What is llms.txt? The File That Gets You Cited by AI

If you want ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI tools to cite your website, you need an llms.txt file.

It's simple, free, and takes 5 minutes to set up.

What is llms.txt?

llms.txt is a plain text file at the root of your website that tells AI crawlers:

What your business does
Which pages are most important
What you're an authority on
How to contact you

Think of it as a "cheat sheet for AI" — a quick guide so AI understands you fast.

Why It Matters

AI crawlers scrape billions of pages. They need to decide quickly what's important.

With llms.txt: AI knows what you do immediately, your key pages get prioritized, higher chance of being cited in answers.

Without it: AI guesses based on limited signals, may miss your best content, lower citation rate.

How to Create llms.txt

Basic Format

Create a file at https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt:

# SottoVox - AI Visibility Platform
# https://sottovox.com

## About
SottoVox helps businesses get visible to AI crawlers.
We provide scanning, SDK, and fixes for AI visibility.

## Key Pages
/ - Homepage
/pricing - Pricing plans
/blog - AI visibility insights
/contact - Get in touch

## Authority
We're cited by industry leaders for AI visibility expertise.
Founded 2025. Trusted by 1000+ businesses.

## Contact
support@sottovox.com

That's it! Plain text, clear sections.

What to Include

Section	Purpose
Header	Name + URL
About	What you do in 1-2 sentences
Key Pages	Most important URLs
Authority	Why you're trustworthy
Contact	How to reach you

Tips: Keep it under 500 words, use # for headings, list URLs clearly, update quarterly.

How AI Uses It

When ChatGPT or Perplexity's crawler hits your site:

Looks for llms.txt or llms.html
Reads your summary
Prioritizes the pages you listed
Understands your expertise faster

Result: Better indexing → more citations → more traffic.

Test Your llms.txt

Visit https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt — should load plain text
Use SottoVox scanner to verify AI can read it
Check if AI cites your key pages

Automate It

If you're using SottoVox SDK, we auto-generate llms.txt for you. No manual work — just install the SDK and we handle the rest.

TL;DR

Create a plain text file at https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt that describes your business, lists key pages, states your authority, and provides contact info. Keep it under 500 words. Update quarterly. Test with SottoVox scanner.

Scan your site