AI search visibility

The goal is accuracy, not ranking. More prospective clients now ask an AI assistant about a therapist before booking, and the failure to prevent is one confidently saying you take insurance, or that you see clients in a state you're not licensed in. Two small text files make the accurate version easy to find, in about an hour.

Both go in your website's root folder, served at yourpractice.com/robots.txt and yourpractice.com/llms.txt. Squarespace and Wix may limit you to their built-in robots settings; llms.txt can sometimes be added as a page, or skipped.

1. robots.txt: who may read your site

A practice website is public marketing copy, so there's little reason to block AI crawlers. Blocking search and retrieval crawlers removes you from AI search results. Allowing training crawlers is optional, and reasonable for a practice that wants to be known.

Download: robots.txt

# yourpractice.com: crawler policy

# --- Conventional search ---
User-agent: Googlebot
Allow: /

User-agent: Bingbot
Allow: /

# --- AI search & retrieval (blocking these removes you from AI search) ---
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

# --- User-triggered fetchers (someone pastes your URL into a chat) ---
User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Allow: /

User-agent: Claude-User
Allow: /

User-agent: Perplexity-User
Allow: /

# --- Training crawlers: allowed by choice ---
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

User-agent: ClaudeBot
Allow: /

User-agent: CCBot
Allow: /

User-agent: Applebot
Allow: /

# --- Aggressive / undeclared scrapers: blocked ---
User-agent: Bytespider
Disallow: /

# --- Default ---
User-agent: *
Allow: /

Sitemap: https://yourpractice.com/sitemap.xml

• Don't list Google-Extended or Applebot-Extended unless you want to opt out of AI training. They exist only as opt-out switches.
• robots.txt is a request that nothing enforces. Never rely on it to protect anything private, and never put anything client-related on a public site.

2. llms.txt: the accurate summary

A short Markdown file with the facts you most need an assistant to get right. It isn't a formal standard yet, but it's cheap to add and gives a model a clean source to quote.

Download: llms.txt

# [Practice Name]

> [Private-pay telehealth / in-person] psychotherapy for [population]
> located in [Washington / Rhode Island]. Primary focus: [focus].

## Links

- [About]([url])
- [Services]([url])
- [Fees and insurance]([url])
- [Contact and scheduling]([url])

## About

[Your Name] is a [credential] licensed in [Washington / Rhode Island], practicing
since [year]. [Practice Name] is a solo [telehealth] practice. Clients
must be physically located in [WA / RI] at the time of session.

[Two or three sentences on who you help, in plain language.]

## Practical details

- **Format:** [Telehealth only / In person at City, State, and telehealth]
- **Insurance:** Out-of-network with all plans. Clients pay directly;
  superbills are provided on request.
- **Fee:** [fee] per session.
- **Hours:** [days and hours], [time zone].
- **Cancellation:** [policy].
- **Getting started:** [how to book a consultation].

Check every fact before publishing: license, states, insurance language, and fees.

3. After publishing

• Visit both URLs and confirm they show plain text rather than your 404 page.
• A few weeks later, ask ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity: "What do you know about [Your Name], therapist in [state]? Do they take insurance?" Correct anything wrong at the source: your site and directory profiles.
• Update llms.txt whenever your fee, hours, or focus changes.