Get AI to Recommend Your Business

A vehicle wrap shop owner in Utah added one simple file to his website. Now when someone asks ChatGPT who does the best vehicle wraps in his area, ChatGPT actually recommends his shop by name. He didn’t pay for ads. He didn’t hire an agency. Most business owners have never even heard the file exists.

The file is called llms.txt

Think of it as a plain-language summary of your business that you leave in a specific spot on your website, written so AI tools can find it and understand it instantly, instead of trying to dig through your site’s actual code, navigation menus, and design elements to figure out what you do.

It’s a real, documented convention, llms.txt is not a trick or a rumor, and a lot of businesses are adding one. Here’s the honest part most people won’t tell you: no major AI company, not OpenAI, not Anthropic, not Google, has officially confirmed that their assistant reads this file when deciding what to recommend. Adoption on the website side has grown fast. Whether the AI side is actually using it consistently is still genuinely unproven and debated among the people who track this closely.

You don’t need to write this by hand. Copy the prompt below into Claude, fill in your own business details, and it will write the finished file for you.

You are helping me write an llms.txt file for my business website, a plain text file that tells AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude what my business does, so they can recommend me to people searching for what I offer.

# MY BUSINESS INFO

Business name: {{BUSINESS_NAME}}
What I do (in plain language): {{WHAT_YOU_DO}}
Location(s) I serve: {{LOCATION}}
What makes me different / why someone should choose me: {{WHY_CHOOSE_YOU}}
Website: {{WEBSITE_URL}}
Contact info I want AI to share: {{CONTACT_INFO}}

# WHAT TO DO

1. Write this as a clean markdown document: a single heading line with my business name, then a one-sentence summary right below it, then organized sections in plain language.
2. Do not invent any details I did not give you. If something is missing that would genuinely help (like service area or specialty), ask me for it instead of guessing.
3. Keep the language plain and factual, written the way you'd describe the business to a person, not marketing copy, not keyword stuffing.
4. Include a short section that plainly states who this business is a good fit for and why, since that is exactly what an AI assistant needs to make a real recommendation.

# OUTPUT

Give me the finished file exactly as it should be saved, in a single code block, ready to copy and paste.

This is the part most guides skip. Where you put the file, and how much work it takes, depends entirely on what your website is built on. Find your platform below and follow those exact steps.

If you have a custom-built or developer-managed site

1. Open your site’s file manager, or connect through FTP/SFTP. If you’re not sure how, ask whoever built or hosts your site, this is a completely normal request to make.
2. Create a new plain text file named exactly llms.txt, all lowercase, nothing extra.
3. Paste in the content Claude wrote for you in Part 2.
4. Upload it to your site’s root folder, the very top level, the same place robots.txt and index.html already live. Not inside any subfolder.
5. Test it. Visit yoursite.com/llms.txt in your browser. If the text shows up, you’re done.

If your site runs on WordPress

1. Log into your WordPress dashboard.
2. Go to Plugins > Add New, and search “llms.txt.” A few real plugins exist for exactly this and will host the file for you automatically.
3. Install and activate one, then follow its setup screen, most let you paste your business info directly.
4. No plugin option, or your host won’t allow one? Ask your hosting support, or whoever manages your site, to upload the file to your root directory, the same folder as wp-config.php.
5. Test it. Visit yoursite.com/llms.txt in your browser.

If your site runs on Wix

1. In the Wix Editor, open your site’s file manager (under Settings or Site Files, depending on your plan) and see if you can upload a file that ends up accessible directly at yoursite.com/llms.txt.
2. If your plan supports custom file hosting under .well-known/, you may be able to place it at yoursite.com/.well-known/llms.txt instead. Note this is a different address than the standard one, some AI tools may not check that path yet.
3. Neither works? Contact Wix support directly and say: “I want to add a file called llms.txt to the root of my site so it’s accessible at yoursite.com/llms.txt, can you help me do that?” This is a newer kind of request, so be ready to briefly explain what it is if the first rep hasn’t heard of it.
4. Test it. Visit yoursite.com/llms.txt in your browser once it’s live.

If your site runs on Squarespace

1. In your Squarespace dashboard, find your asset or file manager, usually under Settings > Advanced or Files, depending on your plan.
2. Upload your llms.txt file there. Squarespace will give it its own internal storage link, a long URL that isn’t yoursite.com/llms.txt.
3. Go to Settings > Advanced > URL Mappings.
4. Add a new mapping from /llms.txt to that real storage link, this makes yoursite.com/llms.txt redirect to your actual file.
5. Save, then test it. Visit yoursite.com/llms.txt in your browser.

If your site runs on Shopify

1. Easiest path: go to the Shopify App Store and search “llms.txt.” A few apps are built specifically for this and will host the file and the correct URL for you automatically.
2. Manual path: in your Shopify Admin, go to Content > Files and upload your llms.txt file.
3. Shopify will give it its own storage URL, not the clean yoursite.com/llms.txt address, so you’ll likely need a redirect app, or your theme developer’s help, to point yoursite.com/llms.txt to that file.
4. Test it. Visit yoursite.com/llms.txt in your browser once it’s set up.

A few things to watch for

• This is still an unproven, debated convention. No major AI company has confirmed their assistant actually reads this file to decide what to recommend, so there’s no guarantee it changes anything for your business.
• Keep the file honest and current anyway. Update it any time your services, location, or hours meaningfully change, on the chance it does get used, or gets used more consistently later as this convention matures.
• Don’t try to keyword-stuff it to game the system. The whole reason this works is that it gives AI something true and clear to work with, the same reason vague, sales-y copy doesn’t perform as well here either.

The takeaway

One real file, written honestly about what your business actually does, is a low-effort bet that AI tools might use to recommend you instead of overlooking you. Nobody can promise it works, but it takes about five minutes to write and costs nothing to add, so there’s little reason not to.

Sources

This guide is based on the real, documented llms.txt specification and current platform-specific setup guidance, not guesswork:

• The /llms.txt file, llms-txt.org (the original specification)
• What Is llms.txt, and Should You Care About It?, Ahrefs
• Complete llms.txt Guide for 2026, DEV Community
• How to Add an llms.txt File (Coded Sites, WordPress, Wix, Shopify), Baking AI
• How to Add llms.txt to Squarespace, Beyond Space Studio
• Adding an llms.txt File to a Shopify Store, Shopify Developer Community
• The Great llms.txt Confusion of 2026: Does It Actually Work?, Live Go Digital (the honest counterpoint: no major AI company has confirmed using it)
• llms.txt in 2026: Adoption Data and When to Use It, OrganiKPI