The reality and controversy surrounding the llms.txt generation feature
- The “llms.txt” file does not alter search rankings.
- Why is WordPress suddenly receiving so much attention?
- Will SEO and AI really help with visibility?
- Reasons why a single file may not produce significant results.
- The actual points where automatic generation fails.
- The choice depends on the type of website.
- When outsourcing basic SEO checks: SOHO SEO.
- Frequently Asked Questions.
- WordPress-related links
A new feature has been added to WordPress. Its name is the “llms.txt generation” feature.
Will turning this on improve Google search rankings? Will my posts be featured more often in AI services like ChatGPT? To put it simply, this feature is not as powerful as one might expect.
The “llms.txt” file does not alter search rankings.
llms.txt is a proposal document designed to help artificial intelligence agents quickly understand the important documents and structure of a website. In simpler terms, it is similar to a small table of contents that helps AI agents navigate the site.
The proposed format consists of a title where the site name is written, a brief description, and a list of links to related documents. This format does not include all of the content of the site in a single file.
Here, a misunderstanding arises. This file is not a rule file for adjusting search rankings. It also differs in purpose from a list that enumerates all addresses of a website.
The proposal for “llms.txt” was released by Jeremy Howard on September 3, 2024, and was revised to version 2 on August 10, 2026.
This is a table of contents, not a ranking chart.
Why is WordPress suddenly receiving so much attention?
The way people interact with search engines has changed not only in terms of the short words they type into the search bar. Now, people are asking questions of artificial intelligence and requesting that it summarize the content of multiple websites at once.
The site operator naturally asks, “Wouldn’t an artificial intelligence system be able to find my posts more easily if I organized them separately?”
llmstxt.org states in its 2026 revised documentation that thousands of websites publish this file. The documentation also mentions that document platforms and Chrome Lighthouse offer related features.
In WordPress, Yoast SEO added an automatic generation feature on June 10, 2025. The fact that files are created with just the click of a button has attracted the attention of operators.
However, the fact that a file is created is different from the actual fact that an artificial intelligence service reads it.
Generation and utilization are separate aspects.
Will SEO and AI really help with visibility?
To answer in a single line: for general websites, it is an optional feature.
The “llms.txt generation” feature is a supplementary guide for the AI era; it is not a necessary feature for improving WordPress SEO, nor is it a switch that guarantees AI exposure.
Google Search Central announced in a guideline dated June 2026 that Google Search does not use the “llms.txt” file. The announcement also stated that this file does not affect the display of search results or rankings, either positively or negatively.
Therefore, if the goal is to increase Google visits, simply enabling this feature will not make a difference. Do not assume that you have found a special trick for search.
Furthermore, llmstxt.org describes this approach not as a finalized web standard, but as a public proposal for feedback. There is currently no guarantee that all artificial intelligence services will be required to read this file.
This is not a standard that guarantees results.
Reasons why a single file may not produce significant results.
The role of this file is not to improve the quality of the content. Rather, it serves to provide a short and clear path to the existing content.
For example, let’s say a product manual consists of 100 pages. The “llms.txt” file is not intended to rewrite the manual, but rather serves as a guide indicating which pages contain the most important information.
No matter how well-designed the instructions are, the quality of the answers will not improve if the content of the manual is inadequate. The same is true if the links are outdated or if essential documents are missing.
The proposed method focuses on providing concise explanations and links to relevant documents. It is designed to help artificial intelligence find the documents it needs, rather than automatically transforming the entire site into a source of high-quality information.
The automatic generation feature in WordPress creates a file in the installation directory and updates them weekly. By default, it includes recent posts and pages, some custom content types, and category links.
While the automatic generation is convenient, it does not necessarily mean that the most recently updated post is the most important one.
The most recent posts may not be the most important ones.
The actual points where automatic generation fails.
When a general operator tries to manage the system directly, the first difficulty is choosing what to include. Even if visitors know which posts are important, the site’s documents are rarely organized by the order in which they are linked.
