What is llms.txt and Why Your Website Needs One

What is llms.txt?

llms.txt is a text file you place at the root of your website — at yoursite.com/llms.txt — that tells AI language models what your website is about. Think of it as a cover letter for your website, written specifically for AI readers. It gives large language models (LLMs) the context they need to understand, summarize, and accurately represent your business when users ask about topics in your space.

The format was proposed by Jeremy Howard, the co-founder of fast.ai and one of the most respected voices in applied AI. He recognized a growing problem: as AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity become the primary way people discover information, websites have no standardized way to communicate their purpose and structure directly to these models. Websites have robots.txt for crawlers and sitemap.xml for search engines, but nothing built specifically for language models.

llms.txt fills that gap. It is a Markdown-formatted file — simple, human-readable, and structured enough for AI models to parse efficiently. Unlike a full sitemap that lists every URL, or a robots.txt that only specifies permissions, llms.txt provides meaning. It tells AI models: here is who we are, here is what we do, and here are the pages that matter most.

Here is a minimal example of what an llms.txt file looks like:

# Acme Widgets

> Acme Widgets is a B2B manufacturer of precision-engineered
> industrial widgets based in Austin, Texas. We serve the
> aerospace, automotive, and medical device industries.

## About

- [About Acme Widgets](https://acmewidgets.com/about): Our
  story, mission, and the team behind the products.
- [Contact](https://acmewidgets.com/contact): How to reach
  our sales and support teams.

## Products

- [Precision Widget Pro](https://acmewidgets.com/products/pro):
  Our flagship widget for aerospace applications.
- [Widget Lite](https://acmewidgets.com/products/lite):
  Cost-effective solution for high-volume manufacturing.
- [Custom Engineering](https://acmewidgets.com/products/custom):
  Bespoke widget design for specialized requirements.

## Resources

- [Engineering Blog](https://acmewidgets.com/blog): Technical
  articles on widget engineering and manufacturing.
- [Case Studies](https://acmewidgets.com/case-studies): How
  our customers use Acme Widgets in production.
- [API Documentation](https://acmewidgets.com/docs):
  Integration guides for our ordering platform.

That is it. No special syntax. No complex configuration. Just clean Markdown that any AI model can parse instantly. The format uses an H1 heading for your site or business name, a blockquote for your description, and H2 sections with linked lists organizing your most important pages.

There is also a companion convention called llms-full.txt, which can contain more comprehensive content — full page text, detailed descriptions, and deeper context. The base llms.txt is the concise overview; llms-full.txt is the deep dive. You can implement either or both depending on your needs.

Why llms.txt Matters Now

The way people find information online is undergoing the biggest shift since Google replaced the Yellow Pages. AI assistants are not a niche tool anymore. ChatGPT has over 400 million weekly active users. Perplexity is processing millions of queries daily. Claude is growing rapidly among professionals and developers. Google AI Overviews now appear on the majority of search queries.

When someone asks an AI assistant "What is the best project management tool for freelancers?" or "Find me a bakery in Portland that does custom wedding cakes," the AI does not return ten blue links. It gives a direct answer. And if that answer does not include your business, you are invisible to that person.

Here is the problem: AI models are incredibly capable at processing information, but they are working with imperfect inputs. When an AI model visits your website, it encounters HTML filled with navigation menus, footer links, cookie banners, JavaScript widgets, and dozens of other elements that have nothing to do with what your business actually is or does. The signal gets buried in noise.

llms.txt solves this by giving AI models a clean, structured summary they can process without wading through the noise. It is the difference between handing someone a well-organized brief versus dropping a filing cabinet on their desk and saying "figure it out."

There are three specific reasons this matters right now:

1. AI Search Is Growing Exponentially

The number of people using AI assistants as their primary information-gathering tool is not growing linearly — it is accelerating. Every month, more people default to asking ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity before they open Google. If your website is not optimized for how AI models consume content, you are falling behind a curve that is getting steeper by the day.

2. AI Models Need Context to Represent You Accurately

Without clear context, AI models will do their best to infer what your business does from whatever signals they can find. Sometimes they get it right. Sometimes they hallucinate details, confuse your business with a competitor, or represent your offerings inaccurately. An llms.txt file gives AI the ground truth about your business in a format they can trust. It reduces misrepresentation and increases the chance that when AI mentions your business, it gets the facts right.

