Perplexity-User
Visits a page when a user's question needs it and links to that page in the answer. Perplexity says it generally ignores robots.txt because a user asked for the fetch.
Where this comes from
- Documented by the vendor. Source: docs.perplexity.ai
- May bypass robots.txt for user-requested fetches. Published addresses: www.perplexity.com/perplexity-user.json.
- Counted in the readiness score. It can keep a site out of AI search or answers, so a block costs points.
In the top 1,000 websites
- 12.7% block it in robots.txt (72 of the 569 sites with a robots.txt), as of 2026-10-12.
- Method, limits and the full data: the October 2026 study of the top 1,000 websites.
What blocking it costs
A rule may not stop it: Perplexity-User fetches a page because a person asked about it, and its vendor says such fetches can bypass robots.txt. Where it does honour the rule, the assistant cannot read your page when asked. The score counts it, so a block costs points.
The robots.txt lines
To let it in (a group that names the crawler replaces any wildcard rules for it, so this also lifts a User-agent: * block):
User-agent: Perplexity-User
Allow: /To keep it out:
User-agent: Perplexity-User
Disallow: /A rule in robots.txt is a request. Perplexity says a fetch a user asked for may go ahead regardless. The robots.txt generator writes a whole file with the same split: block the training crawlers, keep the search and answer crawlers.
Also from Perplexity
PerplexityBot· AI search index
Does Perplexity-User get through on your site?
Run the free check: it reads your robots.txt against all 51 crawlers and tells you which ones can read you, and what to change.