Beyond robots.txt: How AI Systems Really Discover Your Website

Unlike robots.txt, which search crawlers check continuously, llms.txt operates as a one-time inclusion during AI model training or runtime retrieval—a critical distinction requiring different optimization strategies. AI systems interact with websites through three mechanisms: scheduled crawlers, training snapshots, and runtime inference systems like Perplexity. Understanding which approach each AI system uses is essential for meaningful visibility in the era of AI-powered discovery.