3. Early Adopters Will Have the Advantage

Right now, the vast majority of websites do not have an llms.txt file. That means if you add one today, you are immediately more legible to AI models than most of your competitors. This is similar to the early days of robots.txt and sitemap.xml — the businesses that adopted these standards early had a significant advantage in search visibility. The same pattern is playing out now with llms.txt and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) more broadly.

llms.txt vs robots.txt vs sitemap.xml

These three files all live at the root of your website, and they all influence how machines interact with your content. But they serve very different purposes. Understanding the distinction is important because they are complementary, not competitive — you need all three.

The key insight from this comparison: robots.txt and sitemap.xml were designed for traditional search engine crawlers. They tell machines where your content is and whether they can access it. But they say nothing about what your content means or why it matters.

llms.txt fills that gap. It is the semantic layer — the file that provides meaning and context. In a world where AI models are becoming the primary intermediaries between your content and your audience, that semantic layer is critical.

Having all three files is the baseline for a well-optimized website in 2026. Robots.txt manages access. Sitemap.xml guides indexing. llms.txt provides understanding. Together with schema markup, they form the foundation of how machines — both traditional search engines and AI models — interact with your website.

How to Create Your llms.txt

Creating an llms.txt file is straightforward. Here is a step-by-step walkthrough, from blank file to deployed.

Step 1: Create the File

Create a new file called llms.txt in a plain text editor. The file uses standard Markdown formatting. No special tools required — any text editor works.

Step 2: Add Your Title

Start with an H1 heading containing your site or business name:

# Your Business Name

Step 3: Add Your Description

Below the title, add a blockquote with a concise description of your business. This should be one to three sentences that capture what you do, who you serve, and what makes you different:

# Your Business Name

> Brief description of your business. What you do, who
> you serve, and what makes you unique. Keep it clear,
> specific, and factual.

Step 4: Organize Your Key Pages Into Sections

Use H2 headings to group your most important pages into logical sections. Under each section, list your pages using Markdown links with brief descriptions:

## About

- [About Us](https://yoursite.com/about): Our story,
  team, and mission.
- [Contact](https://yoursite.com/contact): How to
  reach us.

## Products

- [Product One](https://yoursite.com/products/one):
  Description of your first product.
- [Product Two](https://yoursite.com/products/two):
  Description of your second product.

## Resources

- [Blog](https://yoursite.com/blog): Articles on
  topics related to your industry.
- [Documentation](https://yoursite.com/docs):
  Technical guides and references.

Step 5: Deploy to Your Website Root

Place the file so it is accessible at yoursite.com/llms.txt. How you do this depends on your platform:

• Next.js: Place the file in your public/ directory. It will be served automatically at the root URL.
• WordPress: Upload the file to your root directory via FTP, your hosting file manager, or a plugin that supports static file placement.
• Static sites (Hugo, Jekyll, Gatsby): Place the file in your static/ or public/ directory, depending on your framework.
• Shopify: Use the theme editor to add a new template that serves the file at the /llms.txt route, or use a custom app or proxy.
• Custom hosting (Nginx, Apache): Place the file in your web root alongside your index.html.

Step 6: Verify It Works

Open your browser and navigate to yoursite.com/llms.txt. You should see your Markdown content rendered as plain text. If you see a 404 error, the file is not in the correct directory. If you see formatted HTML instead of raw Markdown, your server is processing the file through a template engine — make sure it is being served as a static text file.

What to Include in Your llms.txt

The content of your llms.txt file matters more than the format. Here is a breakdown of what to include and why each element is important.

Your Business Name and Description

This is the most important part. Your H1 title and blockquote description are the first things an AI model reads. Be specific and factual. Avoid marketing jargon. An AI model does not care that you are "revolutionizing the industry" — it cares that you are "a B2B SaaS company that provides inventory management software for mid-size e-commerce brands."

Specificity is what helps AI models match your business to relevant queries. The more precise your description, the more likely an AI will cite you for the right questions.

Core Pages

Include links to the pages that define your business: your About page, your primary product or service pages, your pricing page if applicable, and your contact page. These are the pages that an AI model needs to understand your core offering.

Products and Services

List each major product or service with a brief, factual description. Include the URL where someone can learn more. This section helps AI models make specific recommendations. Instead of just knowing that "Acme exists," the model knows that "Acme makes the Precision Widget Pro for aerospace applications and the Widget Lite for high-volume manufacturing."

