On this page
Key takeaways
- llms.txt is a proposed plain-text file at the root of a website that gives AI tools a short summary and a list of key pages.
- Adoption has grown quickly, but no major AI company has said it uses llms.txt to decide what appears in answers.
- Server-log research found that almost all llms.txt files received no requests from AI tools.
- It is cheap to add and harmless, but it is not a substitute for crawlable pages, clear facts and mentions on trusted sites.
What llms.txt is#
llms.txt is a proposal, first published in 2024, for a Markdown file placed at yourdomain.com/llms.txt. It gives a short description of the site and links to the most useful pages, written for AI tools rather than people. A companion file, llms-full.txt, can hold the full text of key pages.
The idea is sensible: web pages are full of menus, scripts and layout, and a clean summary could make it easier for an AI tool to understand a site.
What the evidence says#
As of mid-2026:
- Adoption is growing. An Originality.ai study tracking more than 3 million websites found llms.txt files on about 36,000 sites in May 2026, up from about 4,000 a year earlier.
- Few AI tools request the files. Server-log research by Ahrefs across 137,000 domains found 97% of llms.txt files received zero requests in May 2026. AI tools made up a very small share of the requests that did happen.
- No major AI company has confirmed using it for answers. Google has said llms.txt does not affect Search. OpenAI and Anthropic point site owners to robots.txt for crawler control. Each of these companies publishes an llms.txt for its own developer documentation, which is a different use.
These findings were reported by PPC Land in July 2026 (link below).
Should you add one?#
Our view: add one if it is easy, but do not expect it to change whether AI names you.
- Cost: low. It is one text file.
- Risk: none that we know of.
- Likely benefit today: small. AI coding tools and some agents may read it, and the situation could change if AI companies adopt it.
We publish an llms.txt on this site for those reasons. It is not where we would start.
What to do first instead#
- Make sure AI search crawlers can reach your pages. See which AI crawlers to allow.
- Make your facts clear and consistent, with schema markup. See Schema markup for AI search.
- Publish pages that answer the questions buyers ask AI.
- Earn mentions on the sites AI tools cite.
- Measure whether AI names you, with a free AI visibility check.
Sources#
Questions and answers
Is llms.txt an official standard?
No. It is a community proposal. No standards body has adopted it, and the main AI companies have not committed to using it for their answers.
Does llms.txt replace robots.txt?
No. robots.txt controls which crawlers may visit your site. llms.txt only offers a summary. AI companies point site owners to robots.txt for crawler control.
What should go in an llms.txt file?
A one-paragraph description of the company, then short lists of links to your most important pages, such as products, pricing, documentation and guides, each with a one-line description.
B2B marketers who build tools to measure how ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity talk about companies. About us