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H2 sections

H2 sections containing link lists

In short: Group your links under two or more ## sections other than ## Optional (Docs, API, Pricing), each holding a list of links.

  • Category: Spec Conformance · weight 25 of 100 within the category
  • Spec Conformance is worth 10 in every profile (points of 100, by scoring profile)
  • Audit ID S3 (as shown on reports) · rubric v2.1

What it checks

Whether the body is organized into H2 sections that contain link lists.

Why it matters

Sections let an agent skip to the part of the file that answers its question instead of scanning every link.

When it applies

Always, for any llms.txt that exists.

An audit that doesn't apply, or that we couldn't verify, is removed from your score and its weight shared among the Spec Conformance audits that do apply. It is never scored as a zero.

How it's scored

1.0 two or more ## sections · 0.5 one · 0 none. ## Optional isn’t counted, ### headings belong to the section above them, and a flat list of links with no ## heading counts as one section.

How to fix

  1. Group links under ## headings by topic or task (Docs, API, Pricing, Support).
  2. Put a markdown list of links under each ## heading.
  3. Avoid empty sections and sections of prose with no links.

Example

## Guides

- [Quickstart](https://acme.com/docs/quickstart.md): Take a first payment in five minutes

## API

- [Refunds API](https://acme.com/docs/refunds.md): Create, list and cancel refunds

Frequently asked questions

How many H2 sections do I need for full marks?
Two or more ## sections score 1.0, exactly one scores 0.5, and none scores 0. The llms.txt format delimits its file lists with H2 headers, so group links by what an agent is looking for (for example Docs, API, Pricing) rather than keeping one long list.

Sources: llms.txt format (v2) · H2 sections

Does a “## Optional” section count toward my sections?
No. llms.txt v2 keeps “Optional” only as a convention for “links an agent can skip when a shorter context is needed”, and rubric v2.0 gives it no special credit, so this check doesn’t count it as a section. Its links still count everywhere links count, such as link line format; a file whose only heading is ## Optional has zero sections here.

Sources: llms.txt format (v2) · LLMSRank method

My file is one flat list of links with no headings. What happens?
The links are still read, as a single unnamed section, so this check scores 0.5 (one section) rather than 0. Splitting the list under two or more ## headings brings it to 1.0 and also helps ordering.

Sources: llms.txt format (v2) · H2 sections

Do H3 subheadings count as sections?
No. Only ## headings start a section; ### lines are treated as part of the section above them, and links under an H3 belong to its parent H2. Use H3s for sub-grouping if you like, but make sure the top-level groups are H2s.

Sources: llms.txt format (v2) · CommonMark: ATX headings

In our research, how many sites organize their file into H2 sections?
Across 187 llms.txt files (corpus captured 2026-10-10, rubric v2.1), the check applied to all 187 (0 not applicable), 89.3% scored full marks with two or more sections, and the mean score was 0.939. netlify.com, aflac.com, taylormorrison.com, expedia.com and tavily.com are examples.

Sources: LLMSRank method · H2 sections