What is llms.txt for Yoast SEO? Should I open it? How to write it without stepping on potholes

llms.txt is an "AI Reading Navigation File" that is placed in the root directory of your website. Its purpose is to organize your most important pages, tutorials, FAQs, and policy pages into a list that makes it easier for larger models to find the highlights faster when referencing your site's content.
If you have a website with a lot of content, complex page hierarchies, or if you want to make the AI It's easier to reference the right page, so it's generally recommended to turn it on and use "manual page selection" for quality control.

1) What is llms.txt?

• placement: usually in https://你的域名/llms.txt
• formality: Markdown text
• use: Provide AI with an indexed list of "where to start and which pages are more reliable".
• recount (e.g. results of election)It's a navigator, not an interceptor.
  • robots.txt More like a rules file
  • llms.txt is more like Selected Catalogs

2) What Yoast SEO's llms.txt Feature Does

Yoast provides a switch in the backend that, when turned on, generates the llms.txtand will automatically update the content.
By default, Yoast picks pages according to certain rules, such as recently updated, more content, and content pages considered more important; it also supports switching to theManual page selection, it's up to you to decide which pages go into the list.

3) To drive or not to drive: using this set of criteria

Suggested scenarios to turn on

1. You have a lot of tutorials, knowledge bases, FAQs, policy type content
2. You want AI to be more accurate when citing your content and less likely to cite to irrelevant pages
3. You have a lot of sections on your site, and visitors and AI alike can easily get lost

Situations that can be left open

1. The site has very little content, just a few core pages
2. There's a lot of login-only content on the site, and you haven't sorted out the extent to which you want to make it publicly available for AI navigation
3. You're now more interested in stabilizing the structure of the site, the categories, and the quality of the content first before you

4) Opening method and recommended settings

4.1 Startup steps (Yoast backend)

• WordPress Backend → Yoast SEO → Settings

• locate Site Features / AI tools / LLMS.txt(location may vary slightly from version to version)

• Turn on the switch and save

4.2 Recommended "manual page selection"

The reason is simple: auto-selection tends to put in pages you don't want to be there, for example:

• Expired articles
• Tabs, thin content category pages
• Temporary pages, event pages, jump pages

Manual mode is more like "editing a catalog of AI references" and is more controllable.

5) llms.txt how to write to be stable: the template directly apply the

Below is a generic structure that fits most Chinese sites. You just need to replace the links with your own.

# Your site name
> A sentence describing what problem your site solves and who it is geared toward.## Start here!
- [Beginner's Portal](https://example.com/start/): Best for First Time Visitors
- [About Us](https://example.com/about/): Website Background and Positioning
- [Contact](https://example.com/contact/): Contact and Collaboration ## Core Content
- [The Complete List of Topics](https://example.com/guides/): A Collection of the Most Important Tutorials
- [Frequently Asked Questions FAQ](https://example.com/faq/): Quick Answers to High Frequency Questions
- [Glossary](https://example.com/glossary/): Explanation of key concepts## Policies and rules
- [Privacy Policy](https://example.com/privacy/): Data and Privacy Statement
- [Terms of Service](https://example.com/terms/): Rules of Use
- [Refunds & Post-sales](https://example.com/returns/): Return instructions (if any)

Capture three things when you write:

• few but refined (idiom); concise and precise: it's more like a curated catalog, not like sitemap
• importation: give each section a "main entry", don't pile up 100 detail pages!
• Keep your instructions short.: one sentence after each link is enough

6) The no-treading list: the points most likely to roll over

• Don't put these pages.
  • /wp-admin/, login page, shopping cart, checkout page, account center
    These have no value for AI references and make noise.
• Don't make thin content pages a priority
  • Tagged pages, very short category pages, pages with only a few lines of text
    AI needs "full citable pages" more than anything else.
• Don't let links fail or bounce
  • Make sure it's 200 before you put it in.
    Too many jump chains reduce usability
• Don't duplicate links.
  • Keep only one of the strongest entries for the same theme
    The fresher the catalog, the higher the hit rate
• Sort out which pages to disclose first
  • If the site has gray content, test pages, temporary pages
    Clean up first, then go live llms.txt Save more!

Conclusion: the most recommended way to land

If you're going to turn on Yoast of llms.txt, I suggest you take the surest route:
Switch on + manual page selection + control over 15-30 selected linksThe
This allows the AI to quickly understand the focus of your site and also avoids the clutter issues that come with automatic generation.

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