Making pages readable for agents: text, structured data and markdown
If an agent cannot read a price, it cannot compare it, quote it or pay it.
Am I Ready for Agents? editors · 12 September 2026 · Reviewed September 2026
The read area asks whether the facts that matter are available as text an agent can parse. That means main content in the first HTML response, prices and policies as text rather than images, structured data on key pages and, if you choose, a markdown version for agents that ask for one.
What does readable mean for an agent?
An agent reading your page wants the same facts a customer does: what it is, what it costs, whether it is available and what the rules are. The difference is how it gets them. Many automated readers take the HTML your server sends and do not run the scripts that fill a page in a browser. If the text arrives only after scripts run, they may see an empty page.
ora.ai's methodology describes the consequence from the agent's side: blocked crawlers, JavaScript-only content and weak structure lead agents to describe a business wrongly.
Where do facts hide?
- Prices and delivery costs that appear only after a script calculates them.
- Opening hours, menus or rate cards published only as images or PDFs.
- Cancellation and returns terms in pop-ups or behind a click.
- Stock or availability shown only as a coloured dot, with no text.
Each of these is readable to a person looking at the screen and missing for many automated readers. They are the subject of self-check questions 5 and 6.
What does structured data add?
Structured data states facts in a form machines read directly: this is a product, this is its price, this is its availability, this event is on this date. It is usually written as JSON-LD using the Schema.org vocabulary and sits in the page alongside the visible text. It does not replace readable text; it confirms it in a predictable shape.
Ask which page types carry it (product, offer, event, article) and whether anyone checks it after template changes.
Should we offer a markdown version?
Markdown is plain text with light formatting, and it is easier for agents to read than a full web page. Cloudflare's Markdown for Agents converts HTML to markdown at the edge when a client asks for text/markdown. Cloudflare states it is available at no cost on Pro, Business and Enterprise plans and SSL for SaaS, for origin responses up to 2 MB.
One detail matters before you switch it on. When a site has not set its own policy, the feature adds the header Content-Signal: ai-train=yes, search=yes, ai-input=yes. Decide your own content signals first.
Where does llms.txt fit?
llms.txt is a proposed short guide at the root of a site, written for language models, that says what the site is and which pages matter. Version 2, published in August 2026, lets any page point to its markdown version and to the llms.txt file that covers it. It is optional: it helps agents that look for it and does not control crawling.
What should you ask?
Take the read group on ask your web team: which templates deliver their main content in the first HTML response, whether any prices or policies appear only as images, PDFs or pop-ups, which structured data you publish and check, and what your position is on markdown.