AI search

What is llms.txt, and should you add one to your site?

llms.txt is a proposed Markdown file, placed at a site's root as /llms.txt, that gives AI models and agents a short summary of the site and links to its most useful pages.

A short llms.txt

1# Harbour Physio
2> Physiotherapy clinic in Fremantle. Sports injuries, back pain and post-surgery rehab.
3## Services
4- [Sports injury physio](https://example.com/sports-injury): assessment and rehab plans
5## Optional
6- [Clinic history](https://example.com/about)

An illustration for a made-up clinic. Only the first line is required.

Where it comes from

The format was proposed on llmstxt.org in 2024, for a simple reason: web pages wrap their information in navigation, ads and scripts, and turning that back into clean text is hard for a model with limited room to read. The proposal, now in its second version, says thousands of sites publish the file and that Chrome's Lighthouse audits sites for one.

What goes in the file

Only the H1 with the site's name is required. After it comes a blockquote with a short summary, then sections under H2 headings, each a list of links with a note on what each page covers. A section named Optional holds links an agent can skip when it needs a shorter read.

Does it help you get cited?

It depends on who reads it. Coding agents and assistants that fetch documentation use it. Google's documentation for AI Overviews and AI Mode says you don't need new machine-readable files or AI text files to appear in them. So treat llms.txt as a cheap, useful summary for agents, not as a route into Google's AI answers.

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llms.txt: questions people ask

Does Google use llms.txt?

Not for its AI answers. Google's documentation says you don't need AI text files to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode.

Is llms.txt the same as robots.txt?

No. robots.txt tells crawlers which URLs they may fetch. llms.txt describes your site and points to useful pages, and it blocks nothing.

Where do I put the file?

At your site's root, so it loads at yourdomain.com/llms.txt. The proposal also allows one under a path, covering the pages below it.

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