# Be found by AI assistants

How CubeSites talks to AI assistants, and the switches that control it.

For: Everyone curious about AI search

## One switch, easy to understand

AI assistants from several companies now answer questions people used to search for. CubeSites gives each website a plain switch: AI assistants may read this website. On, and the site is offered in forms those assistants can read efficiently; off, and it is asked politely to stay out.

The switch sits on the Search engines section of the SEO tab, beside the sitemap and the search engine verification codes, because it answers the same question: which machines may read this site.

Walkthrough: The AI assistants switch (The SEO tab)

1. **One switch**: On, and the site is offered in forms assistants read efficiently. Off, and they are asked politely to stay out.
2. **The same question**: It sits beside the sitemap and the verification codes, because it answers what machines may read.

1. Open the SEO tab.
2. Find AI assistants may read this website.
3. Leave it on for a business site, or switch it off where the policy says so.

## What assistants actually read

Three things make a site easy for an assistant to use. First, the pages as Markdown: every page can be fetched as plain text by adding .md to its address, or by asking for it directly, which is far easier for a machine than guessing at HTML. Second, llms.txt, the short guide listing what the site contains, with the fuller llms-full.txt beside it. Third, the Summary for AI assistants field on each page: one or two sentences saying what the page offers, which appears in those files.

The Instructions for AI drafts field is the opposite: private guidance for the editor's own AI, never shown to visitors or assistants.

Walkthrough: What assistants actually read (Search settings for one page)

1. **The summary**: One or two sentences saying what the page offers, appearing in llms.txt and the page's Markdown file.
2. **And the private one**: Instructions for AI drafts guide the editor's own writer. Never shown to visitors or assistants.

Note: The .md addresses and machine files simply follow from the site being well described. There is no separate site to maintain, and nothing extra to submit.

## Pages that stay out

Hide from search engines takes a page out of the search listing and the assistant files together. A page switched off here is not offered anywhere, though it remains reachable by address.

A multi-language site keeps separate summaries per language, so an assistant answering in French reads the French description rather than the English one.

Walkthrough: Pages that stay out (Search settings for one page)

1. **Hide from search engines**: Takes a page out of the search listing and the assistant files together. It stays reachable by address.
2. **Check the rest first**: A page worth hiding is often a page with a job to do; check the title and description before switching it off.

- [ ] The main pages have a written AI summary
- [ ] Drafts and hold pages are hidden
- [ ] Anything under a confidence is out of both search and the assistant files

## Can I pick which AI companies may read the site?

The switch is all or nothing, which is how the open standard works today. A company that says it honours a refusal is taken at its word.

## Does any of this change the page for visitors?

No. Everything here is generated beside the ordinary site, from the same pages.

## Related guides

- [Search titles and descriptions](/help/seo/search-titles-and-descriptions)
- [Redirects and sitemaps](/help/seo/redirects-and-sitemaps)
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CubeSites is a trading name of Cube Systems Limited, part of Crushed Ice Group. Registered in England and Wales, company number 17220899. Registered office: Unit 11, Olney Business Park, Osier Way, Olney, Buckinghamshire, MK46 5FP. ICO registration number ZC216972.

Contact: hello@cubesites.co.uk | 01234 672 617 | https://cubesites.co.uk/contact