The AI search conversation is stuck in the basics.
Most advice describes how to get your site mentioned in ChatGPT or Google AIOs through content restructuring.
The real frontier is Agentic Engine Optimization.
AI agents are autonomous bots that don’t just search the web but can work 24/7, executing multi-step processes through their own reasoning.
I noticed a similar shift in SEO years ago: If you didn’t upload a product feed in Google Merchant Center, you were automatically excluded from some of the best organic search features for e-commerce.
Expanding visibility always wins over best practices that may or may not work!
Here’s why, then how, to get started on preparing for agentic AI.
Token Economics: Efficiency~Page Speed
SEO focused on page speed for humans by loading a page in under 2-3 seconds. This also helped Google to crawl faster, so it made sense as a universal priority.
AI optimization focuses on token efficiency.
When AI visits your site to complete a task, it has a budget. Reading data costs money. If agents have to parse thousands of words of marketing fluff to generate an answer, find a price or fill out a form, they may abandon your site.
Websites with the highest information density will thrive.
SEO foundations still help: clear headings, structured data and key takeaways above the fold. Agents are well-prepared for HTML. However, we can add a new technical layer to ensure more content is considered.
3 Early Steps for Agentic Readiness
1. Provide AI menus (llms.txt & skills.md)
Put these text-based markdown files at the root directory of your website. The llms.txt acts as a simple menu so an agent can understand your site’s purpose and focus on pages that matter most. The skills.md is like a resume for your site, telling AI exactly what tasks it can execute.
2. Ensure easy site access
Audit your robots.txt file & firewall security settings to ensure agents aren’t being blocked. Once they are let in, an XML sitemap with link headers can guide them further. Offer markdown formats accessible by agents for your pages.Consider emerging frameworks like WebMCP and potentialAction schema to make actions clear. These act as universal translators, guiding AI agents on how to fill out complex forms, check inventory or handle scheduling without hallucinations.
3. Revise analytics
Traditional metrics like pageviews or session duration in GA4 are useless in an agentic ecosystem. An AI agent doesn’t click a button or trigger a JS event the way a human does. Therefore, watch your server log files for AI user-agent signatures alongside traffic to your llms.txt or API endpoints, ensuring you measure AI search visibility & success.
Future-Proof for the Agentic Revolution
Things are moving incredibly fast. Just a few weeks ago, I may not have considered it worthwhile to publish this piece.
By adopting agentic AI best practices early though, you ensure that when an AI agent is sent to solve a customer’s problem, your website is the easiest, most efficient path of least resistance, gaining an early advantage over competitors.
In addition to the steps here, Cloudflare’s AI readiness tool is another great starting point.
If you’re still optimizing for a human possibly clicking a blue link, you’re focusing on a rapidly-shrinking market!