Introducing GEO tactics? Always test first
The hype around generative engine optimisation has produced a steady stream of proposed shortcuts. LLMs.txt, a file format designed to help AI systems discover and index content, looked like one of the more promising ones.
Reboot’s February experiment suggests otherwise.
Reboot published LLMs.txt files on two well-established domains, added four new unlinked landing pages to each site, and monitored server logs to see whether AI bots would discover the pages through the file alone. After three months, not one of the test pages had been visited. The major AI platforms continued to crawl other parts of the same sites throughout. Reboot’s conclusion was straightforward: AI bots do not currently check or use LLMs.txt by default.
It’s a useful reminder that new formats and technical signals rarely outperform the fundamentals. The same principles that drive good content visibility in traditional search apply in GEO: strong internal linking, well-optimised pages and mentions on third-party sites with established reputations. Before adopting any new tactic, test it. The evidence should lead the strategy, not the other way around.
