# Does a website need an llms.txt file in 2026 | Illia BizTech > Based on Google Source: https://illia-biztech.de/en/blog/llms-txt-kleines-unternehmen 1. [Home](/en) 2. [Resources](/en/blog) 3. The llms.txt file on a website. Does a small business need it ![Developer editing the llms.txt text file in a website's code on a laptop](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_llms_txt_kleines_unternehmen_bf0e7164f2.png) ![Portrait of Illia Belichenko, technical specialist at Illia BizTech](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Illia_Belichenko_author_81f88864f0.png) By: Illia Belichenko November 9, 2026 # The llms.txt file on a website. Does a small business need it llms.txt appeared in 2024 as a proposed standard for AI models. According to [Originality.ai](http://Originality.ai) and Ahrefs data from May 2026, around 97 percent of these files receive no requests from AI systems in a given month. ## What llms.txt actually is llms.txt is an ordinary Markdown text file placed at a website's root. The standard was [proposed by Jeremy Howard in September 2024 on llmstxt.org](https://llmstxt.org/), and the idea is to give an AI model a short, structured description of a site instead of making the model parse an HTML page full of navigation, ads and scripts. The file consists of an H1 heading, a short summary, and a list of links under H2 sections, an optional llms-full.txt file can hold a fuller version of the content. The format is voluntary, nobody is required to add it. ## Does Google need llms.txt No. Google says so directly in its own optimization guide, [Google Search itself doesn't use them](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide). That applies to AI Overviews and AI Mode as well, having or not having an llms.txt file changes neither a site's regular visibility nor its chance of appearing in Google's AI answers. Google's own John Mueller confirmed the same thing. In June 2025 he wrote on Bluesky that [no AI system currently uses llms.txt](https://bsky.app/profile/johnmu.com/post/3lrshm4gggs2v). If the file occasionally shows up on Google's own pages, he said that comes from an internal content system, not from Search actually reading it. ## Does ChatGPT read the llms.txt file OpenAI does not list llms.txt as a distinct supported format, and the file is not mentioned in [OpenAI's official crawler documentation](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots). Server logs add practical context, but they do not by themselves prove how OpenAI handles the format internally. According to Ahrefs, GPTBot accounted for only about 4.5 percent of the already rare requests to llms.txt files in May 2026, and ClaudeBot for under one percent, figures reported in the summary of the [Originality.ai](http://Originality.ai) and Ahrefs data. The file is genuinely read by some developer tools, such as code editors like Cursor, which use it as short project documentation. That is a different audience from the everyday ChatGPT or Gemini search a regular customer would use. ## How llms.txt differs from robots.txt robots.txt tells crawlers what they may and may not fetch from a site. The format has existed since the 1990s, and every major search engine and AI crawler supports it, including GPTBot and PerplexityBot, both listed in [OpenAI's documentation](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots). llms.txt works the other way around. It forbids nothing and instead suggests where a model should start reading and what matters most on the site. One file sets restrictions, the other offers a hint, and having one does not replace the other. ## Who actually uses llms.txt right now The number of sites with an llms.txt file grew roughly 8.8 times in a year, from 4,088 in June 2025 to 36,120 in May 2026, figures from an [Originality.ai](http://Originality.ai) study summarized in the summary of the [Originality.ai](http://Originality.ai) and Ahrefs data. Companies that added the file include Anthropic, Stripe, Cloudflare and Cursor, but more files does not automatically mean more systems reading them. According to Ahrefs data from May 2026 covering 137,000 domains, 97 percent of llms.txt files received zero requests that month. A growing number of companies add the file while almost nobody actually reads most of those files. ## Is it worth building llms.txt for a small site For a salon, workshop or local service business, building llms.txt as a standalone project is not worth it right now. Google explicitly says Search does not use llms.txt, while OpenAI's documentation does not list it as a distinct supported format. It has no effect on regular Google search visibility. That same time is better spent on what actually works, regular SEO, a correct Impressum, clear page structure, and listings in independent directories. If a company already has finished documentation or a large FAQ section and the file can be assembled in 20 minutes without a developer, it does no harm. Paying an agency separately to build an llms.txt in 2026 is not worth it though, it is not a lever that currently moves anything. The same tradeoff applies to another technical file in the same category: [Schema.org markup](https://illia-biztech.de/en/blog/schema-markup-lokales-unternehmen) is not a requirement for appearing in AI answers either, but it stays useful as an ordinary SEO signal.. **Share** [ ![Technician checking server access logs across multiple monitors](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_ki_crawler_robots_txt_erlauben_d862958530.png) Previous Post GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot in robots.txt. Allow or block](/en/blog/ki-crawler-robots-txt-erlauben) [ ![Business owner reading an AI assistant recommendation for a web agency on a laptop screen](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_ki_suchmaschinen_empfehlung_webagentur_530bc494ab.png) Next Post How AI assistants decide which web agency to recommend](/en/blog/ki-suchmaschinen-empfehlung-webagentur) ![Portrait of Illia Belichenko, technical specialist at Illia BizTech](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Illia_Belichenko_author_81f88864f0.png) ##### Illia Belichenko Illia is responsible for the technical side of Illia BizTech: website development, website updates, forms, integrations, automation and technical support. He works on connecting websites, content, advertising and internal workflows so they work together without creating unnecessary manual work. ##### Recent Posts [![Checking a company's registration in the German Handelsregister on a laptop screen](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_handelsregister_impressum_agentur_pruefen_84f39c129a.png)](/en/blog/handelsregister-impressum-agentur-pruefen) #### [Checking a web agency before you pay: Handelsregister and Impressum](/en/blog/handelsregister-impressum-agentur-pruefen) November 13, 2026 [](/en/blog/handelsregister-impressum-agentur-pruefen) [![Person reading Google search results with an AI overview on a smartphone screen](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_google_ai_overviews_sichtbarkeit_edbe04f07f.png)](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) #### [What a website needs to appear in Google AI Overviews](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) November 12, 2026 [](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) [![Developer inspecting a website's structured data in browser developer tools](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_schema_markup_lokales_unternehmen_7a4925ced8.png)](/en/blog/schema-markup-lokales-unternehmen) #### [Schema.org structured data for a local business site. What you actually need](/en/blog/schema-markup-lokales-unternehmen) November 11, 2026 [](/en/blog/schema-markup-lokales-unternehmen) No major AI search system currently reads the llms.txt file, so spending a client's budget on it as a separate line item does not make sense. Illia Belichenko instead checks robots.txt, page structure and the Impressum on client projects, the things that actually affect a site's visibility. Illia BizTech builds and maintains websites for companies in Germany in German, English, Russian and Ukrainian, from the first version through ongoing maintenance and search visibility work. One monthly plan covers the website, advertising and content, the scope is agreed in advance and can be moved between them when priorities change. The domain, hosting and ad accounts stay registered to the company, so the work can continue on the existing setup without a full rebuild. That fits businesses moving to Germany or expanding into the German-speaking market who want to explain their task once.