Perplexity Shopping, Comet Plus and ads: what marketers need

#01What happened to Perplexity ads?

The same report said executives cited more than 100 million users and roughly $200 million in annualised revenue, with paid plans from $20 to $200 a month. Those are company statements, not audited figures.

Our view: treat "no ads" as current, not permanent. Recheck each quarter. For now, budget for earned visibility (content, PR, reviews) rather than paid placement.

#02How does Perplexity Shopping work?

For shopping-style questions such as "best noise-cancelling headphones under $300", Perplexity can show product cards with images, prices, key specs and merchant links, alongside a written answer with citations.

Perplexity has said product results aren't sponsored. Shopping also doesn't take a cut of transactions, according to the February 2026 reporting.

#03What is Instant Buy?

Instant Buy, launched with PayPal in November 2025, lets US users buy eligible products without leaving Perplexity. Key points from Perplexity's help centre and PayPal's announcement:

• Checkout runs through PayPal. The merchant remains the merchant of record and handles fulfilment, returns and customer service.
• US only, for physical goods priced in USD.
• Merchants join through Perplexity's free Merchant Program or through PayPal's store sync and agent-ready options.

Typical merchant requirements reported by third-party guides (confirm with Perplexity and PayPal before relying on them):

#04How can merchants improve their Shopping visibility?

1. Complete product feeds with accurate titles, prices, availability and images.
2. Product pages in HTML, with specs in tables and a visible price and availability.
3. Structured data (Product, Offer, AggregateRating) for consistency across engines (review and AggregateRating schema).
4. Third-party reviews and editorial coverage. Recommendation text cites them.
5. Clear "best for" positioning, so the product matches question intent ("for small apartments", "for runners").
6. Crawl access for PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User (lesson 14).

See also Perplexity shopping and product recommendations and AI shopping.

#05What is Comet Plus, and does it matter to marketers?

Comet Plus launched in August 2025 as a $5 a month subscription. It's now included with Pro and Max. Perplexity said:

• 80% of revenue goes to participating publishers, with the rest covering compute.
• Payments are allocated by engagement: human visits, citations in search results and agent actions.
• An initial $42.5 million pool was announced, as reported by Axios, Digiday and Press Gazette.

What this means for you:

#06What about B2B companies with no products to sell?

Shopping is consumer-focused. B2B software is recommended in normal answers, which cite reviews, comparisons and vendor pages. The levers are those in lessons 13-16: sources, access, formats and earned media.

#07Worked example: Ledgerline

Ledgerline is a fictional accounts-payable software company. Details are illustrative.

Ledgerline sells software, not physical goods, so Instant Buy doesn't apply. The team still reviewed the commercial surfaces.

Walkthrough

1. Checked the current state of ads in the Search Engine Land report and Perplexity's announcements.
2. Ran 10 buyer prompts to confirm no shopping cards appeared for its category.
3. Reallocated the "Perplexity ads" line in the budget to earned media.
4. Fixed the pricing page, since cost questions were common.
5. Set a quarterly check on ads and Shopping changes.

#08Common mistakes

• Budgeting for Perplexity ads. They don't exist now.
• Assuming publisher partners are favoured. There's no evidence.
• Feeds out of sync with pages. Price mismatches undermine trust.
• Ignoring reviews. Recommendation text leans on them.

#09Try it yourself

If you sell physical products in the US, check whether you meet the Instant Buy requirements and audit five product feed entries against their product pages. If you don't, run ten buyer prompts and note which attributes and sources drive recommendations in your category.

#10Quick quiz

1. Does Perplexity sell ads in answers today?

Answer: No. It phased out ads, as reported in February 2026.

2. Who is the merchant of record in Instant Buy?

Answer: The merchant.

3. What share of Comet Plus revenue goes to publishers?

Answer: 80%, according to Perplexity.

#11What should you check before the next lesson?

• No "Perplexity ads" line in your plan.
• Feeds and product pages match (if you sell products).
• A quarterly check of commercial surfaces is in the calendar.

Previous: The citation gap and earned media. Next: Track Perplexity referrals in GA4. Or return to the Perplexity for Marketers track. Related: How Perplexity chooses sources, The Comet browser, Agentic commerce.

#12Common questions

Can I advertise on Perplexity? Not currently. Perplexity tested sponsored follow-up questions from 2024, then phased out ads. Search Engine Land reported in February 2026 that it has no plans to bring them back.

How do products appear in Perplexity Shopping? Products are chosen for relevance to the question from Perplexity's index and merchant data. US merchants can apply to the Merchant Program or connect through PayPal so eligible products support Instant Buy.

What is Comet Plus? Comet Plus is a $5 a month subscription, included with Pro and Max, that gives subscribers access to participating publishers' content. Perplexity said 80% of revenue goes to publishers.