Traditional SEO focused on keywords and backlinks. AI optimization requires something different: machine-readable structure that helps large language models understand your products, inventory, and locations at scale. This is where llms.txt comes in.

We analyzed five years of global Google Trends data for "near me" searches. The pattern is unmistakable: every single December shows a significant spike in search intent, specifically for retail and shopping categories. Every December, something predictable happens in worldwide search behavior. The question is: are you prepared for it?

The llms.txt standard solves this. It's a simple convention that tells large language models exactly where to find your content and how to access it efficiently. Think of it as robots.txt for the AI era!