Google just confirmed it checks for a file on your website. Most people have never heard of it. It is called llms.txt.
The idea is almost offensively simple. You add a short plain-text file to your website that tells AI tools, in plain language, what your business does, which pages matter, and how to use and cite your content. That is it. No code. No developers. Just a file.
Here is why that matters. When someone asks an AI assistant about your industry, the model does not browse your website the way a human does. It summarises. And if it does not know what is important on your site, it will guess. Sometimes correctly. Often not. llms.txt is actually your chance to give AI the briefing you never knew it needed.
How to add it in under 10 minutes
Open whatever AI tool you use and ask it to create an llms.txt file for your website. Give it your business description and the pages that matter most. It will write the file for you in about 30 seconds.
Then upload it to your website’s root directory so it lives at yourwebsite.com/llms.txt.
Done.
Does it actually work?
For months, people argued about whether this file does anything. Then Google quietly confirmed that they check for it. That is about as close to a green light as you are going to get.
Whether it moves the needle for your specific business depends on how well AI tools are already representing you. If you search for yourself in an AI assistant and the summary is accurate, maybe you do not need to rush. If the summary is vague, wrong, or missing — this file is worth ten minutes of your time.
The part nobody mentions
Most of the attention around llms.txt focuses on getting found. Fair enough. But there is a second use that is more interesting: controlling how you are cited.
Right now, AI tools decide on their own which part of your website to reference when they mention you. With llms.txt, you can tell them which pages represent you best. Your best case study instead of your outdated press release. Your actual product page instead of a blog post from three years ago.
It is not perfect. AI tools are not obligated to follow the file. But they check it, Google said so, and that is already more influence than you had before.
Set it up this week. It takes less time than reading about it.
