What is llms.txt and Why Smart Businesses Should Start Using It

What Is llms.txt and Why Smart Businesses Should Start Using It

As AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity become the go-to for everyday questions — from finding the best local service to exploring educational content — websites can no longer rely on traditional SEO alone.

This isn’t just about search engines anymore.

It’s about being visible to AI.

But here’s the catch: AI systems don’t always “see” your content the way users or Googlebots do. Especially if your site has a complex navigation structure, dynamic scripts, or hides key information behind interactive elements.

To solve this, a new file format called llms.txt is emerging — and we’ve already implemented it for one of our clients in the education space.

Here’s what you need to know.

‍

What Is llms.txt?

Think of llms.txt like robots.txt or ads.txt. It’s a plain-text file hosted at the root of your website, designed specifically to guide large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s GPT, Google’s Gemini, and Meta’s LLaMA on what content to access or exclude.

🔗 Official draft proposal for llms.txt

It’s still a voluntary standard, but with growing adoption, it’s becoming a best practice for businesses that want their content to be properly read and represented by AI assistants.

‍

Why AI Can Struggle With Your Website

Most AI models pull from publicly available online content to learn and generate answers. They rely on web crawlers, similar to search engine bots, to fetch and process text from sites like yours.

However, there are a few common issues:

• Your site uses heavy JavaScript, delaying content load.
• Important text is hidden in tabs, accordions, or modals.
• There’s no clear sitemap or hierarchy of pages.
• You rely on interactivity, not clean HTML, to structure content.
• Your navigation makes it hard to reach certain pages without clicking through multiple layers.

All of this can make it harder for AI tools to “understand” your content, even if your site looks perfect to a human visitor.

‍

Why llms.txt Helps

By creating a dedicated list of approved, public-facing URLs, you’re giving AI crawlers a clear signpost to the content you want indexed — and avoiding the risk of being misunderstood or ignored.

It helps AI:

• Prioritise your best, most informative content
• Skip dynamic scripts and noisy pages
• Avoid crawling login areas or user-specific content

‍

What Does a llms.txt File Look Like?

Here’s a very basic example:

‍

# llms.txt
# This file tells large language models (LLMs) which parts of your website can be crawled, learned from, or cited in AI-generated content.
# For more information, visit: https://github.com/llm-org/llms-txt

# Website: https://yourdomain.com
# Description: We are a UK-based digital agency offering web development, SEO, and PPC services to small and medium-sized businesses.

# ============================
# Allow - Key Content Sections
# ============================

https://yourdomain.com/
https://yourdomain.com/about/
https://yourdomain.com/contact/

# --- Blog ---
https://yourdomain.com/blog/
https://yourdomain.com/blog/why-seo-matters/

# --- Services ---
https://yourdomain.com/services/
https://yourdomain.com/services/seo/

# --- Resources ---
https://yourdomain.com/resources/
https://yourdomain.com/resources/free-seo-checklist/

# --- FAQs ---
https://yourdomain.com/faqs/

# ============================
# Disallow - Restricted Content
# ============================

Disallow: https://yourdomain.com/cart/
Disallow: https://yourdomain.com/checkout/
Disallow: https://yourdomain.com/my-account/
Disallow: https://yourdomain.com/client-portal/
Disallow: https://yourdomain.com/private-webinars/

# Optional: Block specific bots if needed
# User-agent: GPTBot
# Disallow: /

# ============================
# Notes:
# Add more blog posts, services, and resource URLs as needed. 
# The more precise your list, the better control you'll have over what LLMs crawl.

‍


👉 The file should be placed at:
https://yourwebsite.com/llms.txt

While not all AI tools support this yet, many are beginning to adopt it as part of their crawlers. OpenAI, for instance, already respects robots.txt, and broader llms.txt support is expected soon.

‍

Does It Actually Work?

We’ve recently implemented llms.txt for a client in the education sector, whose website was built with interactive navigation and dynamic modules. While it’s too early to see definitive traffic shifts, the update:

• Made high-value pages more accessible to AI
• Removed the risk of private/student-only content being crawled
• Future-proofed their visibility across AI-driven platforms

This isn’t a “quick win” like changing a title tag — it’s an investment in AI-era discoverability.

‍

Why This Matters More Than You Think

Let’s look at the broader context.

• OpenAI’s GPTBot now actively crawls the web — and you can allow or disallow it via robots.txt or llms.txt.
• A recent BrightEdge survey found that 68% of organizations are actively adapting their strategies to accommodate AI-powered search trends, including generative overviews and chat-based discovery.
• Over 53% of marketers now use two or more AI search platforms weekly, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews — underscoring the need for cross-platform visibility.

‍

Who Should Use llms.txt?

• Educational institutions
• Health & wellbeing sites
• Ecommerce stores with heavy scripts
• B2B service providers
• Blog-heavy content sites

‍

In short, if your business has:

• Informational resources
• Industry expertise
• Evergreen blog content
• Product or service pages that explain solutions

… then yes, you should at least consider it.

‍

Easy Implementation Guide

1. List your important URLs — your blog, guides, FAQs, etc.
2. Exclude private/user-specific areas
3. Use plain text (no HTML)
4. Upload to your domain root:
   https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt
5. Test access with incognito browser or curl

‍

Future-Proofing Your SEO

AI won’t replace search entirely — but it’s already reshaping how people find information.

So just like schema markup made your content more “readable” to Google, llms.txt makes it easier for AI to navigate, trust, and use your content.

At Ace It SEO, we’re constantly looking for ways to help our clients stand out not just on search engines, but on every new discovery platform.

Whether you’re a school, store, or specialist — if your site deserves to be seen, we’ll help make it visible.

‍