GEOllms.txtTechnical SEO
What is llms.txt: format, example and whether your site needs it
// In short
llms.txt is a Markdown text file at the root of a website that summarizes the business and links to its most useful pages, so an AI model can find them quickly. It is a 2024 proposal by Jeremy Howard, not a standard. Google Search does not use it: it is cheap to create, but it does not replace SEO.
If someone told you that you need an llms.txt file to show up in ChatGPT, this guide is for you. It covers what the file is, where it came from, what Google officially says, who reads it today and how to create one in an afternoon, with a template you can copy and adapt.
What is llms.txt?
It is a plain text file, written in Markdown, published at the root of a website (for example, yourdomain.com/llms.txt). Think of it as an introduction card for language models: it explains what the business is in a few lines and lists links to the pages worth reading.
The reasoning is simple. Web pages are built for people, with menus, banners, scripts and design. An AI model has a hard time separating useful information from all of that, and it can only read so much per request. An llms.txt file saves it the effort with a clean, organized version.
Who proposed it, and what is its status?
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | Jeremy Howard (co-founder of fast.ai and Answer.AI) |
| Published | September 3, 2024, at llmstxt.org |
| Current version | v2, released in August 2026 (changes) |
| Status | A proposal open to community input, not a formal standard |
| Most common use | Software documentation read by coding agents |
Version 2 added two useful things. An llms.txt can also live in a subfolder (for example /docs/llms.txt) and covers the pages under that path. It also recommends linking each page to its Markdown version through standard link relations. And it removed the special technical meaning of the "Optional" section, which is now just a convention for secondary links.
What does an llms.txt file look like?
The proposal defines a fixed order of Markdown sections:
- An H1 heading with the name of the site or business. This is the only required part.
- A blockquote summary (a line starting with
>) covering the essentials in one or two sentences. - Optional paragraphs or lists with extra context, without headings.
- H2 sections with lists of links. Each item has a link in
[name](url)format and, optionally, a note after a colon.
By convention, an H2 section named "Optional" groups secondary links that an agent can skip when it needs to be brief.
llms.txt vs robots.txt vs sitemap.xml
All three sit at the root of a site and are often confused. Each one solves a different problem:
| robots.txt | sitemap.xml | llms.txt | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Tell bots what they may crawl | List the URLs you want indexed | Summarize the site and point an AI to what matters |
| Status | Formal standard (RFC 9309, 2022) | Protocol documented at sitemaps.org | Community proposal (2024) |
| Format | Text rules | XML | Markdown |
| Allows or blocks access? | Yes | No | No |
| Used by Google Search? | Yes | Yes | No |
| Who reads it | Search engines and AI bots | Search engines | Agents and assistants that choose to |
The practical takeaway: if you want an AI bot to stay out of your site, or to come in, you set that in robots.txt. llms.txt grants and removes no permissions.
What is llms-full.txt?
It is a companion file that bundles the full content of your pages into one document instead of just linking to them. A model can then read everything at once rather than following link after link.
One detail matters: llms-full.txt is not part of the llmstxt.org proposal. It was popularized by documentation platforms such as Mintlify, which generate it automatically. It makes sense when your content fits in a reasonably sized file; on a site with hundreds of pages it becomes too heavy to be useful.
Does Google use llms.txt? What Google officially says
No. And there is no need to guess, because Google has put it in writing:
- Its guide Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search, last updated on July 10, 2026, says you do not need to create special AI text files or Markdown versions, because Google Search does not use them. It adds that you are free to maintain an llms.txt for other services, since "Google Search ignores them". Its summary lists AI text files among the tactics you can skip.
- The page AI features and your website, about AI Overviews and AI Mode, states there are no additional requirements to appear in those features: the usual SEO practices apply.
- In April 2025, Google's John Mueller compared llms.txt to the old keywords meta tag, as reported by Search Engine Journal on April 17, 2025. His point: if a system still has to check your site to confirm what the file claims, the file adds little.
One nuance causes confusion: Chrome does check llms.txt. Lighthouse includes an agentic browsing audit that verifies the file, if present, can be fetched without a server error. If the file does not exist, the audit is marked "not applicable". That is a browser-side technical check, not a ranking signal in Google Search.
Who reads llms.txt today?
What can be verified as of October 12, 2026:
- Coding agents and documentation tools. This is where the proposal has the most traction. OpenAI, Anthropic and Google publish llms.txt files for their developer docs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini).
- Assistants that browse when a user asks them to. If someone gives your domain to an assistant with web access, it may find the file and use it as a map.
What cannot be claimed: we found no official announcement from OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity or Google stating that their search products use llms.txt to decide whom to cite. These companies publishing the file on their own docs does not mean their crawlers read it on your site. Any article promising ChatGPT citations thanks to llms.txt is making a claim with no public backing today.
Does your website need it? Cost and benefit for a small business
Cost: low. A minimal file takes less than an hour to write and uploads like any other file. The real work is keeping it current when your services change.
