What Google says, claim by claim
This page is for an owner holding a proposal that lists llms.txt, chunking, AI markup, bought mentions or a guaranteed ranking. AEO means answer engine optimization and GEO means generative engine optimization. Each of the 8 rows below names one Google page, the date that page shows and a word to search for. We read every page on October 6, 2026.
| Claim you may hear | What Google says | Source and where to look |
|---|---|---|
| You need an llms.txt file to appear in Google's AI Overviews or AI Mode. | Not needed.Google says Search does not use these files and “ignores them”, so a file neither helps nor harms there. It says creating one for other systems is fine. | Google, optimizing for generative AI searchUpdated July 10, 2026. Search the page for: ignores them |
| Break your pages into short chunks and rewrite them for AI. | Not required.Google says there is no requirement to break content into tiny pieces and no ideal page length. It also says you do not need to write in a specific way just for generative AI search. | Google, optimizing for generative AI searchUpdated July 10, 2026. Search the page for: Chunking |
| AI search needs special schema.org markup. | Not required.Google says structured data is not required for generative AI search and there is no special schema.org markup to add. It says continuing to use structured data is still a good idea for rich results. | Google, optimizing for generative AI searchUpdated July 10, 2026. Search the page for: schema.org |
| We will get your business mentioned across the web so AI names you. | Inauthentic mentions are not as helpful as they seem.Google says its AI features can show what is said about products and services across the web, including blogs, videos and forums. It says seeking inauthentic “mentions” “isn’t as helpful as it might seem”. | Google, optimizing for generative AI searchUpdated July 10, 2026. Search the page for: inauthentic |
| A page for every question an AI might ask will get you named. | Spam when done to manipulate.Google says creating separate content for every query variation, fan-out queries included, “primarily to manipulate rankings or generative AI responses” violates its scaled content abuse policy. It adds that a high quantity of pages does not make a site higher quality. | Google, optimizing for generative AI searchUpdated July 10, 2026. Search the page for: scaled content abuse |
| GEO and AEO are different from SEO. | Google calls this work SEO.Google says that from its perspective, optimizing for generative AI search is “still SEO”. For third-party GEO or AEO services, it points owners to its guidance on evaluating third-party SEO advice. | Google, optimizing for generative AI searchUpdated July 10, 2026. Search the page for: still SEO |
| Our tool uses Google's internal data, or Google approves our work. | No third-party tool has that data.Google says third-party tools “don’t have access to our internal ranking data”. It says it does not evaluate third-party services, so be wary of claims that Google approves them. | Google, using third-party SEO tools and adviceUpdated June 5, 2026. Search the page for: internal ranking |
| We guarantee a #1 Google ranking. | No one can.Google: “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.” | Google, do you need an SEO?Updated June 5, 2026. Search the page for: #1 ranking |
What the studies and crawler pages show
The 3 studies below, read October 6, 2026, each measured something narrower than whether llms.txt or GEO works. Ahrefs, SE Ranking and SparkToro each sell marketing software. One row checks what OpenAI and Perplexity publish about their crawlers.
| Claim you may hear | What was found | Source and where to look |
|---|---|---|
| AI assistants read your llms.txt. | 97% of files were never requested.Ahrefs checked the 137,210 domains using Ahrefs Web Analytics that had traffic in May 2026. It says these customers skew technical and SEO-aware, so the 28% that published an llms.txt (about 38,000 files) is an upper bound. 97% of those files got zero requests in May. Of the requests the files did get, named AI bots sent 19.5%: AI agents such as Claude Code 10.5%, training crawlers such as GPTBot 5.3%, AI assistants such as ChatGPT-User 2.5% and search-retrieval bots such as OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot 1.1%. Ahrefs says a request is not proof anything read the file. | Ahrefs, 137K sites and llms.txtJune 15, 2026. Search the page for: 97% |
| AI crawlers look for your llms.txt, so a site without one is missed. | No AI bot asked for a missing file.Ahrefs looked at requests to /llms.txt paths that returned a 404 error, meaning no file existed. The AI bot share of those requests was zero, and 98% came from people. | Ahrefs, 137K sites and llms.txtJune 15, 2026. Search the page for: go looking |
| llms.txt raises how often AI cites your site. | No effect found.SE Ranking analyzed nearly 300,000 domains, and 10.13% had an llms.txt. Its statistical analysis and its machine-learning model both found no effect on how often a domain is cited by LLMs. It measured citations, not requests. | SE Ranking, does llms.txt impact AI citationsNovember 7, 2025. Search the page for: no correlation |
| ChatGPT and Perplexity use your llms.txt. | Neither crawler page says so.On October 6, 2026, OpenAI’s and Perplexity’s crawler pages each linked to llms.txt only as that company’s own documentation index. Each page describes a search bot, OAI-SearchBot or PerplexityBot, that site owners manage in robots.txt, and neither says that bot reads a site’s llms.txt. A page that is silent on a file does not prove no product reads it. | OpenAI, overview of OpenAI crawlersNo date shown. Search the page for: llms.txt, then OAI-SearchBot Perplexity, Perplexity crawlersNo date shown. Search the page for: llms.txt, then PerplexityBot |
| We report your ranking position in ChatGPT answers. | The order changes on almost every run.SparkToro and a co-researcher had 600 volunteers run 12 prompts through ChatGPT, Claude and Google’s AI, 2,961 runs in November and December 2025. The same list of brands came back fewer than 1 time in 100 for ChatGPT and Google’s AI (Claude slightly more often), and the same order fewer than 1 time in 1,000. | SparkToro, AIs are highly inconsistentJanuary 27, 2026. Search the page for: 1 in 1,000 |
What the SparkToro numbers do not show: the study used 12 prompts, and its author says more data is needed. The same author still calls a brand’s share of appearances across dozens to hundreds of prompts, each run several times, a reasonable metric.
