What This Template Gives You
A complete llms.txt starter that you can paste into a plain text file, customize in 20 to 30 minutes, and deploy to yoursite.com/llms.txt today. The structure follows the emerging llms.txt convention, with sections for your brand summary, canonical pages, documentation, and research content.
Replace the placeholder text in brackets with your own copy. Do not keep any placeholders. A llms.txt with generic placeholder copy is worse than no llms.txt at all because it signals low investment to AI systems.
The Template
# [Your Brand Name]
> [One-paragraph brand summary. State what your brand does in 2 to 3 sentences, who it serves, and what makes it distinctive. This is the single highest-leverage passage you will write. AI systems often quote it verbatim when asked "what is [brand]?"]
## Core Pages
- [/](https://yoursite.com/): Homepage with product overview and primary call to action.
- [/about](https://yoursite.com/about): Company background, mission, and team.
- [/pricing](https://yoursite.com/pricing): Current pricing structure and plan details.
- [/product](https://yoursite.com/product): Main product page with feature details.
- [/contact](https://yoursite.com/contact): Contact information and support channels.
## Documentation
- [/docs](https://yoursite.com/docs): Main documentation index.
- [/docs/getting-started](https://yoursite.com/docs/getting-started): Setup and onboarding guide.
- [/docs/api](https://yoursite.com/docs/api): API reference.
- [/docs/integrations](https://yoursite.com/docs/integrations): Integration guides.
## Research and Reports
- [/research/[flagship-report]](https://yoursite.com/research/flagship-report): [One-line description of your most-cited research].
- [/research/[second-report]](https://yoursite.com/research/second-report): [One-line description].
## Comparisons
- [/compare/[brand]-vs-[competitor]](https://yoursite.com/compare/brand-vs-competitor): Feature and pricing comparison.
- [/compare/[brand]-vs-[alternative]](https://yoursite.com/compare/brand-vs-alternative): Feature and pricing comparison.
## Policies
- [/terms](https://yoursite.com/terms): Terms of service.
- [/privacy](https://yoursite.com/privacy): Privacy policy.
## Contact
- Licensing and partnerships: [licensing@yourbrand.com]
- Press and media: [press@yourbrand.com]
- Support: [support@yourbrand.com]Annotated Guidance
The H1 (your brand name): exact brand name as you want AI to refer to you. Do not use a tagline or description here. The H1 serves as the entity anchor.
The blockquote summary: the most important two sentences on your entire site for AI visibility. Rewrite this multiple times. Say what you do in concrete, specific terms. Avoid corporate platitudes. Include your category, your primary audience, and one differentiating attribute.
Core Pages section: 5 to 8 canonical pages. Homepage, about, pricing, main product, contact. These are the pages AI should cite when asked foundational questions about your brand.
Documentation section: include only if you are a product company with meaningful docs. Index page plus 3 to 5 highest-value individual doc pages.
Research section: include your 3 to 5 most-cited research pages. Research pages are AI-citation magnets, so surfacing them explicitly pays off.
Comparisons: include your top 3 to 5 versus pages. AI assistants are frequently asked comparison questions, and these pages are often cited.
Policies: required for compliance-sensitive domains and useful for all. Terms, privacy, and any industry-specific policy docs.
Contact: an email for licensing and press. AI platforms and researchers may use these to reach you.
Customization Rules
- Replace every placeholder: square brackets exist only to mark customization points. Ship-ready files have no brackets.
- Keep the total file size under 5 KB: llms.txt is curation, not a sitemap. If you find yourself past 5 KB, you are listing too many pages.
- Use one-line descriptions: each link should have a short factual description, not marketing copy. 10 to 20 words per description is the sweet spot.
- Use absolute URLs: include the full https URL for each link, not relative paths.
- Match H2 section names to your real site structure: if you do not have a research section, delete that H2. Do not leave empty sections.
- Update when your top pages change: review monthly. Drop retired pages, add new flagship content.
Deployment
Save the customized template as a plain text file named llms.txt. Upload to your domain root so it is served at https://yoursite.com/llms.txt with content-type text/plain. Do not add HTML wrapping, CMS chrome, or tracking scripts. The file must be raw text.
Verify deployment by requesting https://yoursite.com/llms.txt in a private browser tab. You should see plain text. If you see an HTML page or a 404, your deployment needs fixing.
What to Do After Deploying
- Check server logs for llms.txt requests from ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, GPTBot, and MistralAI-User within a week.
- Query Claude and Perplexity with prompts asking about your brand. Compare responses before and after deployment.
- Set a calendar reminder to review and refresh your llms.txt monthly.
- Pair with a schema audit: llms.txt curates pages, schema describes them. You need both for full AI visibility coverage.
How Presenc AI Helps
Presenc AI audits your llms.txt for structure, completeness, and alignment with your schema and robots.txt. The platform detects whether each major AI crawler is reading your llms.txt (by monitoring server-side requests and citation outcomes) and flags opportunities to improve the file. For brands uncertain where to start, Presenc generates a recommended llms.txt based on your current content map and visibility priorities.