01What Google actually said
Google's fundamentals guide for AI optimization addresses this directly: you don't need to create new machine-readable files, AI text files, markup, or Markdown to appear in Google Search, and having such a file doesn't mean it gets special treatment. That single sentence closes an argument a lot of agencies have been happy to leave open, because an AI-readable file sounds like a service worth selling. The guidance is unambiguous: an llms.txt file won't move your rankings.
- Google's own guide states a special AI file is not required to appear in AI search
- A file existing does not mean it gets treated any differently by the crawler
- The guidance is direct: an llms.txt file will not move your rankings
02What PROOF48 actually ships instead
The structure that answer engines and Google both reward is boring and old: a page per service written in words a real customer would type, structured data that names what the business actually is, and a sitemap that gets resubmitted after every change. On the SCP Shine & Style rebuild, that meant VideoObject and Person schema on every clip and blog post, plus 21 salon videos declared in the sitemap so Search Console actually counted them. None of that is an AI trick. It is the same groundwork that made the site legible before AI search existed at all.
- A page per service, written in language customers actually search for
- Structured data (schema.org) that names the business type precisely
- A sitemap resubmitted after every change, so new content is found
Structured data that actually names the business
When we rebuilt SCP Shine & Style we tagged every clip with VideoObject schema and every blog post with the owner as a named Person, then declared all 21 videos in the sitemap so Search Console had a reason to look at them. Nothing there depends on an AI text file existing. It depends on a machine being able to read, unambiguously, what the page is about.
See the build: SCP Shine & StyleQuestions, answered
Should I still create an llms.txt file?
It does not hurt and it can help an AI crawler fetch your facts faster, but treat it as a convenience file, not an SEO tactic.
What does actually help you get cited by AI search?
The same things that help regular search: clear structured data, a page per topic, and content that answers the question directly instead of circling it.
Where PROOF48 fits
PROOF48 does not sell an llms.txt add-on, because Google's own guidance says it would not do anything. What we build instead is the structure Google already rewards: a page per service, schema that names the business, and a sitemap kept current.
Cosmin Tiu · Founder, PROOF48
Building software since 2018. PROOF48 ships business websites in 48 hours and invoices afterwards, which means every opinion here was paid for in builds rather than in theory.