Key Content and Resources

If you have a blog, knowledge base, documentation, case studies, or other content assets, include links to the most important ones. You do not need to list every blog post — just the cornerstone content that represents your expertise. This signals topical authority to AI models.

Context That Helps AI Represent You Accurately

Consider including details that reduce the chance of misrepresentation: your geographic location or service area, the industries you serve, your founding year, key differentiators from competitors, or any other facts that help an AI model accurately describe your business when it comes up in conversation.

Here is a more complete example incorporating all of these elements:

# Vida Together

> Vida Together is a digital company building AI-powered
> tools for creators and small businesses. Founded in 2026
> and based in Memphis, Tennessee. Our flagship product is
> Vida AEO, an Answer Engine Optimization scanner that
> helps websites become visible to AI assistants like
> ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.

## About

- [About Vida Together](https://www.vidatogether.com/about):
  Our story — the first company with an AI CEO.
- [Contact](https://www.vidatogether.com/contact):
  How to reach our team.

## Products

- [Vida AEO Scanner](https://aeo.vidatogether.com): Free
  AI visibility scanner. Analyzes your website and provides
  an actionable AEO score with recommendations.
- [AEO Learning Center](https://aeo.vidatogether.com/learn):
  Educational guides on Answer Engine Optimization.

## Key Content

- [What is AEO?](https://www.vidatogether.com/blog/what-is-aeo):
  Complete guide to Answer Engine Optimization.
- [How to Get Cited by ChatGPT](https://www.vidatogether.com/blog/get-cited-by-chatgpt):
  7 steps to make your business visible to AI assistants.
- [What is llms.txt?](https://www.vidatogether.com/blog/what-is-llms-txt):
  Guide to the llms.txt file standard for AI readability.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

The simplicity of llms.txt is both its strength and a potential pitfall. Here are the mistakes I see most often, and how to avoid them.

Mistake 1: Making It Too Long

Your llms.txt should be a concise overview, not a complete reproduction of your website. If your file is thousands of lines long, it defeats the purpose. AI models are good at processing large amounts of text, but a focused, well-organized summary is more effective than a sprawling document. Aim for clarity and brevity. If you need to provide more detail, use llms-full.txt as the companion deep-dive document.

Mistake 2: Using Marketing Language Instead of Facts

AI models extract factual information, not vibes. A description like "We are the world's most innovative disruptive solution for empowering synergies" gives an AI model nothing useful to work with. Compare that to: "We make project management software for construction companies with 10-200 employees." The second description is infinitely more useful for an AI trying to match your business to a relevant query.

Mistake 3: Listing Every Page on Your Site

Your llms.txt is not a sitemap. You already have a sitemap for that. Include only the pages that are essential for understanding your business and your most important content. A homepage, an about page, three to five product pages, and five to ten key content pieces is a good range for most businesses. Quality of selection over quantity of links.

Mistake 4: Forgetting to Update It

Your llms.txt should reflect your current business. If you launch a new product, add it. If you discontinue a service, remove it. If you rebrand, update the name and description. Treat it like your About page — it should always be current. A stale llms.txt with outdated information is worse than a slightly less complete but accurate one.

Mistake 5: Using HTML or Complex Formatting

Stick to standard Markdown. Do not embed HTML, use tables, include images, or add complex formatting. The beauty of llms.txt is its simplicity. H1 for the title. Blockquote for the description. H2 for sections. Lists with links and descriptions for pages. That is the entire format. Keep it clean.

Mistake 6: Not Having One at All

This is the biggest mistake. Many businesses are aware of llms.txt but deprioritize it because it is "just a text file." But that text file is your direct communication channel to every AI model that visits your site. Not having one means you are leaving it entirely up to AI models to figure out what your business is about from your HTML, your schema markup, and whatever third-party sources they can find. Some of that information might be outdated, incomplete, or simply wrong. llms.txt gives you a say in how AI understands you.

How llms.txt Fits Into Your AEO Strategy

llms.txt is one piece of a larger puzzle. Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of making your content discoverable, understandable, and citable by AI assistants. llms.txt is a foundational element of AEO, but it works best when combined with other optimization techniques.

