Perplexity SEO: The New Way to Get Ready-to-Buy Traffic

would look a lot like this new search

engine. And once I optimized for it, it

started sending me highquality organic

traffic full of ready to buy customers.

I've been testing on my own sites and my

client sites and very few people are

actually optimizing for it yet. Which

means if you move early, the opportunity

is massive. It's called perplexity. It

searches the internet like Google in

real time, but answers like a human with

trusted sources. I'm Neil Patel,

co-founder of the award-winning

marketing agency NP Digital. And in this

video, I'll show you exactly how I'm

getting results from it with my fivestep

blueprint and how you can, too.

A 2-year-old startup just hit a $14

billion valuation, and Google and

Microsoft and Open AI are all scrambling

to copy what they built. Look, I want

you to think about this for a second. In

2022, just three years ago, a guy named

Aravven Trinivas started a company

called Perplexity AI. Fast forward to

today, and this thing is valued at $14

billion. Jeff Bezos invested it. Nvidia

threw money at it. And here's the crazy

part. Every single tech giant is now

racing to build the exact same thing.

Google launched AI overviews. Microsoft

pumped up C-pilot. Open AAI added search

to chat GPT. Meta is working on their

own version. Even Apple is reportedly

building something similar. But here's

what most people don't realize. This

validates an entire new category of

search. Perplexity proved that people

don't just want a list of links anymore.

They want direct answers with sources

they can trust. And when every platform

starts moving in the same direction, it

creates a massive opportunity for

marketers who understand what's

happening. Because once you learn how to

get cited by one AI platform, you can

apply the same principles across all of

them. So here's why this matters to you

right now. Instead of learning separate

strategies for Google, Chad GPT, Claude,

and Perplexity, you can master the

fundamentals that work across all AI

power search. You're not just optimizing

for one platform. You're getting ahead

of where the entire industry is moving.

There's a specific type of person who

uses Perplexity, and they're exactly who

you want as a customer. People using

Perplexity stick around way longer on

regular than Google style search. A

typical Google search visit is under 2

minutes, but on Perplexity, people spend

anywhere from 11 minutes to over 23

minutes in one session. They also click

through to about four to five pages each

time, and less than half leave right

away. That means people aren't just

glancing at the results, they're

exploring, reading, and engaging with

the answers they get. But here's what

those numbers really tell us. When

someone opens Perplexity, they're not in

browsing mode. They're in research mode.

They're trying to solve a specific

problem or make a specific decision.

These are the people who are further

along in their buyer journey. They're

not just learning about a problem. They

know they have a problem and they're

actively looking for solutions. So,

here's how this changes your content

strategy. Instead of creating content

for casual browsers, you need to create

content for decision makers who are

actively researching solutions. Don't

write 10 marketing tools you should know

about. Right? How to choose marketing

automation software when you're scaling

from 1 million to 10 million ARR. The

person reading that second article,

they're probably ready to buy something.

And that's exactly the type of traffic

Perplexity sends you.

Perplexity doesn't just answer

questions, it builds trust through

radical transparency. Here's something

fascinating that happened to me a few

months ago. A potential client reached

out and said, "I saw Perplexity cited

your content when I was researching

marketing strategies." If an AI trust

your expertise enough to reference you,

you must know what you're talking about.

That's when it hit me. Being cited by

Perplexity isn't just about traffic,

it's about credibility. When someone

asks perplexity a question, they're

getting answers along with numbered

citations showing exactly where each

piece of information came from. If

you're cited, you're automatically

positioned as a credible source. And

it's not just potential customers who

see these citations. Journalists use

Perplexi to research stories. Bloggers

use it to fact check their content.

Content creators use it to find expert

sources. So, when you get cited, you're

reaching both buyers and amplifiers.

This citation effect compounds over

time. The more you get cited by AI

platforms, the more authoritative you

become in your field. It's creating a

new type of a SEO flywheel. So, here's

how to start building citation

authority. Every piece of content you

create needs to answer a specific

question that your ideal customers are

actually asking. And it needs to be so

well researched and authoritative that

an AI would feel confident citing it.

Don't just hedge with maybe or it

depends. Give clear, confident answers

backed by evidence. That evidence should

come from authoritative sources,

multiple credible articles, or your own

firsthand experience and data, and

explain what that evidence actually

means so the reader understands the so

what behind it.

