What Actually Goes In an llms.txt
Originally published on Contento Solutions , where I write about SEO and AI visibility for service businesses. An llms.txt file is a plain text summary of your site. It is written for language models, not for crawlers. It is also a proposal rather than a standard ( Jeremy Howard published it in September 2024), and no major AI company has confirmed that it reads one. Write it anyway. The reason…
An llms.txt file is a plain text summary of a website written for language models, not search crawlers. It is a proposal, not a standard, and no major AI company has confirmed that they read it. The file is a forcing function that helps businesses state what they do, who they serve, who they don't, their pricing, and what they refuse to claim.
Writing it down helps create a clearer website and better overall presentation. The file should be written in Markdown with an H1 title and a summary blockquote, followed by six key points: the boundary of what the business does, who the buyer is, names spelled correctly, citation terms, contact information, and what not to include.
The most important aspect is to avoid marketing language and focus on factual information that can be easily understood by a language model. There is no way to confirm if an llms.txt file has been read by an AI assistant, but writing one can help clarify a business's online presence and improve overall clarity.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
