# Machine-readable website

> What makes a website machine-readable, how to recognise one, why it is not the same as SEO — and why it now concerns every business.

Synonyms: machine-readable, machine readable, machine readability, readable by machines

## What does machine-readable mean?

Machine-readable means a program can take the details off a page unambiguously, without having to guess them from prose. An opening time marked up as a time is read. The same opening time in the middle of a sentence has to be interpreted — and interpretation produces errors.

## How do you recognise a machine-readable website?

By four things: the facts about the business are marked up, not merely written. The structure of the page is named — headings, sections, relationships. The ways in are openly declared rather than hidden. And the details contradict each other nowhere, neither within the site nor against other sources.

## Is that the same as findability?

No, though the two overlap. Classic findability aims at standing high in a list of results. Machine readability aims at being understood correctly at all — including where there is no list of results any more, only an answer. A page can rank well and still be mute to an answering system.

## Why this concerns every business

Because information about a business is increasingly not read on its website but derived from it. Someone asking an AI about opening hours, services or a recommendation never sees the page — they see what a machine made of it. If the source is unambiguous, the answer is right. If it is not, the machine decides for itself which version to believe.

## Does the site have to look different for this?

No. Machine readability is a property of the substructure, not of the design. The same page, the same look — only with marked-up facts underneath instead of mere phrasing.

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Source: https://btlabs.dev/en/glossary/machine-readable-website
Last-Modified: 2026-08-27T22:30:20.660Z
Languages: [de](https://btlabs.dev/llms/de/glossary/maschinenlesbare-website) · [it](https://btlabs.dev/llms/it/glossary/sito-leggibile-dalle-macchine)
See also: [llms.txt](https://btlabs.dev/llms.txt) · [ai.txt (Policy)](https://btlabs.dev/ai.txt) · [identity.json](https://btlabs.dev/identity.json)