Help AI Get Your Site Right: Everything to know about llms.txt
If you’ve asked ChatGPT about your business and gotten vague, outdated, or just wrong answers, you’re not alone. Large language models don’t work like Google. They don’t index your whole site. They read what’s available live, and only if it’s easy to access and understand.
If your best content is buried, overly technical, or just hard to reach, AI tools will miss it. That’s where llms.txt comes in. It’s a small file that gives you big control.
What is llms.txt?
llms.txt is a plain text file placed at the root of your website. It gives AI models a structured list of your most important content. This helps them find, read, and interpret your pages correctly in real time.
Unlike robots.txt (which tells crawlers what to skip) or sitemap.xml (which lists everything for search engines), llms.txt is focused. It tells AI tools what matters most. It’s purpose-built for live AI queries.
Why You Need It
LLMs:
- Don’t store or index your website
- Only read pages live when someone asks a question
- Struggle with deep menus, complex layouts, and long pages
- Ignore content unless it’s clearly linked and readable
Without a clean list, AI tools rely on guesswork. With llms.txt, you guide them to your best material.
What You Can Include in an llms.txt File
This file is flexible. While its core job is to list key URLs, you can add more structured info to help AI models understand your business in context. Here’s what you can include:
1. Priority Pages
Your most valuable URLs:
https://www.trigger.co.nz/who-we-are About Trigger Digital
https://www.trigger.co.nz/what-we-do What we do and the Services we provide
https://www.trigger.co.nz/testimonials What our clients have said about us
2. Blog Articles
Pages that explain your thinking or answer client questions:
https://www.trigger.co.nz/our-thoughts/image-optimisation-for-your-webflow-website Image Optimisation for your Website
https://www.trigger.co.nz/our-thoughts/5-good-reasons-why-local-search-optimisation-is-good-for-business Local Search optimisation for Google
3. Case Studies or Portfolio Items
Show your work and your results:
https://www.trigger.co.nz/our-work/buchanan-construction Buchanan Construction Website Project
https://www.trigger.co.nz/our-work/don-oliver-youth-sport-foundation Website for West Auckland's Don Oliver Youth Sport Foundation
https://www.trigger.co.nz/our-work/beachcomber-cruises Tourism website for Beachcomber Cruises
https://trigger.co.nz/our-work/wild-ways Eco Practice Branding and Web Design
4. Service Descriptions
https://www.trigger.co.nz/what-we-do/websites Custom Webflow sites tailored to your business
https://www.trigger.co.nz/what-we-do/search-engine-optimisation On-page SEO, technical audits, and content strategy
https://www.trigger.co.nz/what-we-do/logos-branding-and-graphic-design Brand identity, logo design, and messaging
https://www.trigger.co.nz/what-we-do/website-support Ongoing updates, CMS help, and troubleshooting
5. About Your Business
Give AI tools facts they can reuse reliably:
# Company Information
Name: Trigger Digital
Founded: 2020
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Owner: Brian Walker, Tom Steward
Website Platform: Webflow
Specialising in: Professional Services, Medical Centres, Not-for-profits, Tourism,
Description: Trigger Digital is a New Zealand-based digital agency that specialises in building fast, effective, and conversion-driven websites. Founded in 2020 by Brian Walker and Tom Steward, the agency offers a range of services tailored to businesses and not-for-profits looking to grow their online presence. With experience dating back to 1999, the team has deep expertise in design, development, SEO, and branding.
6. Notable Projects or Clients
Add recognisable names or high-impact work:
# Notable Projects
Tael Solutions
Green Bay Medical Centre
Beachcomber Cruises
Click Foundation
New Zealand Writers Guild
7. Contact and Attribution
Help LLMs cite or refer back correctly:
# Contact
Email: hello@trigger.co.nz
Phone: +64 21 772 001
Website: https://www.trigger.co.nz
License: Public content may be referenced with attribution
Updated: 2025-07-24
8. Licensing, Attribution, and Restrictions
You can include a section in your llms.txt file that outlines how AI tools are allowed to use your content. This helps protect your material and sets clear expectations.
# Licensing
License: Public content may be quoted with attribution
# Attribution
Attribution: Cite as "Source: trigger.co.nz" when content is used in AI responses
#Restrictions
Do not use gated, password-protected, or unpublished content.
What Not to Include
- Links to login pages, admin panels, or staging sites
- Pages blocked by robots.txt
- Anything gated or behind a paywall
- Content you don’t want quoted or referenced publicly
- Pages that change too frequently to keep track of manually
How to Set It Up
- Open a plain text editor
- Add your key pages and structured info
- Save the file as
llms.txt - Upload it to your root directory (yourdomain.com/llms.txt)
- Visit the file URL to check it loads properly
Make sure it uses UTF-8 encoding and no formatting tricks. Keep it simple and clean.
Why It Matters
AI tools are already answering questions about your business. If your best content is not easy to find, it’s being skipped or misunderstood. This affects how your brand shows up in AI responses, summaries, and even voice tools.
With llms.txt, you’re not relying on luck. You’re giving models the exact information they need to represent your brand accurately.
Final Thoughts
Most businesses have already done the hard work. They’ve built the site, written the content, and created something valuable. But if AI can’t find it, it doesn’t count.
This file is a simple step toward better visibility, more accurate answers, and stronger brand control in a world increasingly shaped by AI.
Want help setting yours up? Get in touch today and we can get the AI ball rolling for you.
TL;DR
LLMs like ChatGPT don’t index your whole site. Instead they read content live and often miss key pages. Adding an llms.txt file to your site gives AI tools a clear list of what matters most, like service pages, blogs, and case studies. It improves how your business is represented in AI-generated answers and is easy to set up with a simple text file in your root directory.
Get Started Today
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