Does Adding llms.txt Improve LLM Visibility and Citations?

Nowadays, everyone is trying to optimise their website and content for AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. And one idea gaining attention is the use of a llms.txt file to guide these models toward key content. But does llms.txt actually help with visibility or citations?

In this guide, we’ll look at what llms.txt is meant to do, whether it actually works, and what really helps your content show up in AI-generated answers. We’ll also break down what Google’s John Mueller had to say about it, and why that matters.

How llms.txt Is Supposed to Work

llms.txt is a proposed standard (emphasis on proposed) meant to help LLMs access and understand content on a website. It’s often described as a way to show AI models where your important content lives, similar to how robots.txt guides search engine crawlers.

The idea is that llms.txt can do the following:

• Highlight key pages like API docs, product catalogues, etc.
• Improve chances of citation by pointing models to structured, high-value info.
• Control crawling behaviour of LLMs (like allowing or disallowing certain folders).

The logic makes sense. Search engines respect robots.txt and sitemap.xml, so maybe LLMs will respect llms.txt the same way. In theory, it could make AI models smarter about your site and help your content surface more accurately in tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity.

But that’s the idea in theory.

Does llms.txt Actually Work That Way?

Right now? No.

No major AI provider uses llms.txt – not OpenAI, not Anthropic, and not Google. Unlike robots.txt, which their crawlers do check, llms.txt isn’t part of their crawling process. It’s still a proposed idea. Not a working standard. No one has adopted it.

Google’s John Mueller put it plainly in a Reddit comment:

That first part is crucial: AI crawlers don’t even request the file. You can verify it in your server logs. While bots like GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot will check your robots.txt file, none of them attempt to access llms.txt.

So, Does Adding llms.txt Improve LLM Visibility and Citations?

No, not yet.

As of now, adding llms.txt does not improve your LLM visibility and citations, as no major AI model is reading or using it.

Until these companies adopt the standard (if they ever do), publishing llms.txt remains more of a wishful idea than a working strategy. It doesn’t do any harm, but it doesn’t make a difference either. Right now, it changes nothing about how LLMs handle your content.

What You Can Do Right Now to Improve LLM Visibility

While llms.txt isn’t doing much today, there are still practical ways to increase your chances of showing up in AI-generated answers. LLMs often pull from sources they trust, and many use real-time search results or structured content to shape their responses.

If you want to be part of those responses, your best bet is to:

• Rank well in traditional search: many AI tools pull directly from Google or Bing results.
• Use structured data: schema markup helps search and AI systems better understand your content.
• Get mentioned by trusted, high-authority sources: Wikipedia, major publications, and academic sites tend to show up often in LLM answers.
• Strengthen your technical SEO: Make sure your site is crawlable, uses robots.txt properly, and loads cleanly. If LLMs can’t access it, they won’t use it.

This is the kind of content LLMs are actually pulling from.

---

Find technical SEO issues on your website with a free audit.

---

We have more tips explained in detail in our guide on how to rank on SearchGPT. We recommend starting there if you want actionable steps to boost your visibility in AI-generated answers.