Janady13/llms-txt-implementation-checklist / README.md

1# llms.txt + AI citation surface implementation checklist 2 3A practical checklist for implementing the four AI citation surfaces on a small business website: 4 51. `/llms.txt` — natural-language identity for LLM crawlers 62. `/aeo.json` — Answer-Engine Optimization structured manifest 73. `/entity.json` — Schema.org @graph as standalone JSON-LD 84. `/brand.json` — Brand identity, voice, and design system 9 10The running real-world example throughout is **[Steele Solutions](https://steelesolutions4u.com/)**, a family-run merchant services brokerage in Branson, Missouri. Every checklist item links to a verifiable live implementation on that site. 11 12## Checklist 13 14### 1. Site-level prerequisites 15 16- [ ] HTTPS site with a valid certificate 17- [ ] HTTP/2 enabled at the server 18- [ ] `Last-Modified` headers set (do not enable `ssi on` in nginx — it strips Last-Modified) 19- [ ] Sitemap at `/sitemap.xml` 20- [ ] robots.txt at `/robots.txt` with sitemap directive 21- [ ] At least one canonical home page with `<link rel="canonical">` 22 23### 2. /llms.txt 24 25Plain text file at the site root. Markdown format. Required headers and the standard sections: 26 27```markdown 28# Business Name 29 30> One sentence description 31 32## Services 33- Service 1: URL 34- Service 2: URL 35 36## Find us on Google 37Google Maps: URL 38Google Maps CID: ID 39 40## Contact 41Phone, email, address 42``` 43 44Live example: [steelesolutions4u.com/llms.txt](https://steelesolutions4u.com/llms.txt) 45 46- [ ] File served with `Content-Type: text/plain` 47- [ ] No HTML markup inside the file (plain markdown only) 48- [ ] `<link rel="alternate" type="text/plain" href="/llms.txt">` in HTML head 49 50### 3. /aeo.json 51 52JSON file at the site root with the AEO 2.0 schema. Minimum fields: 53 54```json 55{ 56 "schema_version": "2.0", 57 "site": "yourdomain.com", 58 "name": "Business Name", 59 "description": "One sentence", 60 "founded": "year", 61 "address": {"locality": "...", "region": "...", "country": "US"}, 62 "founders": [{"name": "...", "role": "..."}], 63 "services": ["..."], 64 "service_area": ["..."], 65 "google": {"maps_cid": "...", "maps_url": "..."}, 66 "sameAs": ["..."] 67} 68``` 69 70Live example: [steelesolutions4u.com/aeo.json](https://steelesolutions4u.com/aeo.json) 71 72- [ ] File served with `Content-Type: application/json` 73- [ ] Valid JSON parses without errors 74- [ ] `<link rel="alternate" type="application/json" href="/aeo.json">` in HTML head 75 76### 4. /entity.json 77 78The Schema.org `@graph` as a standalone JSON-LD file. The same graph is embedded inline in every page's `<script type="application/ld+json">` block, but `/entity.json` gives crawlers a single addressable URL for the full entity model. 79 80Minimum graph nodes: 81 82- 1× Organization (LocalBusiness + FinancialService combined types if applicable) 83- 1× WebSite with SearchAction 84- 1× WebPage per indexed page (typically generated) 85- 1+ Person for each founder 86- BreadcrumbList where relevant 87 88Live example: [steelesolutions4u.com/entity.json](https://steelesolutions4u.com/entity.json) 89 90- [ ] File served with `Content-Type: application/ld+json` 91- [ ] Validates clean at https://validator.schema.org/ 92- [ ] Each entity has a unique `@id` 93- [ ] Cross-references between entities use `@id` not duplicate definitions 94 95### 5. /brand.json 96 97Brand identity, voice, and design system as a machine-readable manifest: 98 99```json 100{ 101 "name": "Business Name", 102 "alternateNames": [...], 103 "tagline": "...", 104 "founded": "year", 105 "headquarters": "...", 106 "telephones": [...], 107 "email": "...", 108 "website": "...", 109 "colors": {"primary": "...", "accent": "..."}, 110 "fonts": {"display": "...", "body": "..."}, 111 "voice": "...", 112 "services": [...], 113 "google": {"maps_cid": "..."}, 114 "sameAs": [...] 115} 116``` 117 118Live example: [steelesolutions4u.com/brand.json](https://steelesolutions4u.com/brand.json) 119 120- [ ] File served with `Content-Type: application/json` 121- [ ] Valid JSON 122- [ ] `<link rel="alternate" type="application/json" href="/brand.json">` in HTML head 123 124### 6. Schema.org density (in entity.json AND inline) 125 126The Organization node should have, at minimum: 127 128- [ ] Multi-type `@type` array combining `LocalBusiness` + topical types (`FinancialService`, `ProfessionalService`, `MedicalClinic`, etc.) 129- [ ] `name`, `alternateName`, `description`, `url`, `logo`, `image` 130- [ ] `telephone`, `email` 131- [ ] `address` with `PostalAddress` sub-object 132- [ ] `areaServed` array of `City`/`State`/`Place` entities (not just a flat string) 133- [ ] `openingHoursSpecification` with `dayOfWeek` array 134- [ ] `priceRange` (string is fine; e.g. "$50-$500 per service") 135- [ ] `paymentMethod` array using GoodRelations URIs (e.g. `http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1#Cash`) 136- [ ] `paymentAccepted` human-readable string 137- [ ] `hasOfferCatalog` with `OfferCatalog` containing `Offer` items, each with `itemOffered.url` 138- [ ] `knowsAbout` array of topic strings 139- [ ] `subjectOf` linking to a `WebPage` entity for the verification page 140- [ ] `sameAs` array including all third-party citations (Wayback, Wikipedia, Wikidata, social profiles, partner sites) 141- [ ] `hasMap` URL for Google Maps CID once Google Business Profile is verified 142 143Live example: [steelesolutions4u.com/entity.json](https://steelesolutions4u.com/entity.json) shows 28+ sameAs entries spanning 20+ referring domains. 