Check it yourself
- Open Google’s guide and find the section “Mythbusting generative AI search”. Each line of your proposal that appears there is something Google says is not needed for Google Search.
- Count who requests your llms.txt. In your host’s request log or CDN dashboard, filter for the path /llms.txt over 30 days and read the user-agent column. Some site builders show no logs. Ahrefs found zero requests for 97% of files in May 2026.
- Do the documented basics before paying for extras. Google’s guide says a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet, and the site must be included in Search Console’s Search generative AI control. Include is the default and Exclude removes the site from AI Overviews and AI Mode, so check Settings in Search Console. OpenAI and Perplexity each recommend allowing their search bot, OAI-SearchBot or PerplexityBot, in robots.txt. The AI crawler access checker tests yours.
- Ask any vendor that quotes an AI visibility number for the raw answers, the runs per question and the engines. SparkToro’s author advises at least 60 to 100 runs per prompt. The AI answer sample size calculator shows how many answers a count needs.
- Read Search Console. Google says AI features traffic is reported in the Performance report under the “Web” search type, and its guide points to a Generative AI performance report there.
What Montrelia does and does not do
Montrelia sells GEO, so we gain if you believe it matters. Each row names the page to open, so you need not trust us.
- We publish an llms.txt file, built from the same data as our price pages, so it stays in sync and costs nothing to keep. No source above shows that an assistant reads it or that it helps, and we do not claim it does.
- The GEO vs SEO page lists what we measure for Google results and what we measure for AI answers.
- The plan is SEO + GEO at $2,000 per month. A one-time setup fee of $1,000 is charged once when the plan starts. You get a written report every week, including the raw AI answers. The monthly scope on the SEO page lists no llms.txt, AI-only rewrites or bought mentions.
- Our own count, on the AI visibility scoreboard: in two Ask Brave runs, on September 28 and October 2, 2026, Montrelia was named in 0 of 4 buyer questions each time. We do not know whether the plan would change that for your business.
Sources
Every page below was read on October 6, 2026. The last column says what each publisher sells.
| Publisher | Pages and the date each shows | What the publisher sells |
|---|---|---|
| Optimizing for generative AI searchUpdated July 10, 2026AI features and your websiteUpdated December 10, 2025Search generative AI control (Search Console Help)No update date shown. A note says the control reached all websites on August 31, 2026Using third-party SEO tools and adviceUpdated June 5, 2026Do you need an SEO?Updated June 5, 2026 | Google Ads. None of these 5 pages sells anything. | |
| Ahrefs | 137K sites and llms.txtJune 15, 2026, with data from May 2026 | SEO software, including the bot analytics it used. |
| SE Ranking | Does llms.txt impact AI citationsNovember 7, 2025 | SEO software. |
| SparkToro | AIs are highly inconsistentJanuary 27, 2026 | Audience research software. The co-researcher works at a company that sells AI visibility tracking, which the post discloses. |
| OpenAI | Overview of OpenAI crawlersNo date shown | ChatGPT, an API and ChatGPT Ads. |
| Perplexity | Perplexity crawlersNo date shown | AI search and an API. Its docs list pricing. |
Questions people ask
What are the risks of keeping an llms.txt file?
Ahrefs lists a stale or compromised file as a security risk, because agents are built to trust it. For a file you keep, Ahrefs advises version-controlling it, restricting who can edit it, setting an alert for unauthorized changes and keeping it to plain links and descriptions.
How do I tell a sound GEO proposal from a pitch?
Google's page on third-party advice says good advice either qualifies its claims as opinion based on data or experience, or cites official Google guidance. Apply that to each line of the proposal: it should name a source or say it is opinion. A guaranteed mention, a ranking position in AI answers or claimed Google-internal data fails that test.
If I block GPTBot, does my site vanish from ChatGPT search?
OpenAI says each robots.txt setting is independent. A site can allow OAI-SearchBot to appear in ChatGPT search results while disallowing GPTBot, which signals that its content should not be used for training. A site opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though it can still appear as a navigational link.
What happens if the weekly answers never name my business?
You can stop after the 3-month minimum, which is $7,000 with the one-time $1,000 setup fee. After that the plan is month-to-month. You own GA4, Search Console, Google Business Profile, your domain and your site code, so you keep them. We do not promise a mention, and the report shows the raw answers so you can count them yourself.
Last updated October 6, 2026