In short
llms.txt is a short Markdown file at yourdomain.com/llms.txt that tells AI tools who you are and which pages matter. Some tools read it, none are required to, and it will not get you recommended by AI on its own. It takes about ten minutes, so it is worth doing as a tidy front door.
You keep hearing that you need to be found by AI search, and you want one practical thing to do this week. llms.txt is a small one. I will tell you what it is, what it is not, and why I would still add it. I run Marketive Hub on my own, and my own site has one.
What llms.txt is
llms.txt is a proposed convention: a plain text file, written in Markdown, that sits at the root of your website and lists your key pages for AI tools. It opens at yourdomain.com/llms.txt. Jeremy Howard of Answer.AI proposed it in September 2024. Inside, you give a name, one sentence about what you do, and a short list of the pages that explain your business best, each with a few words about what is on it.
The idea is simple. An AI assistant that wants to understand your site does not have to guess which of your 300 pages matter. You have told it. Some AI tools and developers already use it. It is not a standard that every assistant follows.
A tiny example
This is what one looks like for a made-up plumbing firm (example, not a real business):
# Northside Plumbing > Emergency and planned plumbing for homes and small offices in Leeds. Family-run since 2009. ## Key pages - [Services](https://example.com/services/): what we fix and what we charge - [Prices](https://example.com/prices/): fixed prices for common jobs - [Contact](https://example.com/contact/): phone, address and opening hours ## Optional - [Blog](https://example.com/blog/): guides for homeowners
That is the whole format. A title, a one-line summary, a list of key pages, and an optional list of less important ones.
Free tool
llms.txt generator. Answer a few questions and get a ready file to copy or download. It runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
What llms.txt is not
- It is not robots.txt. robots.txt tells crawlers which parts of a site they may visit. llms.txt is a summary written for AI assistants. They do different jobs, and you can have both.
- It is not a ranking trick. I have no evidence that adding the file moves anyone up in any assistant's answers, and I will not pretend I do.
- It is not a promise. I know of no big assistant that has promised to follow it. Treat it as something a tool may read, not something it must.
How AI assistants really choose who to name
I cannot see inside any of them, so this is what is likely, not a formula. They seem to lean on the same things people do. Pages that answer the question clearly. What other sites say about you. Details that match everywhere: your name, what you sell, where you work. And whether the page can be read at all, because a page that needs a login or hides its text in images gives them nothing to quote.
Here is a real example of what moves the needle. For EuroFoodHub, a B2B food marketplace, non-branded organic traffic grew 238% in nine months. That came from rebuilding the site around topic clusters, writing 40+ articles and fixing technical issues. It did not come from a text file. How we measure explains what that number counts, and the EuroFoodHub case study has the full story.
So llms.txt is a front door. The pages behind it still have to be good.
How to write a good one
- Start with the name and one honest sentence. What you sell, for whom, where. No slogans.
- List 5 to 15 pages. The ones that explain your business best: services, prices, about, contact, your best guides.
- Describe each page in a few plain words. What a reader finds there, not a keyword list.
- Use full addresses. Every link starts with https:// and must really open.
- Keep it true. If you remove or rename a page, update the file.
One last point on the writing. Resist the urge to stuff the file with keywords or to list every page on the site. A long list defeats the purpose, because the point is to say what matters. Describe your pages the way you would explain them to a new colleague: plainly, and in a few words.
Where to put it and how to check it works
Upload the file to the root of your site, so it opens at yourdomain.com/llms.txt. On most website builders that means uploading a file named llms.txt, or adding a redirect to one. Then check three things:
- Type the address into a browser. You should see plain text, not a download prompt and not a styled page.
- The address should open without a redirect chain and without a login.
- Your robots.txt should not block it.
Who should bother, and who can skip it
If your site has a handful of pages and they are clear, the file adds little. A visitor, human or machine, can find everything in two clicks. It earns its place when you have many pages, several services, or a blog that has grown messy. There, a short list of the pages that really matter saves a reader from guessing. It also works as a test for you. If you cannot pick ten pages that explain your business, the site has a bigger problem than a missing text file.
You can see mine. It lists my three service areas, the apps, the free tools, the services, and key pages such as the blog, the FAQ and a page on how I measure my numbers. It took one sitting and I update it when I add a page. That is the level of effort I would suggest for you too.
Your next step
Do the file, then find out where you stand. The free check on my home page asks an AI the question your buyers ask and shows who it names instead of you. Or try the AI-search checker. If you want the bigger picture, GEO and AI search optimisation covers what to fix on the pages themselves, and local SEO meets AI search is the version for small local firms.
Questions
Do I need an llms.txt file?
No. Nothing breaks without one. I would add it because it is cheap, it forces you to say clearly what your business does, and some tools may use it. Do not expect it to change your results by itself.
Is llms.txt the same as robots.txt?
No. robots.txt controls which parts of your site crawlers may visit. llms.txt is a summary for AI assistants that lists the pages worth reading. They are separate files and you can have both.
Will llms.txt hurt my Google rankings?
I know of no reason it would. It is a small text file that sits beside your pages and does not change them.
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