LLMs reject Reddit citations 90% of the time; llms.txt proves mostly useless
dejanseo · x · 2026-08-28
SEO expert Dan Petrovic shares key takeaways on AEO (AI Engine Optimization):
- Low Reddit citation rate: Despite dominating search rankings, Reddit is rejected as a citation source by LLMs over 90% of the time in API testing.
- llms.txt is mostly pointless: AI chatbots fetch specific URLs from search results rather than crawling site inventories, so an llms.txt file doesn't help with discovery. While implemented by the author, no evidence suggests it influences citations.
- "Prompt search volume" is a myth: The probability of two people typing the exact same prompt is astronomically low due to dictation tools, multi-turn conversations, and personalization.
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