What is llms.txt and does your business website need one?

llms.txt is a short Markdown file at the root of your website, at yoursite.co.uk/llms.txt, that gives AI tools a plain summary of your business and links to your most important pages. It's a proposed standard, not a requirement, and Google's own guidance says you don't need AI text files to appear in its AI features. Your business website doesn't need one to be found, but it's a quick, low-risk addition once the basics are right.

If you've heard that every website now needs an llms.txt file, here's what it is, who actually uses it and where it fits.

Where does llms.txt come from?

It started as a proposal published on llmstxt.org in September 2024, which sums itself up as "a proposal to standardise on using an /llms.txt file to provide information to help agents use a website." The page was updated in August 2026 with a second version of the proposal, and it still describes the specification as open for community input. It's an informal proposal, not a rule that any search engine or AI assistant has to follow.

The thinking behind it is easy to follow. A web page is written for people, with menus, images and layout wrapped around the words that matter. An llms.txt file strips that back to the facts and the links, in a format an AI tool can read in one go.

What goes in an llms.txt file?

The proposal sets out a simple structure, written in Markdown and in this order:

• A main heading with your business or project name, which is the only required part
• A short summary in a blockquote
• Any further detail in plain paragraphs
• Sections under smaller headings, each listing links to pages with a short note on what they cover
• An "Optional" section for secondary links an AI tool can skip.

The proposal also suggests offering clean Markdown versions of key pages, at the same address with .md added. That part is a bigger job for a small business website, and the llms.txt file itself is the sensible place to start.

Our own file, at dlrmedia.co.uk/llms.txt, follows that pattern. It opens with our name and a one-paragraph summary, then has sections for our services with prices and terms, our case studies, answers to common questions, our contact details and our key pages, with the date it was last updated near the top. Anyone, or any AI tool, reading it gets the same facts that are on our website, in one place.

Who actually uses llms.txt?

Here's where the hype and the facts part ways. The 2026 version of the llmstxt.org page says thousands of sites publish an llms.txt file, and that the files are used most heavily for software documentation, where coding agents follow them. It says OpenAI, Anthropic and Google's Gemini team publish llms.txt files for their own developer documentation.

Website platforms have picked it up too. The same page says Wix generates an llms.txt file for every Wix site, that the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress generates and maintains one, and that Chrome's Lighthouse checks sites for one as part of its agentic browsing checks.

What none of the pages we read for this article says is that ChatGPT, Gemini or Google AI Overviews read a business's llms.txt file to decide which businesses to recommend. An AI company publishing a file for its own developer documentation is a different thing from its assistant using your file to pick an electrician or an accountant. Anyone who tells you an llms.txt file will get you recommended by ChatGPT is claiming more than the evidence shows.

Does Google use llms.txt for AI Overviews?

Google's guidance doesn't mention llms.txt, and it's clear that you don't need one. Google Search Central's page on AI features, updated in December 2025, says "You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup to appear in these features." What Google does require is that a page is indexed and eligible to show in Google Search with a snippet.

In other words, the route into AI Overviews is ordinary, well-run SEO: pages Google can crawl and index, content that answers real questions, and a site that works properly. An llms.txt file doesn't change any of that.

So does your business website need one?

No. To be found and recommended, your website needs to be crawlable, indexed and clear about what you do, where and for whom. Those are the things that decide whether AI tools find you, and an llms.txt file doesn't rescue a site that's blocked, slow or vague.

It's still worth adding once those basics are in place, for three reasons. It costs very little, because it's a single text file written once and updated when things change. It gives any AI tool that does read it your facts in your own words. And writing it is a useful test of your website: if you can't sum up your services, areas and prices in a few clean lines, your web pages aren't doing it either.

How you add one depends on how your site is built. If it runs on Wix, one is generated for you, so check that it describes your business accurately. On WordPress, a plugin can create it. On a custom-built site, it's a text file your developer adds to the root of the domain.

The one thing to avoid is a file that disagrees with your website. Old prices, dropped services or a previous phone number in llms.txt give AI tools conflicting facts about you, which is the opposite of what you want. Treat it like any other listing for your business and update it whenever something changes.

Where does llms.txt fit with the rest of GEO?

It's one small technical item in a much bigger job. Getting named by AI assistants rests on a site they're allowed to read, clear content and trusted mentions on other websites, which we cover in our guide on how to get recommended by ChatGPT and other AI assistants. Our GEO page explains how we run that work alongside SEO.

If you want an expert view of your own site, our audits include a GEO audit and an AI and LLM technical readiness audit, as standalone pieces of work with no ongoing contract. If you'd rather we handled it, GEO and SEO are part of the DLR Growth Engine at £1,499 a month + VAT on a 12-month term, with Google Ads, Meta Ads and a free custom website worth £4,500.

Frequently asked questions

Is llms.txt the same as robots.txt?

No. robots.txt tells crawlers which parts of your site they're allowed to visit. llms.txt doesn't allow or block anything; it's a summary and a set of links for AI tools to read.

Will adding llms.txt get my business into ChatGPT answers?

No, not on its own. What gets you into AI answers is a site those tools can read, clear content about your services and areas, and trusted mentions elsewhere. llms.txt is a small extra on top of that.

Where does the file go?

At the root of your domain, so it loads at yoursite.co.uk/llms.txt. The proposal also allows it at a path within the site, but the root is where a small business should put it.

How often should I update it?

Whenever your services, prices, areas or contact details change. Put the date near the top, as we do on ours, so anyone reading it knows how current it is.

Check what AI tools can see

Want to know whether AI tools can read your website and what they say about your business? Call us on +44 1382 699595 or book a GEO audit.