What is llms.txt? Is a New Robots.txt File Coming in the Age of Artificial Intelligence?

llms.txt stands out as a new web standard designed for artificial intelligence. So, what is llms.txt, how does it differ from robots.txt, and why is it important for SEO and GEO?

For the past year, a new file has been buzzing in SEO communities and among AI developers: llms.txt . While its name might make it sound like the "AI version of robots.txt," it actually has a different role. So, what is llms.txt, how does it work, and why has it become so popular?

The Emergence of llms.txt

On September 3, 2024 , Jeremy Howard of fast.ai and Answer.AI published an official proposal for llms.txt. The core problem was that:

Large language models (LLMs) cannot comprehensively read information from websites.
The context window is limited, meaning they cannot load the entire HTML page from ads to menus.
HTML → Too “noisy” for LLM.

Solution: Websites can add an llms.txt file to their root directory to present important parts of the site in Markdown format and in an LLM-friendly manner.

This file can be read by humans on the one hand, and processed by LLMs with regex or parsers on the other hand.

Difference Between Robots.txt and llms.txt

A frequently asked question here is: Is llms.txt = the new robots.txt?

robots.txt :
- It tells search engine bots (Googlebot, Bingbot, YandexBot) which pages to crawl and which not to crawl.
- It contains strict rules.
- Browser bots comply with this 100%.
llms.txt :
- Shows LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) important content of the site.
- It does not provide information on "what is forbidden" but rather "what is important and where".
- AI is non-deterministic → it can take this guidance into account or ignore it.

👉 So llms.txt is not an access police like robots.txt, but a content guide .

llms.txt File Format

According to the standard recommendation, an llms.txt file follows the following structure:

# Proje Adı

> Projenin kısa özeti, amaç ve kapsam.

İsteğe bağlı detaylı açıklama eklenebilir.

## Docs
- [API Belgeleri](https://site.com/docs/api.md): Tüm API referansı
- [Kılavuzlar](https://site.com/docs/tutorials.md): Başlangıç rehberi

## Examples
- [Todo Uygulaması](https://github.com/example/todo.md): Basit CRUD örneği

## Optional
- [Araştırma makaleleri](https://site.com/research.md)

# Title → Project or site name
> Blockquote → short summary
## Docs, Examples → List of Markdown files
## Optional → Information that LLM can skip if necessary

Additionally, some sites offer a llms-full.txt file. This version contains more comprehensive content, including optional links.

Who Uses llms.txt?

Anthropic (Claude) → Added llms.txt support in fall 2024.
Mintlify → Integrated llms.txt and llms-full.txt to all documentation sites in November 2024.
Answer.AI and fast.ai projects → Updated their nbdev-based documentation with automatic Markdown versions.
Moondream → from those who adopted the llms.txt file in their documentation.
WordPress world → It is now possible to create files via Yoast SEO and Rank Math with plugins such as “Website llms.txt”.

But important note: According to a study conducted at the beginning of 2025, the percentage of those using llms.txt among the top 1 million websites was less than 0.01% . So, it's still in the early stages.

SEO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

SEO experts see llms.txt as part of the new era GEO strategy .

Classic SEO : Getting into the index of Google and Bing.
GEO : Your site should be the most accurate and prominent source in the answers given by artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT and Claude.

llms.txt can be critical here because it directly addresses LLMs:

“The most important documents on this site are:”
It says “You can find clean Markdown versions here.”

Technical Tools and Applications

llms_txt2ctx → Command line tool that expands llms.txt and produces context files (ctx, ctx-full) for LLMs.
Add-ons :
- VitePress plugin
- Docusaurus plugin
- Drupal llms module
- WordPress llms.txt generator
Directories :
- llmstxt.site
- directory.llmstxt.cloud

Thanks to these tools, developers can automatically generate llms.txt files instead of writing them manually.

Discussions and Criticisms

It is not standard yet: Google, Bing, Yandex do not provide official support.
LLMs are non-deterministic: The file can be used as a guide, but it is not a guarantee.
Maintenance cost: Keeping Markdown versions up to date adds additional workload.
Risk of abuse: Possibility of misdirection or prompt injection.
Meta keywords analogy: Google’s John Mueller said that llms.txt could be a short-term trend like meta keywords.

Future Standard or a Transitory Trend?

llms.txt launched as a small proposal in September 2024, but by mid-2025 it had spread to hundreds of sites. Companies like Anthropic had added support, SEO tools had integrated, and GEO strategies were already being discussed.

But major search engines (Google, Yandex, Bing) ignore this file. That's why the future of llms.txt is still uncertain: