The llms.txt Myth: What Actually Gets Your Bonaire Business Cited by ChatGPT

By David, digital strategist at Online Marketing Bonaire

Last month a business owner in Kralendijk proudly told me he had “future-proofed” his website for AI. He had added an llms.txt file because a YouTube guru swore it was the secret to getting into ChatGPT.

I had to be honest with him: that file is almost certainly being read by no one. And the data backs me up.

First, what is llms.txt?

It is a small text file you place at the root of your website (like yoursite.com/llms.txt). The idea sounds great: you hand AI assistants a tidy reading list of your best pages so they “understand” your business. Think of it as a menu written specifically for ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.

Nice theory. Here is the reality.

The uncomfortable truth: 97% are never read

Ahrefs studied 137,000 websites and found that 97% of llms.txt files received zero requests in a full month. In a separate look at over 500 million AI-bot visits across 90 days, only 408 touched llms.txt at all. That is not a rounding error, that is basically nobody.

And on 15 May 2026, Google's own AI-search optimization guide said it plainly: llms.txt is not needed for AI Overviews, AI Mode, or any generative search feature.

Citation, not ranking, is the new unit of visibility. But a text file is not a shortcut to getting cited.

What actually gets your business cited by AI

AI assistants do not recommend the business with the cleverest config file. They recommend the business they can understand and trust. Here is what actually moves the needle in 2026:

1. Answer real questions, directly. Write the way people ask. “Where can I get my diving gear serviced on Bonaire?” should be answered in the first two sentences of a page, not buried under three paragraphs of “Welcome to our website.”
2. Back it up with facts. Pages that get quoted by AI tend to include real numbers, named sources and direct quotes. Vague marketing fluff gets skipped.
3. Show up where AI already reads. ChatGPT and Perplexity lean heavily on third-party sources: Reddit, YouTube, Wikipedia, local directories and review sites. A mention of your business on a trusted site you do not own often matters more than anything on your homepage.
4. Be consistent everywhere. Same business name, address and phone number on your site, Google Business Profile, Facebook and every directory. AI cross-checks. One wrong phone number and you become “uncertain,” and uncertain businesses do not get recommended.
5. Make your site machine-readable. Clear headings, plain language, fast loading and structured data (schema). If a bot can extract your hours and services in one pass, you are a candidate to be quoted.

Why this matters more on Bonaire

On a small island you do not need to win the whole internet, you need to win “diving Bonaire,” “wedding photographer Bonaire,” “best lunch Kralendijk.” Those are exactly the kind of specific, local questions people now ask ChatGPT instead of Google. The businesses that answer them clearly will be the ones the AI names. The rest go invisible, not because they ranked #7, but because the AI never mentioned them at all.

The one thing to do today

Open ChatGPT and ask it: “What are the best [your service] on Bonaire?” Watch who it names. If it is not you, that is your gap, and it is fixable. Note which competitors it mentions and where they are getting talked about. That single test tells you more than any llms.txt file ever will.

Want us to run that test for you?

Our free Visibility Scan checks exactly this: where you show up on Google, in maps, and in AI search, plus three quick wins you can act on this week. Plain language, no jargon, no sales pitch.

Get your free Visibility Scan → or WhatsApp +599 777 0096.

David, Online Marketing Bonaire