llms.txt: does it actually work?
Updated: · Orbtown
llms.txt is a small text file that summarises a website for language models. We publish one ourselves, and we still think most businesses should not expect it to change what AI says about them.
What it is
A Markdown file at the root of a website, such as /llms.txt, with a short description and links to the most useful pages. It was proposed as a convention. We found no major AI company that has committed to using it for search answers.
What the evidence says
- Google states that you do not need new machine-readable files or AI text files to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode.
- Log analyses published by vendors found that requests for llms.txt are a tiny share of AI bot traffic. One reported 408 requests in more than 500 million AI bot visits.
- A study by SE Ranking of about 300,000 domains, as reported, found no measurable link between having the file and being cited.
- Some counter-evidence: the vendor Profound reported crawlers from Microsoft and OpenAI fetching these files. Fetching is not the same as using.
These figures mostly come from companies with commercial interests, so treat them as indicative.
When it is still worth it
It takes minutes and costs nothing, and it has a real audience among developers and coding agents reading documentation. If you run a software product, publish one. If you run a dental practice, spend the time on your listings and reviews first.
A minimal example
# Example Ltd
> Accounting for small firms in Vienna.
## Key pages
- [Services](https://example.com/services)
- [Contact](https://example.com/contact)Common questions
Does llms.txt improve rankings in ChatGPT?
There is no good evidence that it does. Large analyses reported no measurable effect on citations.
Why does Orbtown publish llms.txt then?
It costs almost nothing and is useful to developers and agents that read it. We do not present it as a ranking factor.