For years, the robots.txt file has been the standard way of telling Google what it may and may not crawl on your site. llms.txt is its younger cousin: a file designed so that generative AI models (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and the rest) quickly understand who you are and what you offer, without having to crawl and interpret your whole website.
What it is exactly
It's a plain text file, hosted at the root of your domain (yourdomain.com/llms.txt), summarising in clear language what your business is, what services you offer and which pages best explain you. It isn't an official standard imposed by anyone — it's an emerging convention that more and more models are starting to take into account.
What it's genuinely for
- ✓It makes it easier for an AI model to understand your business without having to “guess” it by wading through menus and banners.
- ✓It reduces the risk of AI describing what you do badly, or mixing your information up with a competitor's.
- ✓It's one more piece (not the only one) within a broader GEO strategy.
What goes inside, in practice
- A clear description of the businessIn a couple of sentences, with no empty adjectives: what you do and who for.
- A list of your main services or productsWith links to the matching pages on your site.
- Contact details and locationSo that AI doesn't have to infer them, or get them wrong.
llms.txt isn't magic. It's making it easy for whoever already wants to recommend you.
What it won't do for you
No hype: having an llms.txt doesn't guarantee you'll appear in ChatGPT's answers. It's one piece of a broader GEO strategy — alongside clear content, authority and a coherent presence online — not a magic shortcut on its own.
Frequently asked questions
What is the llms.txt file?
A proposed text file at the root of your website that summarises, in plain language and for AI models, who you are and which of your pages matter. The idea is similar to robots.txt, but instead of saying what may be crawled, it points to which content is the good stuff.
Does Google use llms.txt?
No. Google has said its search engine doesn't take it into account, so don't expect any classic ranking effect from adding it. Its value lies with other AI tools that do read it, and in the fact that building it forces you to sort out which of your content genuinely matters.
So is it worth adding?
It costs little and does no harm, so yes, as a small bet. What you shouldn't do is sell it as a ranking lever or let it distract from what does work: content that answers well and a website Google can crawl.
Where does it go and what's inside it?
At the root of the domain, like robots.txt. Inside, a short description of what your business is and a list of links to your important pages, each with a line explaining what's in it.
Does it replace the sitemap?
No. The sitemap tells search engines which URLs exist; llms.txt tries to explain which ones matter and why. They're different things, and the sitemap remains the essential one of the two.
Want to know what AI is saying about your business today?
In the free audit we ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini about your sector and check whether you have an llms.txt.