Does your business need an llms.txt file?

llms.txt is a short summary of your site for AI tools

Jeremy Howard proposed llms.txt in September 2024 (llmstxt.org). It is a Markdown file at the root of a website, such as yoursite.com.au/llms.txt. It holds the site's name, a one-line summary, and lists of links to the pages that matter, each with a short note. The idea is to give an AI tool a curated map of the site so it does not have to work through every page.

It is a proposal, not a standard that search engines have adopted. It sits alongside robots.txt and sitemaps; it does not replace either.

What Google says

Google's guidance for its AI features is direct. It says sites do not need new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode (Google Search Central). To appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page needs to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. That is the same bar as ordinary search.

What we found on Australian business websites

In October 2026 we checked 1112 local business websites across 34 Australian locations for an llms.txt file. 23% had one. Most of those owners did not write it: 53% of the files we found were generated automatically by the site builder or an SEO plugin.

Wix and some WordPress SEO plugins now create the file by default, and Shopify stores often serve one written for shopping agents. So having an llms.txt usually tells you which platform a site runs on, not that the owner has worked on AI visibility.

By location

Method and limits are on our local data page.

Should your business add one?

Not first. For a local business, these come before llms.txt because they help every engine, including Google:

1. Make sure robots.txt lets in the AI search crawlers: OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Claude-SearchBot.
2. Add structured data that says what the business is and where. Our LocalBusiness guide covers it.
3. Open each service and area page with a direct answer in its first two sentences.

Once those are done, an llms.txt is a small, low-risk addition. Generate it from your real pages so it stays accurate when the site changes; a hand-written file that drifts out of date is worse than none.

How to write one

Keep it short and true. Start with your business name as the heading, then one sentence that says what you do and where. Under a heading such as "Services", list one link per service page with a short note on what the page covers. Add a section for areas you serve if you have area pages, and one for contact details. Put anything secondary, such as the blog or the privacy page, under a heading called "Optional", which the proposal reserves for links an AI tool can skip. Generate the file from your site's own pages where your platform allows it, so a price or a service that changes on the site changes in the file too.

If your site already has one

Open yoursite.com.au/llms.txt in a browser and read it. Check that the summary describes your business the way you would, that the links point to your service pages and not to tag archives or old promotions, and that it carries no instructions you did not write. Shopify's default file, for example, includes directions aimed at AI shopping agents. Treat the file as part of your site's public description, because that is what it is.