Perplexity’s Discover Pages Reveal Bold Strategy Beyond SEO
Perplexity’s Discover feed sparked SEO buzz, but the real story is far more interesting.
2 min readHighlights
Perplexity’s Discover feed isn’t programmatic SEO—it’s a user-first approach.
Discover pages lack optimized titles, meta tags, or unique descriptions.
The strategy proves that growth can thrive beyond Google rankings.
Image source: Image created by Martech Scholars_Perplexity Discover Pages User-First Strategy.
A recent LinkedIn post put the spotlight on Perplexity’s Discover feed, a hub for trending topics offering short summaries with links to full stories. SEOs quickly called it “programmatic SEO on steroids”, praising it as a clever tactic for traffic generation. But is that really the case?
The Viral Discussion
The argument was simple: for every trending news item, Perplexity creates a page, some of which appear in Google search results. Many professionals applauded this as smart programmatic SEO, though some warned Google might eventually clamp down on it.
But here’s the twist—there’s no SEO involved.
Why This Isn’t Programmatic SEO
A closer look at the source code of Discover pages tells a different story:
- Every page shares the same title tag:
<title>Perplexity</title> - Identical meta description: html
<meta name="description" content="Perplexity is a free AI-powered answer engine that provides accurate, trusted, and real-time answers to any question." /> - Each page uses the same canonical tag pointing to perplexity.ai’s homepage.
Clearly, these pages weren’t built for search engines—they’re built for people.
What Perplexity Is Actually Doing
Perplexity isn’t chasing Google traffic. Its Discover feed is about creating a destination for users, offering real-time answers and trending updates—a strategy bigger than SEO.
Any Google ranking is purely incidental, not intentional.
The Surprising SEO Insight
The real takeaway? Sometimes the best growth strategy starts outside the SEO playbook.
Traditional SEO imposes arbitrary rules:
- Avoid nofollow links
- Ignore low-authority domains
- Discount offline marketing efforts
But brand-building and audience trust often outperform rankings. User-first strategies can generate engagement signals Google values—without relying on keyword tricks.
