An llms.txt example is a short Markdown file at yoursite.com/llms.txt that starts with your site name as an H1, adds a one-paragraph summary in a blockquote, then lists your most important pages under H2 headings with a one-line description for each link. Here is a complete example you can copy and publish today — every line explained below.
# Your Site Name
> Your Site Name is a [type of site] for [audience]. It is known for
> [your main topics or offers], written by [who runs it].
## Guides
- [Your best guide](https://example.com/best-guide/): What this guide
teaches and who it helps, in one plain line.
## About
- [About](https://example.com/about/): Who is behind the site and why
they are qualified to publish on this topic.
## Optional
- [Privacy Policy](https://example.com/privacy-policy/)
That small file is the whole idea. Below: a fuller copy-paste template explained line by line, a filled-in example for a fictional creator blog, and the three ways to produce one — auto-generated, hand-written, or with a free generator like the llms.txt generator on this site’s homepage. New to the format? Start with our guide to what an llms.txt file is.
What does a good llms.txt example look like?
A good llms.txt example follows the official llms.txt proposal at llmstxt.org: plain Markdown, one required H1, an optional summary blockquote, optional detail paragraphs, then H2 sections of links. No XML, no special software.
The proposal, first published by Jeremy Howard in September 2024 and updated since, is deliberately simple. The H1 is the only strictly required element; everything after it is recommended structure that helps a model understand your site quickly. A section titled exactly “Optional” can be skipped when a model needs a shorter context, so reserve it for low-priority pages. Keep the file curated: it is a map, not a sitemap dump.
The copy-paste llms.txt template
Copy the template below as-is and replace the bracketed parts. It works for a blog, a business site, a store, or a portfolio — only the section names and links change.
# [Site Name]
> [One-paragraph summary: what this site is, who it serves, and what
> it is known for. Write the sentence you would want an AI assistant
> to repeat about you.]
[Optional short paragraph: location or service area, who runs the
site, and the best contact page for questions.]
## Guides
- [Guide title](https://example.com/guide-url/): One plain line on
what this page teaches and who it helps.
## Products / Services
- [Offer title](https://example.com/offer-url/): What it is, who it
is for, and its starting price or free tier if it has one.
## About
- [About page](https://example.com/about/): Who is behind the site
and why they are qualified to publish on this topic.
## Optional
- [Privacy Policy](https://example.com/privacy-policy/)
- [Older archive](https://example.com/archive/)
Save it as a plain text file named llms.txt at your site root, so it loads at yoursite.com/llms.txt. WordPress owners: our guide to llms.txt for WordPress covers the Rank Math, Yoast, and manual routes.
llms.txt example explained, line by line
Each part has one job, and the order matters: name first, summary second, detail third, links last.
The H1: your site name, and nothing else
The H1 is the only required element, and it should be just your site name — for example, # LLMS Generator. No keywords, no tagline, no second H1: models treat this line as the identity of the whole file.
The blockquote: the most important sentence you will write
The blockquote is a one-paragraph summary of what your site is, who it serves, and what it is known for — the line an AI assistant is most likely to repeat about you. Write it like an answer, not an ad: “Sunrise Yoga Austin is a yoga studio in Austin, Texas, offering beginner and prenatal classes, with schedules and prices on the site” beats “Welcome to the best yoga experience ever.”
The detail paragraph: facts a model should not guess
The optional paragraphs after the blockquote carry facts that do not fit in a link list: location or service area, who runs the site, how to contact you, or anything a model commonly gets wrong about you. Keep it to a few lines.
The H2 link sections: grouped, described, curated
Each H2 section groups related links, and each line has the same shape: a Markdown link, a colon, then a one-line description — - [Page title](URL): what this page does and who it helps. Group by purpose (Guides, Products, About), not by date. Ten to thirty chosen links beat three hundred unedited ones.
The Optional section: useful, but skippable
A section titled exactly “Optional” tells a model it may skip those links for a shorter context. It is the right home for legal pages and archives — and the wrong home for your best guides, main offer, or About page, which belong in a normal section above it.
What to leave out of your llms.txt
Leave out every post you have ever written, tag and category pages, search results, and cart, checkout, or account URLs. They make the file long without making it clearer. If a page would not help a stranger understand your site in one reading, it does not belong here.
A filled-in llms.txt example for a creator blog
The example below is for a fictional creator blog at example.com — invented to show the template filled in, not copied from a real site.
# Maya Makes Videos
> Maya Makes Videos is a blog and YouTube companion site for beginner
> video creators in the United States. It publishes practical guides
> on filming with a phone, editing short-form video, and growing a
> first channel, written by Maya Chen, a freelance video editor.