Benefit: uncertain. It does not move your Google rankings, and there is no official evidence that it increases mentions in ChatGPT or Perplexity. Its value lies in organizing your own information and serving the agents that do read it.
It is worth doing if:
- Your site already has the basics covered: sound technical SEO, clear content and consistent contact details.
- You sell software, publish documentation or run a catalog with many pages.
- You can spare 30 minutes a month to review it along with the rest of the site.
It can wait if:
- Your site still loads slowly, is not indexed or does not clearly explain what you sell. That work matters far more, both on Google and in AI answers.
In short: llms.txt does not replace SEO. It is a cheap add-on, not a strategy. To understand what actually influences AI answers, read what GEO and AEO are and how to appear in ChatGPT.
How to create an llms.txt file step by step
- Pick 5 to 15 key pages. Services, pricing or how to request a quote, FAQs, about us, contact. Leave out legal pages and old campaign pages.
- Write the summary in one or two sentences. What you do, for whom and where. Skip sales adjectives: an AI does not need them.
- Write one line per link. What the reader will find on that page.
- Save the file as
llms.txtin plain text with UTF-8 encoding. - Upload it to the root of your domain so it opens at
yourdomain.com/llms.txt. On WordPress you can upload it through your host's file manager, and plugins such as Yoast SEO can generate it automatically. - Check that it loads. Open it in a browser: you should see the text with no error. Lighthouse's audit checks this too.
- Schedule reviews. Whenever a service or URL changes, update the file.
A minimal example for a fictional business:
# Harbor Dental Studio
> Family and cosmetic dentistry clinic. Online booking, emergency appointments and payment plans.
We treat adults and children. Open Monday to Saturday.
## Services
- [General dentistry](https://example.com/general-dentistry): check-ups, cleanings and fillings.
- [Cosmetic dentistry](https://example.com/cosmetic): whitening, veneers and clear aligners.
- [Emergency care](https://example.com/emergency): same-day appointments and what to do before you arrive.
## Clinic
- [FAQ](https://example.com/faq): insurance, payment plans and first visit.
- [Contact](https://example.com/contact): address, phone and booking.
## Optional
- [Blog](https://example.com/blog): oral health guides.
The golden rule: everything the file says must also appear on your site. If your llms.txt promises something the website does not show, you confuse readers and drift toward what Google describes as showing machines and people different content.
How we did it at emignia.com
Our implementation. We publish a hand-written llms.txt with a summary of the agency, links to the Spanish, English and Portuguese versions, and one descriptive line for each service and blog post. We also generate an llms-full.txt automatically from the same content that powers our pages, so there is no duplicated text to fall out of date. And our robots.txt explicitly allows AI and search bots to crawl the site. We did not do this expecting a boost on Google, which has said it does not use the file. We did it because it is cheap and keeps our information organized for whoever looks it up.
What weighs most on your visibility, on Google and in AI answers, is still a fast, well-structured site with clear information. To see where yours stands, start with the free SEO audit, and if you want to work on SEO, GEO and AEO together, see how we approach it in our SEO service.
Frequently asked questions
What is llms.txt in simple terms?
It is a text file published at yourdomain.com/llms.txt with the company name, a short summary and a list of links to the important pages. It is written in Markdown so an AI model or agent can read it without processing menus, ads or code.
Does llms.txt replace robots.txt?
No. They do different jobs. robots.txt tells crawlers what they may visit and is a formal standard (RFC 9309). llms.txt only describes the site and suggests what to read; it neither allows nor blocks anything. To control an AI bot's access, use robots.txt.
Does Google use llms.txt for rankings or AI Overviews?
No. Google Search Central's official guide to generative AI features, last updated on July 10, 2026, states that Google Search ignores llms.txt files and that creating one will neither help nor harm your visibility in Search.
What is the difference between llms.txt and llms-full.txt?
llms.txt is a short index of links. llms-full.txt bundles the full content of the site into a single file. The second one is not part of the original proposal; it is a convention popularized by documentation platforms such as Mintlify.
How much effort does llms.txt take?
Very little up front: a minimal file takes under an hour to write if you already know which pages matter. The real cost is keeping it current when your services change. An outdated file hands old information to whoever reads it.
Can an llms.txt file hurt my website?
According to Google, it does not affect your rankings in Search. The only practical risk is publishing something in the file that your site does not say. Besides confusing readers, Google's John Mueller warned that such a mismatch resembles cloaking.
Sources
- Original proposal and version 2: llmstxt.org and changelog, Jeremy Howard.
- Google Search Central: Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search (last updated July 10, 2026).
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website.
- Search Engine Journal: Google says llms.txt comparable to keywords meta tag (April 17, 2025).
- Chrome for Developers: Lighthouse llms.txt audit.
- Mintlify: llms.txt and llms-full.txt documentation.
- Yoast: Yoast SEO llms.txt feature.
- IETF: RFC 9309, Robots Exclusion Protocol.
- Sitemaps protocol.
Information reviewed as of October 12, 2026.
