The 30-second answer: address, hours, and how to book as dated text in the first paragraph, then links to the rest
A local llms.txt is your business name and type as the H1, one sentence saying what you do, for whom, and where, then a short paragraph with the address, the opening hours by day, the phone number, and the one way to book, dated. Below that, H2 sections link the services or menu page, the access page, the booking page, and the policies people ask about: payment, insurance, cancellation. Older news and staff pages go under Optional.
The discipline is keeping one set of facts in four places that agree: the file, the visible page, the LocalBusiness structured data, and your Google Business Profile. The file is the cheapest to update, so it goes stale first if you forget it. Date the hours and set a reminder.
What people ask an assistant about a place
The questions are the same for a noodle shop and a notary, and they are short. Answer them in this order:
- Is it open, and when? Hours by day, the time zone if you serve visitors, last orders or last appointment, holidays.
- Where is it, and how do I get there?Street address, the nearest station or landmark, parking, step-free access.
- How do I book or order? Online booking, phone, walk-ins, how far ahead, what to bring.
- What do they do, and roughly what does it cost?The services or menu, a price range, what is not offered.
- Practicalities. Payment methods, insurance accepted, languages spoken, cancellation rules.
Reviews and ratings are not yours to put in the file; assistants get those from platforms that collect them. Everything above is yours, and most of it fits in one paragraph.
Why local sites fail a plain fetch
The agents that read your site fetch the HTML as served and do not run a browser; the Googlebot comparison explains why. Local templates keep exactly the facts people ask about in the places a fetch cannot see:
| Pattern | What a fetch sees | Fix on the page |
|---|---|---|
| Hours and address in a map embed | An <iframe> with no text | Repeat the address and hours as text next to the map |
| Hours as an image of a sign | An <img> | A text list, one line per day pattern |
| Booking in a third-party widget | A script tag, no link | A plain link to the booking page and the phone number as text |
| Menu or price list as PDF | A link; the contents are often skipped | An HTML menu page, with the PDF as a download |
| Holiday hours posted only on social media | Nothing; the site says the normal hours | A dated notice on the hours page, and in the file |
| Page title is the business name only | No type, no city | Title: name, type, neighbourhood or city |
The structure
The format is the standard one; the how-to guide has the rules. For a place, fill it like this:
| Section | What goes there | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| H1 + blockquote | Name and type; one sentence on what, for whom, where | Name the neighbourhood or city in the sentence |
| First paragraph | Address, hours by day, phone, the one booking method | Start with 'As of <month year>' |
| Services or Menu | The services page or menu page, 3 to 8 links | One line each: what it is, for whom, price range if stable |
| Access | Directions page, parking, accessibility | Nearest station and walking minutes in the line |
| Booking and contact | Booking page, contact page | Say whether walk-ins are accepted and how far ahead to book |
| Policies | Payment, insurance, cancellation, language | Two or three sentences inline, then the link |
| Optional | Staff, news, other languages, history | Skippable by design |
The first paragraph does most of the work, so write it the way you would answer the phone: address, then hours by day, then how to book, in full sentences a model can quote whole. Use the local time zone by name if visitors come from abroad, and write times in 24-hour form so that 7 in the evening cannot be read as the morning. If you have two or three locations, give each its own H2 with the same four facts; past that, keep the root file to a list of locations with one line each and place a full file under each location’s path, which the spec allows. One more rule: a line that names a page should say what the page answers, not repeat its title. “Directions: 3 minutes from the station, two parking spaces” is useful; “Access page” is not.
A complete example
# Sanjo Dental Clinic, Kyoto > General and preventive dental clinic in Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, for > families and working adults; English-speaking staff on weekdays. As of October 2026: 2-14 Sanjo-dori, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8004. Open Monday to Friday 09:30 to 13:00 and 14:30 to 19:00, Saturday 09:30 to 13:00, closed Sunday and public holidays (Japan time). Book online at https://example.com/book or call +81 75 000 0000 during opening hours; same-day emergency slots are held each weekday morning. ## Services - [Check-ups and cleaning](https://example.com/services/checkup): routine examination and professional cleaning, 30 to 45 minutes. - [Fillings and crowns](https://example.com/services/restorative): treatment under national health insurance and private options. - [Children's dentistry](https://example.com/services/children): from age 2; first visit is a no-treatment introduction. - [Whitening](https://example.com/services/whitening): in-office and take-home; private, from 30,000 yen. ## Access - [Directions](https://example.com/access): 3 minutes on foot from Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae station exit 2; two parking spaces behind the building; step-free entrance. ## Booking and contact - [Book online](https://example.com/book): 24-hour online booking up to 60 days ahead; walk-ins accepted when a slot is free. - [Contact](https://example.com/contact): phone and email; replies to email within one working day. ## Policies - [Insurance and payment](https://example.com/policies): Japanese national health insurance accepted; cash, credit cards, and IC cards. Please cancel at least 24 hours ahead. - [Languages](https://example.com/english): English consultations Monday to Friday; forms available in English. ## Optional - [Our team](https://example.com/team) - [News](https://example.com/news): holiday schedules and announcements.
