Perplexity has not announced a listings or booking partner for local service businesses like plumbers or dentists, so for those trades the open web and review sites carry the weight.
What Perplexity appears to weigh
Perplexity can only cite what it can read. Its crawler, PerplexityBot, is what surfaces and links websites in its results, and Perplexity says to allow it in robots.txt if you want to appear. A site that blocks it, or hides its text behind scripts and pop ups, is hard to cite.
Ratings matter. In SOCi's 2026 study of more than 350,000 locations, the businesses Perplexity recommended averaged 4.2 stars, and it recommended only 7.4% of the locations, far fewer than Google's map pack showed. Being findable is not enough. You have to look like the safe pick.
Agreement matters too. Perplexity writes its answer from several sources at once. When your website, your Yelp page and the directories it reads all say the same hours, area and services, the answer has a clear fact to repeat. When they disagree, it has a reason to pick someone else.
“Perplexity cites its sources. Every citation is a page you can check, and usually a page you can fix.”
Step by step, how to get Perplexity to name you
- 01
Allow PerplexityBot in robots.txt
Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and make sure PerplexityBot is not disallowed. If you use Cloudflare or another firewall, allowlist PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User using the IP lists in Perplexity's crawler docs. Perplexity says changes can take up to 24 hours.
- 02
Put the deciding facts on your service pages
On each service page, in plain text, state the towns or ZIP codes you serve, your hours, same day or emergency service where true, and a starting price or how you quote. Perplexity quotes specifics it can read.
- 03
Claim and complete your Yelp page
Log in at biz.yelp.com and fill in categories, hours, services, service area and photos. Perplexity licenses Yelp data for local answers and links to Yelp pages.
- 04
Build your rating on the sites it cites
Ask recent customers for reviews on Google and the directory most used in your trade. Yelp forbids asking, so just point people to your Yelp page. Perplexity's recommended locations averaged 4.2 stars in SOCi's study, so steady reviews matter more than a burst.
- 05
Get on the booking partner for your category
Restaurants, take reservations through OpenTable so Perplexity can book a table in the answer. Hotels, keep your Tripadvisor listing complete and current.
- 06
Make your name, address and phone match everywhere
Compare your website footer, Google Business Profile, Yelp, and trade directories such as Angi or Healthgrades. Fix every mismatch at the source.
- 07
Read the citations and fix what they say
Ask Perplexity your customers' questions and open every numbered source. If an old directory lists the wrong phone, or a local best of list leaves you out, that is the page to correct or the publisher to contact.
How to check whether Perplexity recommends you today
Open perplexity.ai or the Perplexity app with location on, and type what a customer would type. "Best emergency plumber in Tampa, FL." "Dentist near 30309 that takes new patients this week." "Who should I call for AC repair in Mesa? I want a fair price." Try a few wordings, since small changes shift the answer.
For each answer, note which businesses it names, the reason it gives for each, and the numbered sources behind them. Click through the sources. They show you exactly which pages Perplexity read for your market and whether your business appears on them.
Then search your own business name with your city and read what Perplexity says about you. Wrong hours or an old address point straight to the source that needs fixing. Our free pick report runs real customer questions through AI assistants and shows who gets picked and why, so you can compare without testing by hand.
Questions we get asked
How do I get my business on Perplexity?
- There is no business listing to submit. Allow PerplexityBot in your robots.txt, put your service area, hours and prices in plain text on your site, and claim your Yelp page. Perplexity searches the web live and licenses Yelp data for local answers.
Where does Perplexity get local business information?
- From a live web search of sites it can read, plus licensed partners. Those include Yelp for local businesses since March 2024, Tripadvisor for hotels since January 2025, and OpenTable for restaurant reservations since August 2025. Each answer lists its sources.
Does Perplexity use Google Business Profile?
- Perplexity has not said it reads Google Business Profiles directly. It searches the web and cites what it reads, and it licenses Yelp and Tripadvisor data. A complete Google profile still helps, because other sites copy from it and customers check it.
Should I block Perplexity's crawler?
- Not if you want to be recommended. Perplexity says PerplexityBot is how it surfaces and links websites in its results, and that it is not used to train AI models. Blocking it makes your site hard to cite.
Can I pay to be recommended by Perplexity?
- Perplexity has not announced paid placement in local recommendations. Restaurants can be booked through OpenTable and retailers can sell through PayPal, but those are booking and checkout paths, not paid spots in the answer.
How long does it take for Perplexity to show changes?
- Perplexity searches live, so a fixed page can show up within days once PerplexityBot can reach it. Perplexity says robots.txt changes can take up to 24 hours. Fixes on Yelp and other sites depend on when those sources are read again.
Your free report
See who gets picked when your customers ask
Get a free pick report. We run your customers' real questions through AI assistants and show who gets picked, the reasons they give, and the gaps on your side.
- 01We read your site and work out what your customers ask an assistant for.
- 02We run the top assistants on those requests in your area.
- 03You get where you rank, whether they would book you and why, and what to change first.