llms.txt: what it is and how to use it
llms.txt is a plain-text file placed at the root of your website (yoursite.com/llms.txt) that gives AI crawlers a concise summary of your brand and a curated list of your most important URLs. It's a proposed standard to help large language models find, understand and cite your content more accurately.
What is llms.txt?
llms.txt is a simple Markdown-formatted text file, served at your domain’s root, that tells AI systems what your site is about and points them to the pages that matter most. Think of it as a friendly map for LLMs — analogous to robots.txt or a sitemap, but aimed at helping AI models understand and represent your brand rather than governing crawling.
Why llms.txt matters for AI search
AI crawlers have limited time and don’t always parse complex, JavaScript-heavy sites well. An llms.txt file hands them a clean summary and your priority URLs, improving the odds that models understand your brand entity and cite the right pages. It’s one useful signal within LLM optimisation — not a magic bullet, but low-effort and worth doing.
What to include in llms.txt
- A brand summary — your canonical entity paragraph (who you are, what you do).
- Key URLs with one-line descriptions — services, pillar guides, about, contact.
- Optional sections — grouped links (e.g. Services, Guides), and an optional
llms-full.txtwith expanded content.
How to create and use llms.txt
- Write a concise brand summary using your consistent entity description.
- List your most important URLs, grouped and each with a short description.
- Save it as
llms.txtin Markdown and upload it to your site root. - Verify it’s reachable at yoursite.com/llms.txt.
- Keep it updated as your key pages change.
See a worked example in Alugence’s own llms.txt (in this pack, 09-system/llms.txt).
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