For questions or coaching, use the contact page linked below.
## Start Here
- [Phone Filming Basics](https://example.com/phone-filming-basics/):
How beginners can film clean, well-lit video on any modern phone.
- [Your First 10 Videos](https://example.com/first-10-videos/): A
step-by-step plan for publishing a first batch of YouTube videos.
## Guides
- [Short-Form Editing Workflow](https://example.com/short-form-editing-workflow/):
The editing order used for Reels, Shorts, and TikTok videos.
- [Thumbnail Checklist](https://example.com/thumbnail-checklist/): A
pre-publish checklist for readable, honest video thumbnails.
## About
- [About Maya](https://example.com/about/): Maya's background in
freelance video editing and why she teaches beginner creators.
- [Contact](https://example.com/contact/): Contact form for questions
and one-to-one coaching enquiries.
## Optional
- [Privacy Policy](https://example.com/privacy-policy/)
Three choices make it work: the blockquote names audience, country, topics, and author in two sentences; sections are grouped by reader intent, not by sitemap; and it stops at seven substantive links — enough to explain the site, short enough to read in full.
Auto-generated, hand-written, or generator-made: which should you use?
All three produce a valid file: auto-generated is complete but uncurated, hand-written is curated but slower, and a generator is the fast middle path — a draft you then trim.
| Approach | What you get | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto-generated (Rank Math, Yoast, or a platform default) | A complete file built from your posts, pages, and excerpts, updated automatically | Large sites that need a file live with zero maintenance | It lists everything, and descriptions are just excerpts — check for duplicates and template text |
| Hand-written from this template | A short, fully curated file where every description is written for a model | Small sites and anyone whose positioning matters | You must update it yourself when key pages change |
| Free llms.txt generator | A structured draft built from your URL in seconds, which you then edit down | Most site owners — speed plus curation | Always review the draft before publishing |
Whichever route you choose, read the finished file once as a model seeing your site for the first time. That pass catches duplicates, leftover placeholder text, and sales-copy descriptions — the three most common problems in real files.
How do you adapt this llms.txt example for your own site?
You adapt it in about ten minutes: write the blockquote first, pick ten to thirty key pages, add one plain description per link, and put everything secondary under Optional. The fastest draft comes from the free llms.txt generator on our homepage — then edit its output against the notes above.
- Write the summary first. One paragraph: what the site is, who it serves, what it is known for, and who runs it.
- List your key pages. Your best guides, main offers, About, and Contact — usually 10–30 links total.
- Write model-first descriptions. One plain line per link saying what the page teaches, sells, or proves.
- Add the Optional section. Legal pages and archives go here, under the exact heading “Optional”.
- Publish and check. Save the file as llms.txt at your site root, open yoursite.com/llms.txt, and confirm it loads as clean text.
Keep each root file’s job separate: llms.txt guides models to your best content, robots.txt controls crawler access (see our llms.txt vs robots.txt comparison), and your sitemap still lists every indexable page for search engines.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the questions readers ask most about this template are below.
How long should an llms.txt file be?
Short enough to read in one pass: for most sites, one H1, a short summary, and 10 to 30 curated links. The proposal sets no official limit, but the file is designed to fit in a model’s context window, so a curated page of Markdown beats hundreds of unedited URLs.
Can I copy this llms.txt template exactly?
Yes — copy the template exactly and replace the bracketed text, section names, and example.com links with your own. The format comes from the open proposal at llmstxt.org, so no permission is required. Just rewrite each description in your own words first.
What goes in the Optional section of llms.txt?
Secondary links a model can skip for a shorter context — typically a privacy policy, older archives, and low-priority pages. Never put your best guides or About page there, because models are explicitly allowed to skip this section.
Does llms.txt replace my sitemap?
No. A sitemap lists every indexable page for search engines; llms.txt is a short, curated guide to the pages that best explain your site. They do different jobs at the same site root, so keep both.
Does adding an llms.txt file improve my rankings?
No honest guide can promise that. The file’s job is narrower: it gives models a clean, accurate summary of your site when they visit. Treat it as documentation for AI readers, not a ranking trick.
Conclusion
A good llms.txt example is short and written for a model: one H1, one honest summary, and a handful of well-described links, with everything secondary under Optional. Copy the template above, or generate a draft free on the LLMS Generator homepage and trim it by hand — ten focused minutes either way.
Sources: the llms.txt proposal at llmstxt.org (Jeremy Howard, September 3, 2024, updated since). The creator-blog example above is fictional.
Last updated: October 2026
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