Advanced LLMs.txt Applications and Robots.txt Strategy — Managing AI's "First Impression" of You

Imagine you just moved into a new house.

When a guest visits for the first time, how do they find your room?

By the room number and floor guide.

In the AI world, LLMs.txt and Robots.txt are your "room number" and "floor guide" —

they tell AI crawlers: you're here, this is your information, find you this way.

These two files are usually overlooked, but they determine AI's "first impression" of you.

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1. LLMs.txt: Your "Letter of Introduction" to AI

What Is LLMs.txt?

LLMs.txt is a plain text file placed in your website's root directory (e.g., https://yourbrand.com/llms.txt), specifically designed to provide AI large language models with a structured brand information summary.

Its concept is inspired by robots.txt (tells search engines what to crawl) and sitemap.xml (tells search engines what to index), but LLMs.txt is specifically designed for AI large language models.

What Goes in LLMs.txt?

The standard format is as follows:

`

Brand Name

One-sentence brand description, 8-15 words

Core Information

• Founded: 2015
• Headquarters: Shanghai
• Core Product: XX CRM System
• Customer Scale: 5,000+ enterprise users

Core Capabilities

• Sales Management Automation
• Marketing Automation
• Customer Service Management

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: What size businesses is XX CRM suitable for?
• A: Suitable for SMBs with 10-500 employees

Related Links

• Official Website: https://yourbrand.com
• Blog: https://yourbrand.com/blog
• Help Center: https://yourbrand.com/help

`

GEO Value of LLMs.txt

Value 1: Eliminate information bias.

Without LLMs.txt, AI may source your brand information from Zhihu, forums, or industry media — these sources may be inaccurate, outdated, or biased.

LLMs.txt lets you tell AI directly everything you want it to know about you — brand name, core products, positioning, key data.

Value 2: Improve description accuracy.

Brands that deploy LLMs.txt can significantly improve AI's description accuracy when answering "what does XX company do," because LLMs.txt is the "official information source" AI prioritizes.

Value 3: Establish a "baseline" for AI visibility.

When you've completed other GEO optimizations, LLMs.txt serves as the reference standard for AI to "verify" your self-description. AI compares whether your description on any "third-party" source matches your own LLMs.txt — if consistent, trust increases; if inconsistent, trust decreases.

Deployment Recommendations for LLMs.txt

• Place in website root directory
• Use plain text format (avoid Markdown extended syntax)
• Keep within 500-1,000 words (AI reads within limited tokens)
• Keep core information stable, update promptly when changes occur
• llms.txt is also acceptable (place in llms/ directory)

2. Robots.txt: "Traffic Rules" for AI Crawlers

The Changing GEO Role of Robots.txt

In traditional SEO, Robots.txt's role was "telling search engine crawlers what to crawl and what not to."

In the GEO era, the "readers" of Robots.txt have changed — it's not just Googlebot reading it, AI crawlers are too.

Different AI platforms have their own crawlers:

• ChatGPT / OpenAI → OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot
• Google AIO → Google-Extended
• Perplexity → PerplexityBot
• Baidu ERNIE Bot → Baidu series crawlers
• Kimi → KimiBot

How Should Robots.txt Be Written?

Basic configuration: Allow all AI crawlers to crawl.

`

User-agent: GPTBot

Allow: /

User-agent: Google-Extended

Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot

Allow: /

User-agent: CCBot

Allow: /

`

Advanced configuration: Selective blocking.

If you have pages you don't want AI to crawl (e.g., internal admin panels, test pages):

`

User-agent: GPTBot

Allow: /

Disallow: /admin/

Disallow: /test/

User-agent: PerplexityBot

Allow: /

Disallow: /admin/

`

Expert configuration: Differentiated strategies for different AI crawlers.

Different AI platforms have different content preferences. You can decide whether to open content to specific AI crawlers based on strategy:

`

User-agent: GPTBot

Allow: /blog/

Allow: /products/

Disallow: /privacy/

User-agent: Google-Extended

Allow: /

`

GEO Considerations for Robots.txt

Note 1: Don't accidentally block AI crawlers.

Some websites have strict robots.txt configurations that "accidentally" block AI crawlers. For example:

`

User-agent: *

Disallow: /

`

This rule blocks all crawlers (including AI crawlers) from crawling your website. Unless this is intentional, it will set your GEO back to zero.

Note 2: Know AI crawlers' "user agent" names.

AI crawlers' user agent names are not standardized and change frequently. It's recommended to regularly check AI platform official documentation to confirm the latest crawler names.

Note 3: Keep consistent with sitemap.xml.

Pages you allow AI crawlers to crawl in robots.txt should have corresponding URLs in sitemap.xml.

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3. LLMs.txt + Robots.txt + Sitemap.xml = The "AI-Friendly Configuration Trio"

These three files together form the "guidance system" for AI crawlers entering your website:

File	Function	How AI Uses It
Robots.txt	Tells AI crawlers "what can and cannot be crawled"	The first file read when crawlers arrive at the website
Sitemap.xml	Tells AI crawlers "which important pages the website has"	Crawlers decide "which pages to start crawling"
LLMs.txt	Tells AI large models "what the brand's core information is"	Large models prioritize reading when answering brand questions

Deployment Order for the Three Files

1. Do Robots.txt first: Ensure AI crawlers can access your website. This is about "whether the front door is open."
2. Then do Sitemap.xml: Ensure AI crawlers can find your important pages. This is about "whether the roadmap is clear."
3. Finally do LLMs.txt: Ensure AI large models can directly access your brand information. This is about "whether the introduction letter is well-written."

Post-Deployment Verification

After deployment, three things need to be verified:

1. Test Robots.txt: Access https://yourbrand.com/robots.txt directly to confirm correct configuration
2. Test Sitemap.xml: Submit and check via Google Search Console
3. Test LLMs.txt: Use ChatGPT or other AI to directly ask "Do you know XX brand?" and see if AI's answer matches the information in LLMs.txt

Neither LLMs.txt nor Robots.txt requires brands to invest massive resources — they're just two plain text files that can be placed in the root directory once written.

But these two files determine AI's "first impression" of you.

Robots.txt determines whether AI can find your content.

LLMs.txt determines whether AI knows your core information.

Before starting any complex GEO optimization, configure these two files first. Open the door, point the way, and AI will come visit you.

Want the complete LLMs.txt format and creation guide? Read: What is LLMs.txt? — Essential Infrastructure for AI Crawlers (Glossary) →