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Does my business need an llms.txt file?
No. Google has published, in its own guide to AI features in Search, that llms.txt is not used by Google Search, including AI Overviews and AI Mode. Creating one has no effect on your visibility there either way. If a proposal charges you for one, ask them for Google's source.
What the file is
llms.txt is a plain-text file placed at the root of a website, like robots.txt. The idea, proposed in 2024, was that AI systems would read it to get a short summary of the site and a curated list of its pages, instead of crawling everything. It is a reasonable idea. Some AI agents and tools do fetch it.
What Google says
In May 2026 Google published its first official guide to optimizing for AI features in Search. It says, in a section written to bust myths, that no new machine-readable files, AI-specific text files, or Markdown files are needed for visibility, and that Google may crawl and index many file types but that does not mean any file type gets special treatment. Maintaining an llms.txt file is described as optional and neutral.
That is the whole answer for Google. AI Overviews and AI Mode are grounded in the same index and the same ranking systems as regular search. A page that is indexed and ranks can be cited. A file at the root of the site does not change which pages those are.
Why agencies sell it anyway
Because it is cheap to make, easy to show a client, and sounds technical. A file that takes twenty minutes to write can be invoiced as "AI optimization." The same guide from Google lists the other things sold this way: "chunking" content into small pieces, rewriting pages specifically for AI, and buying mentions. None of them are used.
Should you delete yours?
No. We keep one on geobros.ai. It costs nothing, some agents do read it, and it does no harm. What we will not do is charge you for it or list it as a deliverable, because that would be selling something Google has said does nothing on the surface most owners care about.
What to spend the money on instead
The things Google's guide actually names:
- Being indexed. A page that is not in the index cannot be cited. Check Search Console before anything else.
- Being switched on. Search Console has a setting for AI features. Some sites are set to exclude and nobody knows.
- Facts an engine can quote. Your license number, your service area, your price, your years in the trade, on the page, in the first screen.
- Your Google Business Profile. Google names it directly as the way local business information reaches AI answers.
- Content someone who never did your job could not have written. That is the phrase Google uses for what gets cited rather than summarized away.
That list is what a GEO Snapshot checks. The llms.txt file is not on it.
Sources. Google Search Central, "Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search," published May 15, 2026, updated July 10, 2026, developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide. The llms.txt proposal, llmstxt.org.