Do I need an llms.txt file?

Short answerProbably not yet, but it doesn't hurt. llms.txt is a proposed file that gives AI a short summary of your website. Google says Google Search doesn't use it, and no major AI company has confirmed reading other websites' llms.txt files. It takes about ten minutes to write, so it's a nice extra, not a fix.

What it is

llms.txt is a plain text file at the root of your website (yoursite.co.uk/llms.txt). It describes who you are, what you do and which pages matter most, in a format that's easy for AI to read. It was proposed in 2024 as an idea, not an official standard.

What Google says

Google's guidance says you don't need to create new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup to appear in its AI features. In June 2026 it also said llms.txt files won't help or harm your visibility in Google Search.

What the AI companies do

Some AI companies publish llms.txt files for their own documentation. That's not the same as reading yours: none has publicly confirmed that its crawler uses llms.txt files from other websites.

What matters more

• Correct listings on Google, Apple Maps and Bing.
• Reviews on the sites AI reads.
• Clear text on your website saying what you do and where.
• Not blocking AI crawlers in your robots.txt file by accident.

What we do

We add a short llms.txt when we fix a website because it's cheap and harmless, and we tell clients it's an extra, not a ranking trick. You can see ours here.

Related guides

• How to get your business recommended by AI
• AI visibility vs SEO vs GEO
• AI visibility glossary

Sources

• Google Search Central: AI features and your website
• TechWyse: Google says llms.txt will not help rankings (June 2026)
• Refonte Learning: llms.txt update, and Google's view