Freelopers

Question 4 of 6 / Map

llms.txt: a map, not a lever.

What the file is, who says they read it, and how to publish one on HubSpot if you still want one.

Read the stepsSee the sources

Sources read on 24 September 2026, next review by 23 December 2026. Nothing here promises rankings or AI citations.

THE SHORT ANSWER

Does llms.txt help, and how do you publish one on HubSpot?

Not with Google Search: Google says Search ignores the file, and that it neither harms nor helps. It is a proposal for giving AI agents a short Markdown map of your site; publish one if you have pages an agent should find, and expect nothing from search.

No AI company we checked says its systems read other sites' llms.txt files.

AI optimization guide

01 / On HubSpot

Publishing one
on HubSpot.

This is how freelopers.com/llms.txt is built.

  1. 01

    Write the file in Markdown

    One H1 with the site's name, the only required part. Then a one-line summary as a quote, and sections of links, each with a short note. A section called Optional holds what an agent may skip.

    Leave with A short, true map

    Proposalllmstxt.org
  2. 02

    Make a template with no layout

    In the Design Manager, create a coded page template that extends nothing and holds the Markdown. With no header, footer or stylesheet, the page is text only.

    Leave with A template that outputs plain text

  3. 03

    Publish a page at /llms.txt

    Create a website page from that template and set its URL to llms.txt. HubSpot serves it with an HTML content type; the text itself is still plain Markdown.

    Leave with The file at yourdomain.com/llms.txt

    Examplefreelopers.com/llms.txt
  4. 04

    List only pages that answer something

    Link the pages that answer real questions, each with one line on what it answers. Every link should work and every line should match the page.

    Leave with A map worth following

  5. 05

    Check it where it is checked

    Open the file in a browser. Chrome's Lighthouse has an Agentic browsing audit that looks for it; without the file the audit is simply not applicable.

    Leave with The file found

    LighthouseThe llms.txt audit

02 / The evidence

Who says what
about llms.txt.

Four sources, one proposal, and a great deal of repetition elsewhere.

01 / GOOGLE

Google Search ignores it.

Google: "You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, markup, or Markdown to appear in Google Search (including its generative AI capabilities), as Google Search itself doesn't use them."

Google Search CentralAI optimization guide

Owned by Freelopers OÜ
Last reviewed 24 September 2026

Why this matters

The same guide: "Doing so will neither harm nor help your site's visibility or rankings in Google Search, as Google Search ignores them." The note was added on 15 June 2026.

02 / PROPOSAL

It is a proposal for agents.

llmstxt.org: "A proposal to standardise on using an /llms.txt file to provide information to help agents use a website."

llmstxt.orgThe /llms.txt file

Owned by Freelopers OÜ
Last reviewed 24 September 2026

Why this matters

Written by Jeremy Howard and published on 3 September 2024. Version 2, in August 2026, also proposes Markdown copies of pages.

03 / 2025

Google, 2025: no AI system uses it.

John Mueller of Google on Bluesky, 17 June 2025: "FWIW no AI system currently uses llms.txt."

BlueskyJohn Mueller's post

Owned by Freelopers OÜ
Last reviewed 24 September 2026

Why this matters

The statement is more than a year old. We found no newer statement from any AI company that its systems read other sites' files.

04 / A TOOL

Lighthouse checks for it, optionally.

Chrome's Lighthouse calls it "an emerging convention used to provide a machine-readable summary of a website's content, specifically designed for LLMs and AI agents".

Chrome for DevelopersThe llms.txt audit

Owned by Freelopers OÜ
Last reviewed 24 September 2026

Why this matters

A site without the file is scored not applicable, "as providing the file is optional at the moment." A check in a tool is not a Search signal.

03 / Questions

Fair questions,
straight answers.

What people ask about llms.txt.

Do ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity read it?

We found no statement from OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity or Microsoft that their systems read other sites' llms.txt files. OpenAI and Perplexity publish llms.txt files for their own documentation; publishing one is not the same as reading yours.

Owned by Freelopers OÜ
Last reviewed 24 September 2026

Then why does freelopers.com have one?

As a map for agents and assistants that look for one, kept short and true. It costs little, and Google says it does no harm. We do not expect it to change rankings or citations.

Our llms.txt

Owned by Freelopers OÜ
Last reviewed 24 September 2026

Why did Lighthouse mention my missing llms.txt?

Its Agentic browsing audit checks for the file and marks a site without one as not applicable, because the file is optional. It is a check inside a tool, not a Google Search signal.

The Lighthouse audit

Owned by Freelopers OÜ
Last reviewed 24 September 2026

Is it like robots.txt?

No. Robots.txt asks crawlers not to fetch paths. llms.txt is a list of links with notes; it permits and forbids nothing.

Owned by Freelopers OÜ
Last reviewed 24 September 2026

What changed in version 2?

Version 2, in August 2026, also proposes Markdown copies of pages linked from the HTML, and a link from each page back to the llms.txt. It is still a proposal, open for community input.

llmstxt.org

Owned by Freelopers OÜ
Last reviewed 24 September 2026

04 / Sources

Sources,
read on 24 September 2026.

Every page we quote, with its publisher and the date it shows. We re-read them at every review.

  1. 01

    AI optimization guide

    Google Search Central10 July 2026Documentation

    Google Search does not use llms.txt.

  2. 02

    The /llms.txt file

    llmstxt.org3 September 2024, version 2 August 2026Proposal

    The format.

  3. 03

    Post on llms.txt

    John Mueller, Bluesky17 June 2025Statement

    No AI system currently uses llms.txt.

  4. 04

    llms.txt audit

    Chrome for Developers5 May 2026Documentation

    Optional, scored not applicable when absent.

05 / Where you are

Next: show the evidence
behind a claim.

Or pick the route closest to where you are.

Let the theme do the structure.

Answerable puts the answer first, attaches the evidence and publishes structured data that matches the page, checked in public.

Which of your pages answer a real question?
See the proof page

Start free with DeLight.

A free HubSpot theme with the site graph and structured data built in, installed more than 1,900 times.

Do you need a site before you need answers?
Get DeLight free

Find out what AI reads today.

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