AI agent — what is it and how does it use websites?
What is an AI agent?
An AI agent is a system built on a language model that does not just answer a question but carries out a task in several steps: it opens websites, reads their content, compares offers, fills in forms or hands the user a finished summary. The difference from an ordinary chat is that an agent acts: it decides for itself which step to take next and uses tools such as a browser or a search engine to do it.
How does an AI agent differ from an AI search engine?
An AI search engine, such as AI Mode or ChatGPT with search, gathers information and gives an answer with links. An agent goes further: asked to "find three companies that do SEO audits and compare their prices", it will go through those companies' websites itself, read their scope and prices, and then present the result. A person may never see the page the agent took the data from.
What does an AI agent need from a website?
- Content in the HTML. An agent reads what it gets from the server. Content that only appears after JavaScript runs may be missed (more in the JavaScript SEO entry).
- Specifics written out. A starting price, the scope of a service, delivery time and contact details written as text, not only in an image or a form.
- Structured data. Schema.org describes the company, its services and prices in a form a machine can read without guessing.
- Open access for bots. A robots.txt file that does not block AI bots and, optionally, an llms.txt file mapping the most important content.
Why does this matter for B2B companies?
More and more of the research done before choosing a supplier is carried out for people by AI tools. A website from which an agent cannot read the scope of a service and its price drops out of the comparison, even if it looks fine to a human. Preparing a site for agents is the same work as GEO: a clear structure, structured data and access for bots.
We check whether a site is readable for AI bots as part of our free SEO audit.