Glossary · AI search and AEO
What is llms.txt?
Also known as: llms.txt file, LLMs.txt standard
llms.txt: llms.txt is a proposed standard for a plain-text Markdown file at the root of a website (yoursite.com/llms.txt) that gives AI tools a concise summary of the site and links to its most useful pages. It is a proposal, not an official standard adopted by the major answer engines.
Why does it matter?
It is cheap to create and gives any tool that does read it a clean, accurate description of who you are and where the important content lives, without navigation, scripts or cookie banners in the way.
Its limits matter just as much. There is no public confirmation that the major answer engines rely on llms.txt when choosing sources, so it should never replace crawlable, well-written pages or be sold as a ranking or citation lever.
How do you act on it?
- Write a short, factual description of your business at the top: what you do, for whom, where.
- Link to your key pages with one line each explaining what the page covers.
- Keep it consistent with your website and business profiles, and update it when products or prices change.
- Treat it as a nice-to-have after robots.txt, indexing and content quality are in order.
Frequently asked questions
Is llms.txt the same as robots.txt?
No. robots.txt tells crawlers what they may or may not access. llms.txt is a voluntary summary meant to help AI tools understand a site; it doesn't grant or block access to anything.
Will adding llms.txt get me cited by ChatGPT or Google?
There's no evidence you can rely on for that. It's harmless and quick, but citations still depend on crawlable pages that answer the question well.