llms.txt is a proposed text file, published at the site root, that summarises what the brand does and points to its most important pages. It isn’t an official standard and, to date, none of the major engines has announced that it uses it as a ranking factor. It takes a few minutes to create and has no downside.
What it is
A Markdown file at yourdomain.com/llms.txt, with the brand name, a short summary and a list of links to the main pages. The idea is to give language models a clean, short version of the site, without menus or ads.
What we know about how it’s used
- It’s a community proposal, not a standard approved by any official body.
- Some crawlers read the file, but reading it isn’t the same as using it to decide answers.
- None of the major engines has announced that it uses it to choose sources or brands.
So is it worth it?
Yes, as a cheap step: it forces you to write a clear summary of your brand and it does no harm. But it doesn’t replace what actually carries weight: clear pages on each topic, AI crawlers allowed in robots.txt and external sources that talk about your brand.
Do
- Summarise the brand in two or three factual sentences.
- Link to your product, pricing and FAQ pages.
- Keep the file up to date when the site changes.
Avoid
- Stuff the file with keywords.
- Expect results just from publishing it.
- Block AI crawlers in robots.txt and rely on llms.txt.
Create yours in minutes with the free llms.txt generator and check your crawlers with the robots.txt checker.
- llms.txt is useful and cheap, but it isn’t a known ranking factor.
- First make sure AI crawlers can read your site.
- Clear pages for each topic carry more weight than any file.
See how AI talks about your brand on every topic.