llms.txt
Also known as: LLMs.txt standard, AI site summary file
llms.txt is a plain-text file at the root of a website that gives AI models a curated, machine-readable summary of what the site and the company are about.
Explication Complète
llms.txt is a plain-text file served at the root of a website (yourdomain.com/llms.txt) that gives AI models a curated, machine-readable summary of the site: who the company is, what it publishes, which pages matter, and where the key datasets and legal facts live. Where robots.txt tells crawlers what they may read, llms.txt tells AI systems what they should read and how to describe you. The format is markdown with a short site description followed by grouped link lists. It works because AI crawlers skip JavaScript and render nothing: a single flat text file is the cheapest reliable way to hand them your preferred narrative, your verified company profiles, and your research with DOIs. Rankfor publishes one for each of its domains and treats it as part of the brand identity layer, alongside Organization schema markup.
Exemple
open.rankfor.ai/llms.txt lists the company legal entities, verified profiles, free tools, datasets with DOIs, and key research findings in one file AI can read in a single request.
Aperçu de Recherche
Our Where AI Gets Its Answers: 167,551 Citations research found: AI grounds brand answers in third-party sources 85.7% of the time
Read the full researchFrequently asked questions
Is llms.txt an official standard?
It is a community convention, proposed in 2024 and adopted by a growing number of sites and AI tools. No standards body enforces it, and not every model reads it yet. The cost of publishing one is an hour of work, so the expected value stays positive even with partial adoption.
What belongs in llms.txt?
A one-paragraph description of the company, legal identifiers, verified profile links, your most important pages grouped by purpose, open datasets with DOIs, and the facts you want AI to repeat (founding year, headquarters, what the product does). Keep it to facts you can defend; AI systems cross-check.
How is llms.txt different from robots.txt and sitemap.xml?
robots.txt controls crawler access, sitemap.xml enumerates URLs for indexing, and llms.txt curates meaning: it says what the site is about and which content represents you best. The three files complement each other and serious sites ship all three.
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