# LintLab finds sitemap errors common, llms.txt adoption still rare

Published: 2026-10-02T21:03:48.607Z · Source: PPC Land (https://ppc.land/62-of-top-1-000-sites-with-a-sitemap-fail-at-least-one-check-lintlab-finds/)
Source date: 2026-10-02
Flags: LintLab study — vendor-published
Entities: llms-txt

LintLab crawled the 1,000 most-visited sites on Chrome's August 2026 top-sites list on Oct. 1, checking both XML sitemaps and llms.txt files, per PPC Land. Of the 400 sites with a sitemap, 62% carried at least one fault — most often redirecting URLs (23%) — while only 66 sites, 6.6%, served a valid llms.txt file and nearly two-thirds returned a 404. The llms.txt figure lines up with an Ahrefs study the wire covered in August, which found 97% of published llms.txt files go completely unread by AI crawlers regardless.

Why it matters: A third independent dataset — after Ahrefs and Common Crawl — shows llms.txt adoption still stuck in single digits, while the more basic problem of broken sitemaps remains unsolved across most of the open web.

## What this answers

**What percentage of top websites have errors in their sitemap?**

A LintLab study found 62% of the 400 top-1,000 sites that had an XML sitemap carried at least one error, most often redirecting URLs (23%).

**How many top websites have a valid llms.txt file?**

Just 66 of the top 1,000 most-visited sites, 6.6%, served a valid llms.txt file as of October 2026, per LintLab; nearly two-thirds returned a 404 instead.


Canonical: https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-10-02-lintlab-finds-sitemap-errors-common-llms-txt-adoption-still-rare/
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