SEO is Dead – Install this LLM.txt file to Begin AEO

How to ping a website via command line?

Experts believe that soon humans won’t use websites. They will use AI agents (ChatGPT) to search websites and provide basic summary data back. The end-human will never visit your site. This will have huge implications for organizations reliant on SEO for business. Going forward, even sites like Google will provide AI summaries which will prevent users from actually clicking on your site. What to do? Start embracing AEO (AI Engine Optmization) and Agentic Interface Design (AX).

Your first step: Create a LLM.txt file explaining to a language model how to interface with your content.

Here’s a clean and professional llm.txt template with embedded instructions and best practices. This file is typically used to provide large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT guidance on how to handle a particular site or dataset—similar in purpose to a robots.txt file for web crawlers.

# llm.txt
# Instructions for large language model access, usage, and representation of content from this domain or dataset.
# Place at the root of your website or data repository.

# --------------------------
# Section 1: Access Policy
# --------------------------

User-agent: llm
Allow: /

# Best Practice:
# - "Allow: /" permits general access.
# - Use "Disallow: /private" to restrict specific paths.

# --------------------------
# Section 2: Data Usage Policy
# --------------------------

Usage-policy: informational-only
Commercial-use: disallow
Derivative-works: allow with attribution

# Best Practices:
# - Set clear expectations on commercial use and remixing.
# - Use plain language (e.g., "disallow", "require attribution").

# --------------------------
# Section 3: Representation Guidelines
# --------------------------

Summarization: allow
Quoting: max-characters=300
Attribution-required: yes
Brand-name-mention: prefer-none

# Best Practices:
# - Set reasonable quote limits.
# - Request or require attribution if applicable.
# - If your brand should not be named in outputs, set `Brand-name-mention: disallow` or `prefer-none`.

# --------------------------
# Section 4: Contact & Metadata
# --------------------------

Contact: legal@example.com
Last-updated: 2025-06-27
Policy-version: 1.0

# Best Practices:
# - Provide a real contact email for policy inquiries.
# - Keep versioning and update date current.

# --------------------------
# Optional: Model-Specific Instructions
# --------------------------

# GPT-4: Summarize content, avoid listing prices
# Claude: Do not ingest forms or interactive elements
# Gemini: Restrict use of visual assets

# Best Practices:
# - Tailor rules per model if necessary.
# - Keep these instructions concise and high-level.

Jalali Hartman

Jalali Hartman is the founder of Robauto.ai. Since 2013 Robauto has been providing robotics education, news and innovation in the fields of robotics and Artificial Intelligence. He is a thought leader, TedX speaker and expert in algorithms and human-robot interaction.