How to Optimize This new landscape requires more than good SEO practices. You need to teach your models how you want them to be interpreted. And that starts by defining clear policies for the AI agents that visit your site.
Want to understand how to use LLMs.txt to protect, guide and better position your content? Follow the post and see how to apply this strategy.
Understand what the LLMs.txt file is and its function in SEO
Controlling what AI bots can access has dataset never been more necessary. LLMs.txt is a new feature that gives content publishers more autonomy , especially at a time when language models are trained based on everything they encounter.
This file works similarly to robots.txt, but is specifically aimed at LLM (Large Language Model) crawlers. It allows you to authorize, restrict, or guide the use of pages and sections of the site by automated agents responsible for feeding generative AI tools.
Create clear policies on AI content usage
Letting AI tools decide what they can why should you use noreply address? and can’t use from your site may seem harmless, until your unique content appears, without credit, in a template-generated autoresponder. To avoid this, you need to establish clear guidelines, written by you.
LLMs.txt allows you to define these rules based on your own priorities. You can restrict full access, allow only certain pages, or specify agents who are allowed to crawl your data .
But the most important thing is that these policies make sense for your business. And that involves thinking about the following points:
- What type of content should not be used by AI?
- Is there commercial or technical information that requires protection?
- Do you want to be referenced by assistants like ChatGPT or would you prefer to limit that?
- Are there any crawlers you want to block or allow with specific conditions?
Answering these questions will help you build an LLMs.txt file that is aligned with your goals. It’s not about stopping AI from advancing, but about ensuring that it happens in an ethical, controlled way that is beneficial to those who create it .
Specify permissions and restrictions for LLM crawlers
The way you guide AI bots determines how south africa numbers much of your content will be accessed, interpreted, and potentially reused in automated responses. This new layer of control may seem technical, but it has a direct impact on your brand’s positioning on the web.
According to Exploding Topics , 92% of Fortune 500 companies are already integrating generative AI into their workflows. This movement reinforces how much the use of language models has grown and with it, the risks and opportunities of content exposure.
With LLMs.txt you can:
- authorize or deny access to certain directories on the site;
- restrict tracking by specific crawlers, such as those linked to ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, among others;
- indicate patterns of behavior expected from these agents.
Implement LLMs.txt along with robots.txt on your website
Separately, they perform different functions. Together, they reinforce control over how your content is accessed and used by search engine robots and language models. LLMs.txt works as a complement to the traditional robots.txt , bringing specificity to what involves generative AI.
The ideal is to place both at the root of your domain (yoursite.com/llms.txt and yoursite.com/robots.txt). This makes it easier for automated agents to recognize them, which are programmed to search for this information right at the entrance to the site.
The implementation process is simple, but it needs to be done with attention to the following points:
- avoid duplication of rules — what is defined in one file does not need to be repeated in the other.
Protect sensitive and proprietary content from misuse
Not all content was created to be shared, especially without context or authorization. With the advancement of generative AI, the exposure to risks such as improper copying, distorted use of technical information and even leaks of strategic data also increases .
LLMs.txt allows you to create specific barriers against this type of use. By blocking critical sections of your site—such as membership areas, premium content, exclusive reports, or internal studies—you prevent AI agents from collecting this information to train models or feed automated response systems.
It is worth remembering that protection via LLMs.txt does not replace good digital security practices, but complements the strategy because it offers an additional level of control.
