Perplexity Pages showing in Google AI Overviews, featured snippets

AI-powered search engine Perplexity introduced a new product – Perplexity Pages – to select free and paid users on May 30. Content from these Pages has started appearing in Google’s AI Overviews and featured snippets.

What are Perplexity Pages. Perplexity called it a way to share your knowledge with the world, via in-depth articles, detailed reports or informative guides. You can even select the audience type (beginner, advanced, anyone) when you have AI generate your content. You can also add sections, videos, images and more.

As TechCrunch explained it further:

• “All these pages are publishable and also searchable through Google. You can share the link to these pages with other users. They can ask follow-up questions on the topic as well. What’s more, users can also turn their existing conversation threads into pages with the click of a button.”

Pages in Google. These pages are being indexed by Google and included as citations in AI Overviews and appearing in featured snippets.

Here are examples showing this, shared on X by Kristi Hines:

Spam? This definitely seems like a case of one search engine spamming another search engine. Or, as Ryan Jones put it on X, “An AI overview of an AI overview in search results pages in my search results page.”

Aside from that absurdity, Perplexity Pages are ripe for abuse by those who will probably try to use it to hack their way into AI Overviews.

A big question is how Google will handle this new AI-generated content in its Search results long-term. This tactic could be short-lived, as pointed out in an X thread, started by Glenn Gabe. From the thread:

• Shared searches used to be indexed in Google, but the March 2024 core update hammered these pages.
• This could be comparable to LinkedIn Collaborative Articles, which surged briefly before a huge drop.

Perplexity’s announcement. Introducing Perplexity Pages