What your website needs to do for AI agents
An AI agent researching a business has to find information, interpret it, and sometimes act on a customer’s behalf. A website can support those jobs through ordinary readable pages, useful business details, and clearly defined actions.
Start with the customer’s task. Finding a business that serves an address is different from requesting an estimate. The information and access needed change as the task progresses.
Discovery: reach the relevant page
A website needs public URLs that a search engine, browser, or agent can reach. Clear navigation and a sitemap help describe what exists. Important information should be available in the published page rather than requiring a person to uncover it through a complicated interface.
Discovery does not necessarily mean an agent automatically connects to every tool a site offers. Finding a service page and establishing a connection to an MCP server are separate steps. Test the path your intended customer experience actually uses.
Understanding: provide facts with enough context
Agents can read ordinary websites. The question is whether the available content answers a real request accurately.
A useful service page explains the work, the area covered, relevant conditions, and how the customer should proceed. Shared business details and structured data help make the identity and relationships explicit. Keep these facts consistent with the visible text.
Markdown can provide a simpler representation of page content. It should preserve meaningful links, qualifications, and instructions so the simplified representation remains a faithful account of the page.
Evaluation: answer the questions that affect the decision
Customers ask about specific needs. An agent may look for a service in a particular area, a business that works with certain equipment, or a provider whose process meets a requirement.
Explain the distinctions your team normally discusses. Name the work you handle, conditions that affect price, and questions that require a follow-up. Avoid making the agent infer a detailed answer from a general claim.
The website supplies evidence for the conversation. The customer’s request and the agent’s own process determine what it does with that information.
Interaction: define a real action
Submitting an inquiry changes something: the business receives a request. A useful action has a clear purpose, a defined set of inputs, and a result the agent can report to the customer.
For a form, identify required fields, explain what each means, and return a confirmation when the submission is accepted. Keep the action tied to the customer’s intention. The agent should know whether it requested an estimate or actually booked an appointment.
MCP can expose tools through a client-server connection. WebMCP exposes tools in a browser page. The right approach depends on where the agent is operating and the workflow you want to support.
Citations and actions are different outcomes
A search system may cite a page without sending an inquiry. An agent may read a page and then contact the business. Those events should be measured separately.
Decide what success means for your business: accurate answers, useful referrals, completed inquiries, or another action. Then test the steps needed to reach it. A protocol name alone does not establish that the whole workflow succeeds.