WordPress has revealed a new partnership with Perplexity, an innovative AI-powered answer engine. This collaboration, announced on July 30, 2024, aims to enhance content visibility for WordPress.com users while potentially opening up new revenue streams.
Perplexity, a fusion of search engines, online encyclopedias, and AI-driven conversation platforms, offers users a novel approach to web research. The service provides real-time answers to queries with footnotes, live updates, and links to original sources. This partnership will see content from WordPress.com's vast network of bloggers and websites integrated into Perplexity's "Keep Exploring" section on their Discover pages.
For WordPress.com users, this integration presents a significant opportunity. Perplexity's search algorithm will index their articles, potentially appearing as answers in the engine's results and Discover feed. This increased visibility could drive substantial traffic to WordPress.com-hosted websites.
Perhaps most intriguingly, the partnership introduces a revenue-sharing model. WordPress.com users whose content is referenced in Perplexity search results that generate advertising revenue will be eligible for a share of those earnings. While specific details of the revenue distribution mechanism are yet to be disclosed, WordPress has committed to providing more information as the partnership develops.
This move aligns with Automattic's (WordPress.com's parent company) core value of democratizing access to knowledge and media. By partnering with Perplexity, WordPress.com joins an elite group of media outlets, including TIME, Der Spiegel, Fortune, The Texas Tribune, and Entrepreneur, in contributing to this cutting-edge answer engine.
However, WordPress.com is mindful of user preferences. The company has emphasized that users who wish to opt out of content sharing will have the ability to do so while maintaining control over their content's distribution.
It's worth noting that WordPress.com views this partnership as an experiment. The company states that if the collaboration proves unsuitable or fails to serve its users effectively, it will reassess the arrangement to ensure alignment with its mission.
This partnership represents a significant step in the evolving relationship between content creators, AI technologies, and information discovery platforms. As AI continues to reshape how we access and consume information online, collaborations like this could become increasingly common.
For WordPress.com users, this partnership offers increased exposure and new monetization opportunities. For Perplexity, it provides access to a vast pool of diverse, quality content. Observing its impact on both platforms and the broader digital content ecosystem will be interesting as this collaboration unfolds.