What does llms.txt do?
The file bundles links to your core pages in simple markdown, so a model can quickly understand your site's structure and key resources. The proposed specification at llmstxt.org describes a fixed format with a title, a short summary, and grouped links. The goal is to avoid noise and direct models directly to your best content.
What does an llms.txt look like?
| Part | Content |
|---|---|
| H1 title | The name of your site or brand |
| Summary | A short block quote about what you do |
| Sections with links | Grouped links to core pages |
| Optional block | Less important links, set aside |
Do you need llms.txt?
For the time being it is a supplement, not a condition. OpenAI does not list llms.txt as a requirement for ChatGPT Search. For visibility in ChatGPT, public HTML content, strong source pages, and OAI-SearchBot access are more important. llms.txt does not replace robots.txt, structured data and schema.org or proper what is SEO basis.
For Google Search, the demarcation is explicit: llms.txt does not help or harm your visibility and rankings. For Google AI Overviews and AI Mode indexing, snippet suitability, useful content and the usual SEO basics remain decisive.
Perplexity also does not document llms.txt as a requirement for inclusion or citation of public websites. For visibility in Perplexity, PerplexityBot access, reachable HTML, source quality, and auditable claims are more important.
How do you create an llms.txt?
You create a simple text file in markdown and place it at /llms.txt in the root of your domain. Start with a title and a brief summary of your site, then group links to your most important pages by theme below. Keep it concise and current.
llms.txt, robots.txt and sitemap.xml
| File | Goal |
|---|---|
| robots.txt | Controls which crawlers are allowed to retrieve what |
| sitemap.xml | List all your pages for search engines |
| llms.txt | Points AI models to your most important content |
How do you write an llms.txt?
In markdown, with a title, a short summary and grouped links. The proposed specification at llmstxt.org describes a fixed format. The file belongs in the root of your domain, like robots.txt, so it is reachable at yourdomain.com slash llms.txt.
| Part | Markdown | What belongs in it |
|---|---|---|
| Title | An H1 | The name of your site or brand |
| Summary | A blockquote | One sentence on what you do and for whom |
| Sections | H2 with a list of links | Your core pages, grouped by theme |
| Optional | An H2 named Optional | Links that matter less |
When is llms.txt worth considering?
- You have a lot of documentation and want to point a model at the right parts quickly.
- Your site has complicated navigation that buries the core pages.
- You want to state explicitly which pages you consider the canonical source.
- You will actually maintain the file, because an outdated list is worse than none.
That last point is the real cost. An llms.txt pointing at pages that no longer exist sends a worse signal than a site without the file.