Search optimisation keeps shifting. First it was keywords, then backlinks, then mobile-first design, and most recently Core Web Vitals. Today, a new signal is worth your attention. Best of all, it only takes about 30 minutes to set up.
The signal is llms.txt. As a result, it is quietly becoming one of the smartest additions to your website in 2026.
It is one of the AI-search levers Phoenix Marketing has been deploying for clients across our second year, alongside structured data refinement and answer-engine optimisation.
What is llms.txt?
To begin with, llms.txt is a plain text file. You place it at the root of your website, at yourdomain.com/llms.txt. In short, the file tells AI language models (LLMs) what your site is about, where your important pages live, and how to understand your business.
Think of it like a robots.txt for AI. However, instead of telling search crawlers which pages to skip, llms.txt tells AI models which pages to read first. Originally, the spec was proposed by Jeremy Howard. For the technical details, you can read the official version at llmstxt.org.
Why does llms.txt matter?
For one thing, AI search is changing how people find businesses. When a customer asks ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity about “the best marketing agency in Melbourne”, those tools do not browse the whole web. Instead, they draw on a curated set of pages. As a result, the cleaner and more structured your content is, the more likely your business shows up.
Traditionally, SEO has targeted Google. However, Google is no longer the only player. For example, ChatGPT alone now handles over 2 billion searches a month. Meanwhile, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini handle more. Each tool reads your site differently. In turn, each one decides whether to recommend you.
In other words, llms.txt does for AI what robots.txt did for Google in the 1990s. Consequently, it gives you a clean signal to send. Right now, very few sites use it. As a result, early movers get noticed first.
What goes in an llms.txt file?
Generally, the file is short. In fact, most are under 50 lines. Overall, a good llms.txt has three sections.
1. A one-line site summary
To start, state what your business does in one clear sentence. For example: “Phoenix Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Melbourne that helps small businesses generate qualified leads through Google Ads, SEO, and content.”
2. A list of your most important pages
After that, list the URLs you most want AI to find. Where possible, group them by topic. For Phoenix Marketing, that might look like this:
## Services
- [Google Ads Management](https://phoenixmarketingcreative.com/google-ads-agency-melbourne/)
- [SEO Services](https://phoenixmarketingcreative.com/seo-services-melbourne/)
- [Content Marketing](https://phoenixmarketingcreative.com/content-marketing-agency-melbourne/)
## Resources
- [What's a good cost per lead](https://phoenixmarketingcreative.com/good-cost-per-lead-australian-small-business/)
- [Why your GA4 Direct traffic is a lie](https://phoenixmarketingcreative.com/why-your-ga4-direct-traffic-is-a-lie/)3. Optional: extra context blocks
Additionally, you can add an “About” block, a “Pricing” block, or a “FAQ” block. Above all, keep it short. After all, the AI is reading for context, not full sentences.
How to create your own llms.txt
Overall, the process takes around 30 minutes. Below are the steps in order.
- First, open a plain text editor like Notepad or TextEdit.
- Next, write one sentence describing your business.
- After that, list your top 5 to 10 pages, grouped by topic.
- Then, save the file as
llms.txt(no extra spaces, no .txt.txt). - Following that, upload it to your website’s root directory. On WordPress, this is the same folder as your
robots.txt. - Finally, test it. Simply visit
yourdomain.com/llms.txtand confirm it loads.
That is it. As a result, the file is now live. Over time, AI tools will pick it up the next time they crawl your site.
Will llms.txt help my SEO right now?
Honestly, the short answer is yes, but slowly. Although AI search is still new, the trend is clear. For now, Google still drives most of your traffic. However, AI tools handle more searches every quarter. As a result, the brands that get cited early in this shift will dominate later.
In summary, llms.txt is not a magic bullet. Instead, it is a 30-minute investment that puts you ahead of 99% of your competitors. For a small Australian business, that gap matters.
Common llms.txt mistakes to avoid
- Listing every page on your site. Above all, the point is to highlight the most important ones. For best results, pick 5 to 15, not 50.
- Stuffing keywords. Instead, write naturally. Otherwise, AI tools spot keyword stuffing fast and will downgrade your file.
- Forgetting to update it. Therefore, add new important pages every few months. Otherwise, your llms.txt drifts out of date.
- Wrong file location. Above all, the file must sit at the root. For example, not
/wp-content/llms.txt. Likewise, not/blog/llms.txt. Only the root works.
What to do next
To start, pick a quiet morning. Then spend 30 minutes drafting your file. After that, upload it. Overall, the whole task is faster than most SEO tweaks. Best of all, the payoff arrives over the next 6 to 18 months as AI search grows.
If you want help, our team can build your llms.txt as part of a wider SEO audit. For details, read our SEO services page. Additionally, we wrote about why your GA4 Direct traffic data is misleading, which often shows up alongside this work.
For deeper reading, the official llms.txt specification by Jeremy Howard is here: llmstxt.org. In summary, it covers the technical details if you want to go further.