Your sitemap, robots.txt and llms.txt

Search engines and AI tools read a few small files at the root of your website to find their way around. Your DealerApex site creates them for you, so there is nothing to set up. This article explains what each one does and how to ask for a change.

Your sitemap

Your sitemap is a list of every page on your site that search engines should know about. You can see it by adding /sitemap.xml to your website address.

It updates by itself and includes:

• Your published pages and blog posts.
• Your inventory page, location pages and browse pages for each make and body type you have in stock.
• A page for every car on your website. Sold cars drop off as they leave your inventory.

It leaves out:

• Pages and blog posts you’ve hidden from search engines.
• Browse and location pages while your whole site is kept out of search.

Changes show up in the sitemap within about 15 minutes. You don’t need to submit it again. If you use Google Search Console, you can submit your sitemap address there once.

Your robots.txt

robots.txt tells search engines how to crawl your site. You can see yours by adding /robots.txt to your website address.

By default, it holds one line that points search engines to your sitemap. That is all most dealers need. It doesn’t block anything.

robots.txt is not how a site is kept out of search. That is done with a separate setting. See Control whether search engines list your site.

Your llms.txt

llms.txt is a newer, optional file that gives AI tools a plain-language guide to your business and your site. Sites don’t have one by default, so /llms.txt shows a "Not Found" page until one is set up for you.

For things AI answer engines can read today, fill in your homepage summary, FAQ and profile links. See Get your dealership cited by AI answer engines.

Changing robots.txt or llms.txt

You can’t edit these two files in your console. DealerApex sets up custom versions for you.

1. Write down what you want to change. For example, block a section from crawlers, or add an llms.txt that describes your dealership.
2. Email [email protected] with your website address and the change.
3. We reply when the new file is live, and you can check it by adding /robots.txt or /llms.txt to your website address.

Handled for you

• Each file is served on your own domain. The www address forwards to your main address.
• If your site has instant indexing turned on, the ownership file it needs is published for you. See Connect Google Search Console and instant indexing.