Why it shows up in your week
llms.txt helps AI agents find the pages you want cited instead of inventing a path through thin or outdated URLs. It is editorial guidance for machines, written in plain text.
In plain language
Publish /llms.txt at the domain root. List the pages that define the company, services, and key terms, plus any notes about authorship or preferred citations.
It does not replace robots.txt, an XML sitemap, or clear on-page definitions. It reduces guesswork when an agent decides what to read next.
Facts worth keeping
Last reviewed
- Type
- Machine-readable editorial map for AI agents
- Location
- /llms.txt at the site root
- Format
- Plain text (not HTML, not robots.txt)
- Typical contents
- Brand name, preferred citation, priority URLs, pages to skip
- Does not replace
- robots.txt, XML sitemap, or clear on-page definitions
- Related work
- AEO, AI citations, entity SEO, schema markup
Not the same as
- robots.txtrobots.txt controls crawler access rules. llms.txt is editorial guidance about which pages matter to cite.
- XML sitemapA sitemap lists URLs for discovery. llms.txt prioritises the pages you want agents to treat as source of truth.
- A Google ranking factorllms.txt guides AI agents. Classic Google rankings still depend on crawlability, content, and authority signals.
Where it bites
llms.txt bites when agents keep citing a stale blog post or a competitor because your strongest pages were never listed. Founders feel it when buyers quote the wrong source in a ChatGPT answer.
What to check
- Does /llms.txt exist and load as plain text without a login?
- Are the listed URLs canonical, indexable, and still the best answer pages?
- Does the file name the brand, preferred citation, and pages to ignore?
Common questions
What is llms.txt?
llms.txt is a plain-text file at the site root that guides AI agents toward the pages and citation notes that matter most.
Does llms.txt improve Google rankings?
No. It is guidance for AI agents and answer systems. Google rankings still depend on crawlability, content quality, and classic SEO signals.
What should you put in llms.txt first?
Start with the homepage, core service pages, and a few definitional pages that answer buyer questions cleanly enough to cite.