Here is how the pieces fit together:

• llms.txt provides a high-level summary of your site specifically for AI models. It is the first impression.
• Schema markup provides structured data on individual pages, telling AI models exactly what each page contains in machine-readable format — your products, your articles, your FAQ answers, your organization details.
• Comprehensive content demonstrates topical authority. Deep, well-structured articles on your core topics give AI models the raw material they need to cite you as a source.
• Entity clarity ensures your brand is consistently represented across the web. Your business name, description, and offerings should be the same everywhere — on your site, social profiles, directories, and third-party mentions.
• Technical accessibility means ensuring AI crawlers can actually reach your content. This includes having a permissive robots.txt, fast page load times, and server-rendered content (or at least content that does not require JavaScript execution to access).

Think of llms.txt as the front door and the welcome mat. It makes a great first impression and guides AI models to the right rooms. But the rooms themselves — your pages, your schema markup, your content — need to be well-organized too.

For a deeper dive into how all of these elements work together, the llms.txt guide in our AEO Learning Center covers the technical details and implementation strategies in more depth. And if you want to understand the full AEO framework, our complete guide to AEO is the place to start.

The businesses that are winning in AI visibility right now are the ones implementing all of these layers together. llms.txt is the easiest one to start with — it takes thirty minutes to create and deploy — and it immediately makes your site more legible to every AI model that visits. For the full picture of what else needs fixing, our AEO checklist covers all 15 items across content, schema, authority, and technical foundations.

If you want to know how your business stacks up across all of these AEO signals, we built a tool for that. The Vida AEO scanner checks your website for llms.txt, schema markup, content structure, technical accessibility, and more. It produces an actionable score with specific recommendations. Free scan, no credit card required.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an llms.txt file?

An llms.txt file is a Markdown-formatted text file placed at the root of your website (yoursite.com/llms.txt) that provides a structured summary of your website for large language models. It was proposed by Jeremy Howard of fast.ai and includes your site title, description, and links to your most important pages. It helps AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity understand what your website is about and represent it accurately.

How is llms.txt different from robots.txt?

robots.txt tells crawlers which pages they can and cannot access — it is about permissions and restrictions. llms.txt tells AI models what your website is about and what content matters most — it is about context and clarity. robots.txt controls access; llms.txt provides understanding. They serve complementary purposes and you should have both.

Where do I put my llms.txt file?

Place it at the root of your website so it is accessible at yoursite.com/llms.txt. In Next.js, this means the public/ directory. In WordPress, upload it to your root directory. For static site generators like Hugo or Jekyll, use the static/ directory. The key is that navigating to yoursite.com/llms.txt in a browser should display the file contents.

Do AI models actually read llms.txt files?

Adoption is growing. Several AI tools and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems already look for llms.txt files when crawling websites. As the standard gains traction and more AI companies implement support, having an llms.txt file will become increasingly valuable. Adding one now positions you ahead of the curve — the same way early robots.txt and sitemap.xml adopters gained search visibility advantages before those formats became universal.

What should I include in my llms.txt file?

Start with your business name as an H1 heading, then a blockquote description of what your business does. Organize your most important pages into H2 sections: About, Products or Services, and Key Content or Resources. Each page should be a Markdown link with a brief description. Keep it focused — twenty to thirty links maximum for most businesses. The goal is not to be comprehensive but to be clear and useful.

Start With llms.txt. Start Today.

If there is one thing I want you to take away from this guide, it is this: llms.txt is the simplest, fastest way to improve how AI models understand your business. It takes thirty minutes to create. It costs nothing to deploy. And it gives you a direct communication channel to every AI assistant that visits your site.

The businesses that AI models understand clearly are the businesses they recommend confidently. The businesses they cannot parse are the ones they skip over or misrepresent. llms.txt tips that balance in your favor.

You do not need to wait for the standard to be "officially" adopted by every AI company. The format is simple, the cost is zero, and the upside is significant. Create your llms.txt file. Deploy it to your site root. Then move on to the next layer of your AEO strategy — schema markup, comprehensive content, and entity clarity.

Or, if you want to know where your site stands across all of these signals right now, scan your site for free with Vida AEO. You will get a detailed AI visibility score and a specific action plan — including whether you have an llms.txt file and what to improve.

The way people find businesses is changing. Make sure AI knows who you are. Check your AI visibility score for free and start getting found.