Google has revised its guide on optimizing for AI Search to make it clear that having LLMS.txt files on your website will neither negatively nor positively affect your Google Search rankings. Google also explicitly stated that Google Search does not make use of LLMS.txt files. Here is what Google said, with the newly added part in bold, where Google explains that Google Search does not rely on AI text files, markup, or Markdown files: “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. Note that Google may discover, crawl, and index many kinds of files in addition to HTML on a website: this doesn’t mean that the file is treated in a special way.” Google also introduced a new note that says: “It’s completely fine if you decide to create and maintain LLMS.txt files (or other similar files) for other services or systems that use these files. Doing so won’t harm (nor help) your visibility or rankings in Google Search, as Google Search ignores them.” Here is a screenshot of that section: Dig deeper. Meet llms.txt, a proposed standard for AI website content crawling llms.txt isn’t robots.txt: It’s a treasure map for AI Does llms.txt matter? We tracked 10 sites to find out Google adds llms.txt check to Chrome Lighthouse Why we care. There has been significant confusion about how Google Search treats LLMS.txt files, Markdown files, and other AI-related files.…