Everything a caller would ask is in the first paragraph, dated, and every line below names what the linked page answers. The whitening price is in the file because the services page states it and it is a starting price; the insurance-covered prices are not, because they depend on the treatment.
Keeping hours true in four places
Hours are the fact assistants are asked most and the one that drifts. They live in four places, and a wrong answer comes from whichever one you forgot:
- The visible page. A text list on the contact or access page. This is the source; change it first.
- LocalBusiness structured data.Google’s documentation, last updated 8 September 2026, requires name and address and recommends telephone, coordinates, and openingHoursSpecification with dayOfWeek, opens, and closes in 24-hour time. A day closed all day is opens and closes both 00:00; seasonal hours take validFrom and validThrough dates. Keep it identical to the page.
- Google Business Profile. What Maps and Search show. Google’s guidance for AI features lists keeping it up to date among its recommendations.
- llms.txt. The dated paragraph. Update it in the same edit as the page, and put the holiday notice here too.
The pricing article describes the same discipline for prices, including how to find the old copies an assistant may be quoting.
What the file will not do
It will not change where you appear in Maps or in AI Overviews. Google has said Search does not use llms.txt, and local results come from your Business Profile, your pages, and structured data; the AI Overviews article has what Google does say. What the file serves is the assistant a person points at your site, and increasingly the agent acting for them: “find me a dentist near Sanjo open on Saturday and book a check-up.” That agent reads text, follows the booking link, and needs the hours to be right. Fix the page first, add the file second.
Checking the result
Validate the file, then ask an assistant the three questions with your URL: when are you open on a specific day, how does someone get there, and how do they book. If the answer matches the first paragraph, the file is doing its job. If it quotes different hours, you have found the copy that disagrees.
See what a crawler gets from your site
Run the checker on your URL. It fetches your pages the way a bot does, reports whether the hours and address are readable as text, and generates an llms.txt draft to start from.
Run the check →FAQ
What does an llms.txt do for a shop, clinic, or practice?
It gives an assistant the three facts people ask about a local business, where it is, when it is open, and how to book, as plain text in one place, with the date they were last confirmed. Local sites tend to keep those facts in a map embed, an image, or a booking widget, none of which a plain fetch can read. The file is the text version, and it links to the pages that hold the detail.
Should I put opening hours in the file if they change?
Yes, with a date, and only if you will update the file when the page changes. Hours are the fact an assistant is most often asked and most often gets wrong. Write them once in the file, keep them identical on the page, in LocalBusiness structured data, and in your Google Business Profile, and put a note about holidays or seasonal changes next to them.
Will this put me in Google Maps or AI Overviews?
No. Google has said Search does not use llms.txt, and local results come from your Business Profile, your pages, and structured data. Google's guidance for AI features lists keeping Business Profile information up to date among its recommendations. The file serves a different reader: the assistant a person points at your site, or an agent booking on someone's behalf.
How do I handle several locations?
One file at the root with one H2 per location, each holding the address, hours, phone, and booking link for that site, works for up to a handful of locations. Beyond that, keep the root file to the list of locations with one line each and put a full file under each location's path. The spec allows a file at a sub-path.
What should not go in the file?
Anything that is not already on a public page, and anything that changes daily: today's appointment availability, a wait time, a daily special. Those belong in the booking system or on a page the assistant can fetch at answer time. Also leave out staff personal details unless they are on the site.
Do I still need LocalBusiness structured data?
Yes. Google's LocalBusiness documentation requires name and address and recommends telephone, opening hours, and coordinates, and it is what search engines read. The file is read by assistants and agents. Keep the hours and address identical in both, and on the visible page, because a mismatch is what produces a wrong answer.
Next steps
- → llms.txt for e-commerce (the same approach for a store with a catalog)
- → Stop AI from quoting your old pricing (keeping a changing fact consistent everywhere)
- → Google AI Overviews and small sites: what actually helps
- → All Learn articles