Sneha Jasrasaria Quick answer
llms.txt is a proposed plain-text file placed at the root of a website that gives AI tools a short summary of the site and links to its most important pages. It is not an official standard and support from AI companies is limited, so treat it as a low-effort extra. Clear pages, good structure and trusted mentions matter far more.
Key takeaways
- llms.txt is a proposal, not an official standard
- It summarises your site and lists key pages for AI tools
- It is quick to add but should not be your main AI strategy
- robots.txt, sitemaps and clear content matter more
As AI search grows, new ideas appear for helping AI tools understand websites. One of them is llms.txt.
What it is
llms.txt is a simple text file at yourdomain.com/llms.txt. It is written in Markdown and usually contains:
- Your business name.
- A short summary of what you do.
- Links to your most important pages, with a one-line description each.
The idea is that AI tools can read one tidy file instead of crawling your whole site.
What it is not
- It is not an official web standard.
- It does not control what AI tools can crawl. That is robots.txt.
- It does not guarantee mentions in AI answers.
Should you add one?
It is quick and harmless, so many sites add one. A simple example:
# Cygnus Marketing
> Marketing agency in Guwahati running social media, influencer, performance and on-ground campaigns for brands across India.
## Services
- [Social media marketing](https://marketingcygnus.com/social-media-marketing-agency/): reels, posts, shoots and Meta ads
- [Campus marketing](https://marketingcygnus.com/campus-marketing-agency/): activations in 73+ campuses
## Company
- [About](https://marketingcygnus.com/about/)
- [Our work](https://marketingcygnus.com/our-work/)
- [Contact](https://marketingcygnus.com/contact/)
What matters more
- Allow crawling of important pages in robots.txt.
- Submit sitemaps to Google and Bing.
- Write clear, answer-first content. See writing content AI can quote.
- Use schema markup for your facts.
- Earn mentions across the web. See brand mentions and AI visibility.
Keep it current
If you add llms.txt, update it whenever you add, rename or remove key pages. An outdated file with broken links is worse than none.
The bottom line
Add llms.txt if it is easy, but spend most of your effort on the basics that every search engine and AI tool already relies on. Read SEO vs AEO vs GEO for the bigger picture.