What should an llms.txt file contain?

Understand the decision

Summarise the business's verified purpose and important destinations. Link to maintained service pages, guides and editorial policy. Avoid putting instructions aimed at manipulating an assistant into the file. Do not include private customer data or hidden claims. A file that lists every page without structure may be less useful than a short topic-based reference.

A practical approach

Write a direct answer to a real customer question, then provide the context that prevents the answer being misleading when quoted alone. Define terms, identify the business or product clearly and distinguish your own method from external evidence. Keep essential facts in accessible page text. Google’s generative search guidance continues to emphasise SEO fundamentals and useful content; special files or phrasing do not guarantee selection by an AI answer system.

• Use maintained public facts.
• Organise links by purpose.
• Exclude private information and manipulation prompts.
• Generate the export from current site content.

Illustrative example

A branding website could list its three service disciplines, practical guide hub and contact route. It could explain that industry designs are illustrative or internal work where appropriate. The same information would remain visible and crawlable on ordinary pages, so the file is an aid rather than a special access channel.

A mistake to avoid

Do not tell customers that adding this file alone will make their business appear in AI answers. That claim exceeds what the file proves.

What to review

Verify the file loads, its links resolve and its facts match the site; monitor platform visibility through independent reporting where available.

Turn the guide into a working brief

Keep a record of the question, the page that answers it, the evidence supporting factual claims and the date the facts changed. Where a platform provides citation reporting, use it to inspect which pages appear and the surrounding query context. Review quoted passages for accuracy and usefulness rather than chasing a single visibility score. Avoid hidden prompts, invented credentials and unsupported claims about guaranteed AI citations.

Common questions