LLMs.txt: what is it actually for? A plain-language guide
The llms.txt file offers AI models a clean summary of your site. What it really does, what it does not do, and whether you should bother with it now.
Ever since AI assistants started answering the questions people used to type into Google, one idea has been going around: hand those models a file that spells out what a site is about. That is what `llms.txt` proposes. Here is what it actually does — and what it does not.
The idea
`llms.txt` is a text file placed at the root of a site, like `robots.txt`. It blocks nothing and allows nothing. It summarizes: here is what this site is, here are its important pages, here is where to find what.
The thinking behind it: a modern web page is cluttered with menus, banners and scripts. A model reading it has to guess what matters. The file spares it that work.
What it looks like
Markdown, very plain:
- a title: the name of the site
- one sentence saying what you will find there
- sections with links to the important pages, each with a short description
That is all. No code, no configuration. A file you write by hand in twenty minutes.
What to know before getting excited
Three things, and they matter.
It is not an official standard. It is a proposal, picked up by part of the ecosystem. No major provider has announced it uses the file systematically.
It has no effect on classic Google search. None, positive or negative. If someone sells you `llms.txt` as an SEO technique, be suspicious.
It replaces nothing. A badly structured site with a lovely `llms.txt` is still a badly structured site.
So should you do it?
Yes, if two conditions hold: your site has content someone might want to cite, and you have twenty minutes. The cost is zero, the risk is zero, and if the practice catches on, you will be ready.
No, if the basics are still unsettled. An `llms.txt` on a site whose pages are not even indexed by Google is decorating a room before the roof is on.
The order of priority, honestly
- Are your pages indexed? (Search Console)
- Do your titles clearly say what each page is about?
- Does your content actually answer a question?
- Is your structured data in place?
- Then, `llms.txt`.
The good news: the first four also serve AI models. A site that is clear to Google is a site that is clear to them. The file is one more shortcut — useful, not decisive.