<\/p>
Google\u2019s John Mueller says markdown pages serve a specific purpose for developer documentation sites but won\u2019t help most websites, even as search becomes more agentic.<\/p>
Mueller laid out his reasoning in a Bluesky thread. He was responding to a question from Lily Ray about why Google publishes LLMs.txt files and markdown pages, even though they aren\u2019t needed for search performance.<\/p>
His response focused mainly on markdown versions of developer documentation, not llms.txt as a standalone file.<\/p>
Mueller wrote:<\/p>
\u201cThe short answer is that it\u2019s not done for search. There\u2019s more to websites than just SEO :-).\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote>
Mueller\u2019s Discovery Vs. Functionality Framework<\/h2>
His reasoning focuses on two different website goals.<\/p>
He called the first \u201cdiscovery,\u201d or being found via a search engine, and the second \u201cfunctionality,\u201d which helps users complete tasks on the page.<\/p>