Sarah Berry is a Lead Web Marketing Consultant at WebFX. With more than 10,000 hours of experience, she offers practical insights and strategies you can use to grow your digital revenue. When she isn’t polishing her Time Magazine Person of the Year Award, she’s spending time with her flock of ducks.
What do Indeed, PMG, and Whole Foods have in common? They all advertise on Perplexity, one of the first AI-powered answer engines to introduce paid advertising. Discover the ins and outs of Perplexity advertising now!
What are Perplexity ads?
Perplexity ads are text-based ads that appear as sponsored questions or suggestions and use a cost-per-mille (CPM) pricing model. Unlike other ads, clicking these ads continues the AI-generated conversation in Perplexity.
Where do ads appear on Perplexity?
Ads can appear in two places on Perplexity:
Related questions (at the bottom of the response)
Sidebar (to the right of the response)
All ads are labeled as “Sponsored.”
How do paid ads work on Perplexity?
How paid ads work on Perplexity is different from more traditional ad networks, like Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising. In fact, Perplexity’s AI-first approach hints at what networks like Google Ads are pushing towards.
Here’s a rundown:
AI generates the ad copy based on the conversation’s context
All ads are marked as “Sponsored”
Clicking an ad generates a response vs. a visit to the advertiser’s website
Advertisers pay per 1,000 impressions versus clicks
Advertisers will not have access to user information
How much do Perplexity ads cost?
Perplexity uses a cost-per-mille pricing model, meaning advertisers pay for every 1,000 impressions. So far, advertisers have reported varying CPM rates, ranging from $30 – $60.
Advertising is limited to Perplexity’s current brand and agency partners, in part because the advertising platform is still undergoing development. Unlike other platforms, Perplexity aims to rebuild the digital advertising model.
Insights from Perplexity
Taz PatelHead of Advertising & Shopping, Perplexity
“When we think about impressions, Google and Amazon [already] have that scale, but we’re not trying to say, we have this programmatic or bidding ad system. We’re trying to redefine this and do it from scratch.”
Who should advertise on Perplexity?
Companies across business models, from business-to-business (B2B) to business-to-consumer (B2C), should consider advertising on Perplexity if their target audience aligns with Perplexity’s makeup, which is seen as:
More educated (most have a college education)
More affluent (most are considered high-income)
Keep in mind that just because your audience doesn’t make up the majority of Perplexity users, it doesn’t mean they’re not there — answer engines like Perplexity are growing rapidly, along with their audiences.
Why advertise on Perplexity?
There are a few reasons to consider advertising on Perplexity, including:
Brand awareness
When it comes to its advertising options, Perplexity offers an outlet for building brand awareness, which is critical for businesses looking to grow their market share, whether as a startup or established brand.
Messaging
You also have the chance to create better, more personalized messaging with AI. Instead of spending hours researching what different audience segments need to hear, AI can do it for you based on the user and the conversation.
Perplexity places its ads in one of its most-used features: Related questions. According to Perplexity, 40% of its queries come from users clicking on Related questions, giving advertisers a prime spot to reach searchers.
First-to-market advantage
Perplexity is an unsaturated marketplace when it comes to advertising.
Companies that opt to advertise on the answer engine (whether through an agency partner or the brand itself) have the chance to capitalize on an empty space.
How to appear on Perplexity without ads
With its current brand and agency partner program, not all companies can advertise on Perplexity. There is an alternative, though, and that’s OmniSEO™, which helps businesses:
Improve their visibility in Perplexity responses
Track their (and their competitor’s) visibility in Perplexity responses
This approach helps brands appear in Perplexity answers and get some of the benefits of advertising, from improved online visibility to greater brand awareness.
Skip the waitlist for Perplexity ads
Looking for an “in” to Perplexity ads? You’ve got it.
At WebFX, our award-winning team helps businesses across marketplaces and industries appear in responses across answer engines like Perplexity, ChatGPT, and AI Overviews — with and without ads.
Sarah Berry is a Lead Web Marketing Consultant at WebFX. With more than 10,000 hours of experience, she offers practical insights and strategies you can use to grow your digital revenue. When she isn’t polishing her Time Magazine Person of the Year Award, she’s spending time with her flock of ducks.
