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# Why LLMs.txt Arguments Would Work Just as Well for Cats.txt
- URL: https://adjacent.media/signals/why-llms-txt-arguments-would-work-just-as-well-for-cats-txt/
- Published: 2026-08-08T16:09:50.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-08T16:09:50.000Z
- Description: Search Engine Journal deconstructs the llms.txt proposal—a machine-readable file meant to signal AI training preferences to search engines—and finds it rests on circular reasoning that could justify almost any protocol without technical merit.
- Author: Jonathan Greene
- Tags: #signal, theme-ai, llm capability claims, ai evaluation, prompt engineering

Source: [Search Engine Journal](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-cats-txt-showed-llms-txt-evidence-is-geo-astrology/584653/?ref=adjacent.media)

Search Engine Journal deconstructs the llms.txt proposal—a machine-readable file meant to signal AI training preferences to search engines—and finds it rests on circular reasoning that could justify almost any protocol without technical merit. The logic is troubling: if the same rhetorical moves can sell fundamentally different objectives with equal persuasiveness, it exposes how much of current GEO (Google E-E-A-T optimization) runs on performative compliance rather than algorithmic reality. Marketers are spending resources on tactics that may have no mechanical effect on ranking, only on appearing to comply with signals Google itself hasn't formally validated.