How many Tampa Bay businesses have an llms.txt?
We checked the websites of 221 Tampa Bay businesses that rank in Google Maps for common buying questions. 82 of them (37%) serve an llms.txt file, but only 21 of those 82, about 1 in 4, pass every structural check of the llmstxt.org format. Businesses that AI engines named in our September study had one at the same rate as businesses they did not: 37%.
Key findings
Have an llms.txt
82 of 221 reachable business websites serve something at /llms.txt.
Pass every format check
About 1 in 4. 49 have minor issues and 12 have errors.
Clean files came from Yoast
Most valid files were generated by the Yoast SEO plugin, not written by hand.
No link to AI recommendations
Businesses AI engines named had one at the same rate as businesses they did not.
Also publish llms-full.txt
Only 9 of the 82 sites with an llms.txt also serve the full-text companion file.
Block an AI crawler
Almost no robots.txt file we could read blocks any AI crawler.
What we checked
The sample is every business website that appeared in the Google Maps top 20 for the 12 buyer questions of our Tampa Bay AI Search Study 2026: 232 sites across six industries (home services, dental and medical, legal and insurance, real estate, restaurants, and marine and charter). On October 5, 2026, 221 of them were reachable.
Each site was checked with our free llms.txt checker, using the same validator code that runs on that page and the user agent VoreliLlmsTxtChecker/1.0. A file counts as clean when it passes every structural check of the llmstxt.org format:
- The file starts with an H1 title
- There is exactly one H1
- A > blockquote summary follows the title
- Only H1 and H2 headings are used
- H2 sections contain only - [title](url): notes list items
- No bare URLs
- Links are absolute and use https
- No empty sections
We also fetched /llms-full.txt and robots.txt, and identified the tool that made each llms.txt by the signature strings it leaves in the file.
Results by industry
Reachable sites in each industry, how many serve an llms.txt, and how many of those files pass every check.
| Industry | Have one | Share | Clean |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home services | 16 of 34 | 47% | 6 |
| Dental and medical | 15 of 34 | 44% | 2 |
| Legal and insurance | 16 of 38 | 42% | 7 |
| Real estate | 15 of 38 | 39% | 6 |
| Marine and charter | 13 of 39 | 33% | 0 |
| Restaurants | 7 of 38 | 18% | 0 |
| All | 82 of 221 | 37% | 21 |
Restaurants were the least likely to have one, and none of the restaurant or marine and charter files passed every check.
Who wrote the files
Most llms.txt files on local business sites were switched on in a plugin or site builder, and the tool decided whether the file was valid.
| Made by | Files | Clean | Errors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yoast SEOEvery Yoast file passed every structural check. | 15 | 15 | 0 |
| WixAll 10 use H3 headings and text inside sections, and list links our checker could not resolve. | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| All in One SEOHalf passed every check, half had an error. | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Rank MathAll 4 put a "Generated by" line above the H1, so the file does not start with its title. | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| ShopifyMinor issues only. | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| SiteSearchBrAInMinor issues only. | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| robots.txt rules pasted inCrawler rules saved under the llms.txt name, not an llms.txt. | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| No generator signatureWritten by hand or by a tool that leaves no mark. We cannot tell which. | 42 | 3 | 3 |
| All | 82 | 21 | 12 |
Files that are neither clean nor errors have minor issues. A file with no generator signature may have been written by hand or made by a tool that leaves no mark; we cannot tell which.
Did it help businesses get recommended?
In September we asked ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Mode the same 12 questions. We split the reachable sites by whether any engine named the business.
Named by an AI engine
36 of 97 sites have an llms.txt
Not named by any engine
46 of 124 sites have an llms.txt
Having an llms.txt showed no relationship with being recommended. Businesses the engines named and businesses they ignored had the file at the same rate.
Read that with care. It is a correlation, not a test of cause, on a small sample. The AI answers were collected in late September 2026 and the files were checked on October 5, 2026, so some files may postdate the answers.
Common mistakes
How many of the 82 files had each problem. Most files had more than one.
- 46
Empty sections
An H2 heading with no links under it.
- 38
Text inside link sections
Paragraphs or other content under an H2, where the format expects only a list of links.
- 38
Links in the wrong shape
List items that are not written as - [Title](url): note.
- 30
Bare URLs
A web address pasted as plain text instead of inside a markdown link.
- 27
No one-line summary
No > blockquote right after the title saying what the business is.
- 21
H3 or deeper headings
The format uses only H1 and H2.
- 16
Links that do not resolve
Listed pages our checker could not load, often after a site change.
- 9
Title not first
Something above the H1, such as a "Generated by" line.
- 4
More than one H1
The format allows a single title.
What local businesses should do instead
An llms.txt is cheap and harmless. If your platform offers one, switch it on, then run it through our free llms.txt checker so you are not publishing one of the broken files above. If it does not, the checker can draft one from your sitemap.
Just do not expect it to get you recommended. In our main study, what the AI answers actually read and linked was Google Business Profiles and Maps listings, directories and review sites such as Angi, Healthgrades and Super Lawyers, local best-of lists, and plain facts on business websites. Those deserve your time first.
Our guide to answer engine optimization covers that work step by step. To see whether ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode name you today, run a free scan on Cited.
Limits
- One metro area and 232 websites. That is a sample of businesses that already rank in Google Maps for 12 buying questions, not a census of Tampa Bay.
- A single-day snapshot. Files were fetched on October 5, 2026. Sites add, change and remove llms.txt files all the time.
- Generator detection reads signature strings in the file. A file with no signature may be hand-written or made by a tool that leaves no mark, so we do not claim either.
- A clean file is valid against the llmstxt.org format. It is not necessarily accurate, complete or useful.
- The comparison with AI recommendations is a correlation on a small sample. The AI answers were collected in late September 2026 and the files were checked on October 5, so some files may postdate the answers.
- We have no evidence that any AI engine reads llms.txt when recommending local businesses.
Whether AI systems fetch llms.txt at all is an open question. Ahrefs has published its own study of llms.txt requests if you want to go deeper.
Data and citation
Per-site results (CSV): one row per website with its industry, whether it was reachable, whether it serves llms.txt and llms-full.txt, the generator, the format grade, each failed and warned check, and any AI crawlers its robots.txt blocks. Consistent with the main study, the file omits business names and which businesses AI named. Licensed CC BY 4.0: free to reuse with a link to this page. Cite as: Voreli AI (2026). How Many Tampa Bay Businesses Have an llms.txt? https://www.voreli.ai/research/tampa-bay-llms-txt-2026
The business list comes from our earlier study, how AI search answers Tampa Bay questions, whose per-answer data (CSV) is open under the same license.
Questions
How many Tampa Bay businesses have an llms.txt file?
Does an llms.txt help a local business get recommended by AI?
Which tools create the llms.txt files local businesses use?
Should my local business add an llms.txt?
Want to know what AI says about your business?
Book a free call and we will run your buyers' questions across the engines with you, or start with a free scan on Cited.
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