[Music]

Small blogs are crushing major news

outlets at getting AI citations, and I'm

about to show you the exact blueprint

they're using. Look at this data. Across

Google AI, Chat, GPTM, Perplexi, blogs

dominate citations. We're talking about

small business blogs getting cited more

often than CNN and other major

publications. And when you look

specifically at Perplexity, blogs get

33% of all citations compared to just

news sites at 24%. Here's what I

discovered when I tested this out with

my clients. We took a piece of content

and we structured it using what I called

question, answer evidence format. Within

two weeks, that single piece was being

cited by Perplexity. This completely

flips everything we knew about

authority. AI platforms don't care about

your domain authority. They care about

how useful and structured your content

is. So, here's your fivestep blueprint.

First, use the question answer evidence

structure. Turn every major section into

a specific question your customers ask.

Then, give a direct answer followed by

supporting data. Second, make everything

scannable. Use clear headings, numbered

lists, FAQ sections so AI can easily

pull quotes from your content. Third,

create your own data whenever possible.

Survey your customers, compile industry

stats, and use your own analysis. My

team and I at NP Digital are literally

publishing a new study every single day.

And guess what? We're getting cited

constantly because AI loves our original

resource. And it doesn't have to cost a

lot. You can do it by running a survey

to your website audience or even your

social media audience. Fourth, write

like people talk. Use conversational

language that mirrors how people

actually speak. For example, instead of

email marketing best practices, write,

"What's the best way to set up email

automation for my online store?" And

fifth, show up where your audience hangs

out. Answer questions on Reddit and

Quora. Respond to reviews and engage in

discussions. perplexity notices when

you're being helpful in real

conversations. The beautiful thing is

this works across every AI platform

because they're all moving towards the

same citationbased model. Now, before I

show you the key part of the strategy

that puts it all together, let me

quickly mention something. If you're

watching this and thinking, "Okay, this

sounds great, but I don't have the time

to figure this all out myself." I get

it. There's actually a lot more depth

and nuance to this than what I can cover

in just one video. My agency specializes

in LLM optimization or AI SEO or GEO,

whatever you want to call it. And that

pretty much means that we specialize in

getting your businesses found and

recommended by AI tools like Perplexity,

Chad GPT, and Google's AI search. We

develop proprietary methods for content

structuring, citation building, and

authority development that frankly most

agencies don't even know exists yet. You

can save months of trial and error and

just hire us to implement this for you.

Just go to npdigital.com and we'll show

you exactly how we can get you the

results. All right, now back to the key

part of this strategy that makes it all

work together.

Instead of optimizing for traffic, I

started optimizing for buyer intent and

everything changed. Last year, I had two

pieces of content performing very

differently. The first one was getting

roughly 10,000 visitors a month from

Google, but those visitors were spending

30 seconds on the page and bouncing.

Zero conversions. The second piece was

sending a bit less than 400 visitors a

month, mostly from AI platforms like

Perplexity and Chat GBT. But here's the

crazy part. Those 400 or so visitors

generated more leads and sales than the

10,000 plus from Google. Perplexity

users are self- selecting for higher

buyer intent and high influence. These

are business decision makers with

budgets, but also journalists and

content creators who shape industry

conversations. So when you get cited,

you're hitting a double multiplier

effect. You're reaching people who are

ready to buy and people who are ready to

amplify your message. Stop creating

content for people who might be

interested in someday. Start creating

content for people who are ready to buy

right now and are ready to share right

now. Write for specific scenarios and

use cases. Include quotable stats and

expert insights that content creators

can reference. Because when you optimize

for buyer intent plus amplification

potential, you get fewer visitors, but

those visitors are either going to

become customers or become megaphones

for your brand. Look, if you've ever

felt like you've missed the boat on SEO

traffic, like Google got too

competitive, too expensive, or too hard

to crack, then this AI search revolution

is an incredible opportunity for you.

We're not just waiting on Google

anymore. Just like how the average

person uses 6.6 six social networks per

month according to Sprout Social. People

are using perplexity, chat, GPT, Claude,

Copilot, and dozens of AI platforms to

find information and that's creating

plenty of new opportunities for people

who understand how to optimize for this

new world. The early days of any

platform are always the best time to get

in. And right now, we're in the early

days of AI search. If you want to learn

how to optimize for AI search across all

these platforms, watch this video next

and I'll show you the complete strategy

of what works everywhere. And if you

just need help for someone to do it all

for you, check out npdigital.com.