llms.txt and Markdown pages for AI

llms.txt is a plain Markdown file at the root of your site that lists your key pages with a one-line description each. AI agents, coding tools and assistants read it to find their way around a site without parsing menus and themes. RankKit SEO also serves a clean Markdown version of each page, so an agent reads your words instead of your theme's HTML.

Both are on by default and need no setup. Google has said llms.txt does not affect Google Search, so treat it as a convenience for AI tools, not a ranking factor.

Your llms.txt

Open https://example.com/llms.txt, or click View on RankKit SEO → Settings → llms.txt. It looks like this:

# Example Bakery

> Small-batch sourdough and pastries, baked daily in Portland.

## Pages

- [About us](https://example.com/about.md): Who we are and how we bake.
- [Contact](https://example.com/contact.md): Opening hours, address and phone.

## Posts

- [How to feed a sourdough starter](https://example.com/feed-sourdough-starter.md): A daily routine that works.

## Optional

- [Sitemap](https://example.com/wp-sitemap.xml)

• Each section is a content type you include. Pages are listed in menu order, posts by last-modified date.
• Each line uses the post title and its meta description.
• Noindexed and password-protected pages are left out.
• With Markdown pages on, links point at the .md versions.

The file is cached for 12 hours and rebuilt when you save a post or change SEO data in RankKit SEO.

Settings

Go to RankKit SEO → Settings → llms.txt.

Setting	Default	What it does
Introduction	Empty (uses your site tagline)	"One or two sentences on what this site is about." Shown as the quote under the site name.
Include	Pages and Posts	Which content types get a section.
Items per content type	50	How many entries each section lists.

Click Save changes.

Markdown pages

Go to RankKit SEO → Settings → Markdown. The Serve Markdown versions switch is on by default. With it on, add .md to the end of any post or page URL:

https://example.com/feed-sourdough-starter.md
https://example.com/index.md        (the static front page)
https://example.com/some-page/?format=markdown

Each Markdown page has the title, the meta description, the URL, an "Updated" date and the content converted to Markdown. RankKit SEO also adds a <link rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"> tag to the HTML page so agents can find it.

Markdown pages are served only for published posts and pages that aren't noindexed or password-protected. They are sent with an X-Robots-Tag: noindex header, so search engines don't index them as duplicates.

llms-full.txt (Pro)

/llms-full.txt is the full text of your key pages in one Markdown file, for AI tools that read a whole site at once.

1. On Settings → llms.txt, find the llms-full.txt card.
2. Turn on Publish /llms-full.txt.
3. Set the limits and click Save changes.

Setting	Default	What it does
Publish /llms-full.txt	Off	Serves the file and lists it in llms.txt as "Full content (llms-full.txt)".
Pages per content type	50	Uses the content types chosen above. Noindexed and password-protected pages are left out.
Size limit (KB)	1024	Pages that would go over the limit are left out. Minimum 64 KB.

The file is cached and rebuilt when content changes. Without Pro, or with the setting off, /llms-full.txt returns a 404.

AI usage policy (Pro)

A plain statement in llms.txt (and llms-full.txt) on how AI companies may use your content.

Setting	Default
Add an AI usage policy to llms.txt	Off
AI training: allowed / AI training: not allowed	Allowed
Attribution	Empty, which outputs: Credit "your site name" and link to the page you used.
Contact for AI licensing	Empty

It adds an ## AI usage policy section with lines for Training, Retrieval (AI assistants and AI search may read, quote and summarize your content with a link to the source page), Attribution and, if you fill it in, Contact.

Note The policy is a statement, not a block. To actually stop training crawlers, block them under Settings → Robots & AI crawlers. See Edit robots.txt.

RankKit SEO Pro llms-full.txt and the AI usage policy are part of RankKit SEO Pro. Start a 14-day free trial.

Multilingual sites

With Polylang, each language gets its own file at /<lang>/llms.txt. See Multilingual SEO.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
/llms.txt or .md URLs return a 404	Plain permalinks, or rewrite rules not refreshed.	Use pretty permalinks. Then visit Settings → Permalinks in WordPress and click Save Changes to refresh the rules.
A page is missing from llms.txt	It is noindexed, password-protected, its type isn't included, or it is beyond Items per content type.	Check those settings.
Changes don't appear	A page cache or CDN caches /llms.txt.	Purge the cache for that URL.
llms.txt is off entirely	The llms.txt & Markdown module is off.	Turn it on in RankKit SEO → Dashboard → Modules.

FAQ

Does llms.txt improve my Google rankings?

No. Google has said it doesn't use llms.txt. It helps AI agents and tools read your site, which can make it easier for them to cite you correctly.

Will the Markdown pages count as duplicate content?

No. They carry an X-Robots-Tag: noindex header, so search engines don't index them.

Can I see whether AI tools read my llms.txt?

Yes. The llms.txt / Markdown reads tile on the AI crawlers report counts requests for these files from AI bots.