In this article, we’ll explore the role of LLMs.txt files in Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Artificial Intelligence Optimization (AIO), why they matter for dealers, and how DealerOn is leading the way by supporting this emerging standard to keep our dealers competitive in the next era of search.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how car shoppers discover dealers online, and the rise of LLMs.txt files marks a turning point in that evolution. While traditional search engines remain the main driver of organic traffic, AI-powered search referrals are growing quickly, creating new opportunities for visibility.
As of September 2025, less than 1% of daily traffic to dealerships is coming from AI driven platforms.* Importantly, we’ve seen no decline in overall organic traffic, which means traditional search engines remain the primary source for critical automotive queries. That said, change is already underway. Over the past 6 months we’ve observed a heavy uptick in AI search referrals, signaling that these emerging channels could continue to shape how car shoppers discover dealers and their inventory. While much about AI-powered search is still unknown, the trend is clear; it’s gaining momentum.
DealerOn is committed to helping dealerships stay ahead of the curve. By anticipating how AI search will influence shopper behavior, we are investing in new platform capabilities and expert guidance to keep our dealers visible and competitive, no matter how the search landscape evolves.
SEO vs GEO vs AIO
The introduction of AI has brought much change into the industry and that includes a whole new set of acronyms we need to be paying attention to. GEO, LLM, AIO; it can feel like you need a dictionary or translator to understand what it all means.
Whether you conduct your personal searches with Google, or if you are an early adopter of a tool like Perplexity or ChatGPT for your everyday inquiries, the impact of SEO on search results has never been greater and now in addition to SEO, we have some new terms that need defining.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) focuses on improving how your website’s content is discovered, understood, and most importantly, recommended by AI-driven search and conversational tools. Similar to how Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has the goal of earning higher rankings in traditional search results, GEO targets the same achievements specific to AI-driven search functionality.
While AIO ensures the content itself is AI-ready, GEO focuses on visibility and performance inside generative search experiences; the actual answers and conversational interfaces produced by AI-powered search engines.
Because automotive just didn’t have enough acronyms, there is also AIO, or Artificial Intelligence Optimization. How does this differ from GEO? Both share the goal of improving how a website is discovered and represented in an AI-driven search landscape, but they differ in scope and focus. While AIO ensures the content itself is AI-ready, GEO focuses on visibility and performance inside generative search experiences; the actual answers and conversational interfaces produced by AI-powered search engines.
LLMs.txt Files and DealerOn’s Platform Solutions
An LLMs.txt file is an emerging best practice for websites that directly supports both AIO and GEO by creating a guide to your site the AI search tools can follow. Right now, your site’s robots.txt file and XML sitemap help guide the search engine bots for Google, Bing, and others. An LLMs.txt file is designed in a format that can be easily read and understood by AI search processors. As traffic to dealer websites from AI tools and search engines continues to increase, the importance of having this roadmap becomes even more crucial.
We’re excited to announce DealerOn now supports LLMs.txt file placement on our websites. This means dealers can define guidelines for AI crawlers; helping ensure their content is properly discovered and represented in AI-powered search experiences. Our platform supports two file formats: LLMs.txt, which provides an executive summary, and LLMs-full.txt, which expands on that summary with more detailed information.
Here is an example of a LLMs-full.txt file that can be used as a basis when creating your own:
# GroupDemo1
> DealerOn demo site for GroupDemo1: interactive vehicle inventory, specials, financing, and service information for an auto group in Derwood, MD. This file highlights the most important pages and machine-readable resources to help LLMs quickly find authoritative content on this site.
## Core Pages
- [Home](https://groupdemo1.dealeron.com/): Site root and search landing page.
- [New Vehicles](https://groupdemo1.dealeron.com/new-vehicles): New inventory search and listings.
- [Pre-Owned Vehicles](https://groupdemo1.dealeron.com/pre-owned-vehicles): Used inventory search and listings.
- [Search Inventory — New](https://groupdemo1.dealeron.com/search-new-inventory): Direct new-vehicle search (search page).
- [Search Inventory — Used](https://groupdemo1.dealeron.com/search-used-inventory): Direct used-vehicle search (search page).
- [Specials](https://groupdemo1.dealeron.com/specials): Current new and pre-owned specials pages.
- [Service] (https://groupdemo1.dealeron.com/service.aspx): Award Winning Service
- [About Us](https://groupdemo1.dealeron.com/about-us): Dealer group background and mission.
- [Contact Us](https://groupdemo1.dealeron.com/contact-us): Contact form and contact details.
- [Hours & Directions](https://groupdemo1.dealeron.com/hours-directions): Location hours and directions.
## Machine-readable & canonical resources
- Sitemap: https://groupdemo1.dealeron.com/sitemap
- Privacy / Legal: https://groupdemo1.dealeron.com/privacy
- Robots: https://groupdemo1.dealeron.com/robots.txt
- Contact email: contact@dealeron.com
- Main phone: 888-111-1111
## Optional / Less-critical resources
- Meet Our Staff: `/meet-our-staff`
- Blog: `/blog`
- Social profiles:
- Our Locations: `our-locations`
## Usage notes for LLMs & agents
- Prioritize pages under **Core Pages** for short answers about inventory, dealer contact, hours, and specials.
- For long-form answers or extraction of full docs (warranties, service procedures, developer APIs)
- Obey robots.txt and site rate limits when fetching pages; avoid excessive parallel requests.
- Treat `/privacy` as the authoritative statement on permitted use of site content and data handling.
## Contact
- GroupDemo1 (DealerOn demo)
- Address: 7361 Calhoun Pl, Derwood, MD 20855
- Phone: 888-111-1111
- Email: contact@dealeron.com
If you’d rather skip the DIY and have this content created for you, keep an eye out for some exciting updates coming to our SEO services in Q4. We’ll be rolling out options to handle the heavy lifting on your behalf.
As with everything we do, DealerOn will continue to analyze and monitor the data surrounding this hot topic and will make data-driven updates to our platform along with recommendations to our clients and partners. Stay tuned for more!
*DealerOn insights September 2025
This was very interesting. Colleen we meet at the NADA 20 group. I’m not a DYI-er but look forward to when DealerOn will be doing this for us.