Short answer: llms.txt is not where AI search work should start. Google says in its own documentation that Search does not use AI-specific files such as llms.txt. Adding one does no harm, so add it when you have a spare hour — but check the items below first.
What Google says
Google Search Central’s guide, “Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search” (updated 2026-07-10), says:
You don’t need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, markup, or Markdown to appear in Google Search (including its generative AI capabilities), as Google Search itself doesn’t use them.
The same page says such files “will neither harm nor help” your visibility or rankings in Google Search.
What llms.txt is
llms.txt is a Markdown file at the root of a site (/llms.txt) that summarises the site and links to its main pages. It was proposed by Jeremy Howard at llmstxt.org in September 2024. It is not a web standard, and whether an AI system reads it is up to each company.
Tooru gives it 4 points out of 100
Tooru’s llms.txt checks are worth 4 points out of 100 in total:
| Check | Points |
|---|---|
| /llms.txt present | 2 |
| Follows the llmstxt.org format | 1 |
| /llms-full.txt present | 1 |
They earn points because the file is cheap to add, does no harm, and some AI tools may read it. They earn few points because the evidence that it helps is weak. A large score for a weak signal would pull attention away from fixes that matter. The reasoning is in the methodology.
What to check first
- Is robots.txt blocking AI search crawlers? If it is, they cannot fetch your pages at all. Blocking training bots is a policy choice, and Tooru does not score it.
- Is the main text in the HTML your server returns? Most AI crawlers do not run JavaScript. A page that looks complete in a browser can reach them almost empty.
- Can AI tell what your company does, and for whom? Your title, meta description, headings and structured data should say it plainly.
In Tooru’s methodology these sit in the heavily weighted stages — find, read and understand.
If you add one anyway
The current version of the format (v2, updated 2026-08-10) requires only the top-level heading (# Site name). To make it useful to people and AI alike:
- First line:
# Site name - Then:
> A one-sentence summary - Then
## Sections, each listing key pages as[name](url): short note
Tooru has one too: tooru.ai/llms.txt.
Changelog
- 2026-10-09: Published