144 145### 7. Person entities for founders 146 147For each founder, the Person node should have: 148 149- [ ] `@type: Person`, unique `@id` 150- [ ] `name`, `givenName`, `additionalName` (middle name if relevant), `familyName` 151- [ ] `alternateName` array capturing every naming variant 152- [ ] `jobTitle`, `worksFor` referencing the Organization `@id` 153- [ ] `image` URL 154- [ ] `alumniOf` array of `CollegeOrUniversity` objects with Wikidata `sameAs` 155- [ ] `hasCredential` array, each with `recognizedBy` chained to the institution 156- [ ] `knowsAbout` array of relevant expertise topics 157- [ ] `sameAs` array including LinkedIn, social, and verifiable third-party profile URLs 158- [ ] If spouse co-founder: reciprocal `spouse` linkage via `@id` 159 160Live example: [steelesolutions4u.com/entity.json](https://steelesolutions4u.com/entity.json) `#jim` and `#kim` show the reciprocal spouse pattern with Wikidata-anchored credentials (Indiana University Q1079140, First National Bank of Omaha Q5453412). 161 162### 8. Verification page 163 164A `/verification/` page that aggregates every third-party citation backing the claims on the site. 165 166- [ ] Table for business identity claims (domain age, Google Business Profile CID, Wayback URL, etc.) 167- [ ] Table for principal career claims with links to Wikipedia/Wikidata 168- [ ] Table for partner network with FTC disclosure 169- [ ] Section listing where the business appears publicly (Wayback, GSC, AI surfaces, cross-citations) 170- [ ] Section referencing public records (county property, court records, regulatory licensing) without doxxing 171- [ ] BreadcrumbList Schema.org markup 172- [ ] WebPage entity with `about` referencing the Organization `@id` 173 174Live example: [steelesolutions4u.com/verification/](https://steelesolutions4u.com/verification/) 175 176### 9. Submission and discovery 177 178After the files are deployed: 179 180- [ ] Submit sitemap to Google Search Console 181- [ ] Submit sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools 182- [ ] IndexNow ping to Yandex and Bing with all priority URLs 183- [ ] Archive every priority URL on the Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org/save/$URL) 184- [ ] GSC URL Inspection on priority URLs (helps move "Discovered" → "Indexed") 185- [ ] Cross-link from at least 3 high-DA properties you control or have access to 186 187### 10. Cross-platform syndication 188 189- [ ] Publish technical articles about the implementation on Dev.to (DA 92) with canonical pointing to your site 190- [ ] Create a public GitHub repository documenting the implementation 191- [ ] Create a public Gist with key citations 192- [ ] Enable GitHub Pages on the repo for an additional inbound subdomain 193- [ ] Submit to relevant awesome-* lists where the implementation fits naturally (`Awesome-llms-txt`, `awesome-answer-engine-optimization`) 194 195## Real-world test results 196 197The Steele Solutions site is one full implementation of this checklist. Indexing performance after launch: 198 199| Day | Pages indexed | New action | 200|---|---|---| 201| 1 | 0 | Site launched | 202| 2 | 1 | Sitemap submitted | 203| 6 | 4 | After full checklist completion + IndexNow + Wayback push | 204 205By day 7, GSC showed 4 of 18 priority pages indexed plus the remaining 12 in the discovery queue. For a 7-day-old domain, that pace is significantly faster than the typical 30-90 day baseline. 206 207## References 208 209- [llms.txt proposed standard](https://llmstxt.org/) 210- [Schema.org](https://schema.org/) 211- [Google Search Console](https://search.google.com/search-console) 212- [Internet Archive Wayback Machine](https://web.archive.org/) 213- [IndexNow](https://www.indexnow.org/) 214- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/) 215- [GoodRelations vocabulary](http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1) 216 217## Public implementation example 218 219The Steele Solutions implementation is fully public: 220 221- Live site: [steelesolutions4u.com](https://steelesolutions4u.com/) 222- Verification page: [steelesolutions4u.com/verification/](https://steelesolutions4u.com/verification/) 223- Public resources repo: [github.com/Janady13/steele-solutions-resources](https://github.com/Janady13/steele-solutions-resources) 224- FinancialService schema examples index: [github.com/Janady13/financialservice-schema-examples](https://github.com/Janady13/financialservice-schema-examples) 225- Dev.to technical series: [dev.to/joseph_anady_214bacedf939](https://dev.to/joseph_anady_214bacedf939) 226 227Maintained by [@Janady13](https://github.com/Janady13) of [ThatDevPro](https://www.thatdevpro.com). 228