When the automatic function is enabled, another problem arises. While recent posts are included, older, essential guides may be omitted. Classification links may remain, but it is difficult to determine which documents are important within them.
Conversely, if you create the content yourself, you need to check it every week. Because links and descriptions need to be updated whenever the document changes, this can be a management burden for small website operators.
It is also difficult to verify the effectiveness. This is because it is difficult to determine at once which AI service read the file, whether it incorporated the file’s contents into its response even after reading it, and whether the number of visitors increased as a result.
It doesn’t appear that creating the file has yielded any results.
llmstxt.org recommends providing a brief and specific description for each link and suggests testing whether the system can actually answer questions based on the provided files. This means that the accuracy of the content is more important than simply the existence of the file.
Google does not treat this file as a special file for search purposes. Therefore, relying on automatically generated results and postponing other SEO tasks is a misguided approach.
The choice depends on the type of website.
For general blogs, company introduction websites, and small online shopping malls, there is no problem in meeting the basic SEO requirements of Google search even without creating an “llms.txt” file.
For websites like this, first create original content and carefully organize the title and internal links. It is also essential to check the structure so that search engine crawlers can read the pages, and to verify the list of website addresses.
If your goal is to improve Google search rankings, the fundamentals are the first priority.
On the other hand, if a site is frequently referenced by AI coding agents or internal search tools, such as developer documentation, API documentation, or product manuals, the situation is somewhat different.
In this case, it is better to select only the core documents rather than leaving the automatically generated results as they are. For each link, add a short and specific description such as “installation method,” “authentication method,” or “troubleshooting.”
- If the goal is to improve Google search rankings, first check the quality of the original content and the structure of the website.
- If it is a document-based website, organize the order of important documents yourself.
- The automatically generated files are created and then tested with actual questions.
Ultimately, the “llms.txt” file is not a mandatory item. It is only a supplementary tool to be used when it is necessary to guide readers to the relevant sections of the document.
Ordinary websites can have their priority lowered.
When outsourcing basic SEO checks: SOHO SEO.
To verify the fundamentals, you must examine each post individually, considering elements that affect search visibility, such as the post title, featured image, author, and how it appears on mobile screens. SOHO SEO checks these items for each post using a Post SEO checklist, and automatically outputs structured data containing information such as the title, image, author, publication date, modification date, and publisher for each post.
The site allows you to enable or disable both a standard XML sitemap and a Google News sitemap for recent posts. You can also manage the noindex setting for archive pages, including those related to date, author, tags, and site search results. Regularly checking the status of robots.txt and the sitemaps provided by plugins serves as a solution for verifying the basic search functionality, independent of the llms.txt file.
Frequently Asked Questions.
Q. If it is a WordPress site, is it mandatory to enable the “llms.txt” file?
A. No.
If it’s a general blog or a company website, there’s no reason to consider SEO a mandatory feature. If your goal is Google search ranking, perform other basic tasks first.
Q. In what situations is it best to use it on my website?
A. If a website has a structure that is important, such as developer documentation, API documentation, or product manuals, and is likely to be referenced by an AI agent, it can be considered as a supplementary resource. It is better to select key documents and verify the explanations rather than simply using the automatically generated results.
Q. Can this problem be easily solved using a tool? What kind of tool should be used?
A. It is possible to create files using WordPress’s SEO features or separate file creation tools. However, these tools do not make judgments about important documents, so the operator must select and verify the files to ensure they align with the website’s purpose.
Q. What should be checked first when not creating the “llms.txt” file?
A. First, it is essential to check the quality of the original content, as well as the title, featured image, author, structured data, sitemap, and archive settings.
SOHO SEO provides checklists for each post and structured data for articles, and allows management of sitemaps and noindex settings. It also includes a function to check the status of robots.txt and sitemaps, enabling users to perform basic SEO checks in one place.