Not so far. No AI company has said that an llms.txt file makes your business more likely to be recommended. The biggest studies to date also find no clear link between having one and showing up in AI answers. It costs very little to add, so we'd still add one. Just don't expect it to move the needle on its own.

llms.txt is a plain text file that sits on your website. It gives AI tools a short summary of your business and a list of your most important pages. The idea sounds sensible. The trouble is that, today, there's little sign AI tools use it when deciding who to recommend.

This guide explains what llms.txt is, what the research says and what the big AI companies have said. We make Midwaver, an AI visibility tracker. We also recommend having an llms.txt file, so we've tried to keep what's proven separate from what's our opinion. If AI search is new to you, start with What Is AI Search and Why Should Your Business Care?

What an llms.txt file is

An llms.txt file is a plain text page that lives at the top level of your website, for example yourwebsite.co.uk/llms.txt. It's written in a simple format called Markdown, which just means headings and bullet-point links in plain text.

Inside, you give AI tools the short version of your site. That's your business name, a sentence or two on what you do and links to your most important pages. Normal web pages are wrapped in menus, pop-ups, adverts and code. The idea is to hand AI a tidy version without all that.

Jeremy Howard of Answer.AI proposed it in September 2024. The proposal is published at llmstxt.org. It's a proposal, not an official standard. No official body controls it and no AI company has to follow it.

You may have heard of robots.txt. That file tells search engines which parts of your site to stay out of. llms.txt is closer to a reading list than a keep-out sign.

Does llms.txt improve your AI visibility?

There's no evidence that it does. Two large studies have looked, from different angles.

• SE Ranking looked at who gets cited. In late 2025 it analysed about 300,000 websites. Around one in ten had an llms.txt file. It found no link between having one and how often a site was cited in AI answers. When it removed the llms.txt signal from its prediction model, the model got more accurate rather than less. Its authors said the file doesn't seem to affect citations directly, "at least not yet".

• Ahrefs looked at who reads the file. It checked server records from about 137,000 websites in May 2026. 97% of llms.txt files received no requests at all in that period. Only around 1% of the requests that did arrive came from the search bots behind tools such as ChatGPT and Perplexity. Many came from SEO audit tools, general web crawlers and AI coding assistants.

In plain terms, an AI tool that never asks for your file can't be influenced by it. That's roughly what the second study suggests is happening.

Two cautions. Both studies are snapshots of a fast-moving area. Both also come from companies that sell SEO software. SE Ranking's study can show a pattern but not a cause. Ahrefs measured requests, not whether anything was done with the file. Neither study proves the file can never help. They show there's no sign of a benefit today.

What Google and the AI companies say

Google has been the clearest. Its guide to its AI features (AI Overviews and AI Mode) says you don't need special AI text files, llms.txt included, to appear in Google Search. It also says that making one won't help or hurt your visibility there. It adds that it's fine to create one if you want to.

That's a statement about Google only. It doesn't tell us what other AI tools do.

We haven't found OpenAI, Perplexity or Anthropic saying that their search tools use llms.txt to choose which businesses to recommend. Some big AI companies do publish an llms.txt for their own developer documents, according to llmstxt.org. That's a different thing from relying on yours.

Should you add one anyway?

Yes, we think so, with realistic expectations. Midwaver recommends having one. That's our opinion rather than something the research proves. Here's our reasoning.

• It's cheap. A basic file doesn't take long to write. Some website tools can create one for you.

• It's low risk. Google says it won't hurt your visibility in Google Search. We know of no evidence that it hurts anywhere else.

• Some tools do read it. In the Ahrefs data the biggest group of AI users of the file was coding assistants. If AI agents start researching suppliers for your customers, a tidy summary will be waiting. That's us looking ahead and it isn't proven.

• It makes you write a clear summary of your business. That's useful for your own website whether or not any AI tool reads it.

What we wouldn't do is treat it as an AI visibility strategy. If you only have an hour to spare, spend it on the basics further down this page first.

How to set up an llms.txt file

The example near the top of this guide shows the layout. Here are the steps.

1. Name your business. Start with one line beginning with a single # followed by your business name.

2. Add a short summary. Underneath, start a line with > then write a sentence or two on what you do, who for and where.

3. List your key pages. Add a heading starting with ##, such as Services. Under it, add bullet links to your most important pages with a few words about each. Think services, pricing, about us, contact and FAQs.

4. Save it as llms.txt. Upload it to the top level of your website so it opens at yourwebsite.co.uk/llms.txt. If you're not sure how, ask whoever looks after your website.

5. Check it and keep it up to date. Open the address in your browser. Update the file when your services, prices or contact details change.

Only list pages that are already public. Don't put anything private in the file, because anyone can open it.

What actually helps your AI visibility

Since llms.txt isn't proven, here's where we'd put the effort first. This list comes from Google's guidance and our own reading of how AI search works. It isn't a guarantee.

• Make sure AI tools can get in. If your website blocks AI crawlers or hides its text behind scripts, they can't read it. The basics are in How to Get Your Business Recommended by ChatGPT. Midwaver also flags anything on your site that stops AI tools reading it.

• Answer questions clearly on your own pages. Put the answer first, use headings that match the questions customers ask and write in plain words.

• Say something only you can say. Google's guidance tells site owners to focus on high-quality, non-commodity content. That means content that offers something you can't find everywhere else.

• Keep your details consistent elsewhere. Reviews, directory listings and your Google Business Profile all feed the picture an AI tool builds of you. That's our reading rather than documented fact.

• Don't forget Google basics. Google says a page has to be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet to be a supporting link. The wider picture is in GEO vs SEO: What's the Difference?

Then measure what happens. AI answers vary from one run to the next. SparkToro and Gumshoe.ai ran a study in which the same list of brands almost never came back twice for the same prompt. Gumshoe.ai sells AI tracking tools, a connection the researchers disclosed. So one check tells you very little. Look at the pattern across many questions over several weeks.

Find out how you show up

Whether or not you add an llms.txt file, the question that matters is the same. What does AI actually say when your customers ask about businesses like yours?

Midwaver asks ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews the questions your customers ask. It then shows you the answers. You can see how often you're mentioned and how that's trending, which questions bring you up, which competitors are named instead, where your website is cited and which sources AI tools rely on. So when you make a change, such as adding an llms.txt file, you can watch the results over time.

Midwaver can't make an AI tool recommend you and no tool can. It shows you where you stand so you can tell whether what you change makes a difference.

Search is changing. Your customers used to search on Google or Bing and get a list of links. Now they’re asking AI for recommendations. Is your business being recommended? Start your free 7 day trial with Midwaver. See what AI says about your business, who’s winning in your industry and how to get mentioned more. No credit card needed, no obligation.