A proposed file, placed at a site's root, that gives AI tools a short markdown summary of the site and links to its key pages. It was proposed in 2024 and is not an official web standard. Google's documentation says you do not need new machine-readable files or AI text files to appear in its AI features.
Example
Meera's developer offers to add an llms.txt file. It does no harm, but she knows it will not help her appear in Google's AI Overviews, so she gives it low priority.
How you'll hear it
“Add llms.txt if it is cheap, but do not sell it to the client as an AI ranking fix; Google has said it is not needed.”
Don't confuse it with
- robots.txt: an established file that tells crawlers what they may access. llms.txt is a proposal for describing your content to AI tools; it controls nothing.
- Sitemap: lists URLs for search engines.
Related terms
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Sources
- The /llms.txt file, llmstxt.org (Jeremy Howard), 2024
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central