Technical GEO
What Is llms.txt and Does Your Website Need One?
By Akshay Zine, Founder of AuctorisAI · Updated
The short answer
llms.txt is a proposed plain-text Markdown file at the root of a website (/llms.txt) that gives large language models a concise summary of the site and links to its most useful pages. It is cheap to publish and helps some AI tools and agents, but major search and AI providers have not said they use it for ranking or citations. Treat it as a useful extra, not a substitute for crawlable pages.
What goes in an llms.txt file?
The llmstxt.org proposal specifies a Markdown file with an H1 containing the site or project name, a short blockquote summary, optional detail paragraphs, and H2 sections listing links with brief descriptions. An “Optional” section can hold secondary links. [1]
- # Company name
- > One-sentence summary of what you do and for whom
- ## Key pages — links to product, pricing, about, docs
- ## Optional — press coverage, case studies, profiles
Does llms.txt improve AI visibility?
There is no public evidence that ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Google Search use llms.txt to choose citations. Its clearest value today is for coding assistants, agents and tools that fetch a site on request. Crawlable HTML, accurate facts and third-party coverage matter far more for being recommended.
How can I generate one automatically?
The AuctorisAI Action Report includes a generated llms.txt built from the real links on your homepage and the independent sources found by live web search about your company. Review it, then upload it to your site root. AuctorisAI publishes its own file at /llms.txt.
Common questions
Is llms.txt the same as robots.txt?
No. robots.txt tells crawlers what they may fetch. llms.txt is a summary and link guide for language models and does not grant or deny access.
Will llms.txt hurt my SEO?
No. It is a separate text file and does not change how your pages are indexed.
Sources and references
Definitions of GEO and AEO reflect common industry usage. Platform-specific claims are attributed below; guidance and product behavior can change.
See what this means for your brand.
Start with the free AI Visibility Action Report, or explore AuctorisAI’s GEO and digital authority services if you need help turning evidence into a plan. No rankings, rich results or AI citations are guaranteed.