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llms.txt Generatorllms.txt adoption by citation tier
Adoption rises modestly into the mid-ranked tiers, but the most-cited head domains do not show strong dependence on llms.txt.
Adoption rate across different levels of citation prominence.
The key numbers.
- Adoption rate
- Domains with llms.txt in the study.
- 13.3%
- Top 5k adoption
- Adoption among the top 5,000 cited domains.
- 16.1%
- Top 50 adoption
- Adoption among the top 50 cited domains.
- 6.0%
The ranked view.
Source
The llms.txt Effect
- 116.1%
Top 5,000 cited domains
The highest adoption tier highlighted in the study.
- 213.3%
Full corpus
Baseline adoption across all scanned domains.
- 36.0%
Top 50 cited domains
The very head of the citation graph is not highly reliant on llms.txt.
What changed
Adoption is uneven by tier
Mid-ranked domains adopt more readily than the absolute citation head.
Top performers are not proving the thesis
The strongest cited domains do not look like a showcase for llms.txt dependence.
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Adoption rate Domains with llms.txt in the study. | 13.3% |
| Top 5k adoption Adoption among the top 5,000 cited domains. | 16.1% |
| Top 50 adoption Adoption among the top 50 cited domains. | 6.0% |
Population and method
Built from HTTP scans of 37,894 AI-cited domains, linked to 337,362 citations and 882 citation snapshots in the Trakkr corpus.
Where the evidence stops
This is an observational study. It measures correlation with citation outcomes, not a controlled experiment.
Adoption is uneven by sector, so raw averages can hide category concentration in SaaS and developer tooling.
The top-5,000 test returns p=0.85. The full scanned sample returns p<0.001 with reported r=-0.065. Neither establishes a causal effect. The public aggregates do not include confidence intervals or document the cohort for citation means and medians well enough to recompute the tests.
Cite this tracker.
Source study: llms.txt Effect“Adoption rises modestly into the mid-ranked tiers, but the most-cited head domains do not show strong dependence on llms.txt.”
Mack Grenfell · llms.txt adoption by citation tier
The llms.txt Effect · Trakkr Research · Updated 4 September 2026