Content Clarity - AI-readiness signals
All 15 signals in the Content Clarity category, with what each tests and why it matters for visibility in AI.
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Declare your page language so AI systems know what they are reading
A single lang attribute on the html tag tells crawlers which language your content is in.
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Mark up foreign-language passages so they are not mistaken for your main language
Wrap quotes or sections in another language with a lang attribute so AI parses them correctly.
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Use semantic landmarks so extractors can tell content from chrome
Exactly one main element plus header, nav, and footer make page structure unambiguous.
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Wrap your main content in an article element so it can be lifted out cleanly
Place blog posts, docs, and product descriptions inside an article element within main.
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Use a clean heading hierarchy that AI systems can turn into a table of contents
Headings should descend in order h1 → h2 → h3 without skipping levels or repeating h1.
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Mark visual lists with real list elements instead of styled divs
Use ul, ol, and li tags so AI systems recognize the items as a list, not loose paragraphs.
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Mark up data tables with proper headers so AI can read rows and columns correctly
Use thead, tbody, and th with a scope attribute so tabular data extracts cleanly.
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Write descriptive alt text on every meaningful image so AI knows what they show
Every img element needs an alt attribute, descriptive for content images and empty for decorative ones.
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Pair standalone images and code blocks with captions using figure and figcaption
Wrap content-bearing visuals in a figure element with a figcaption to anchor the description.
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Write link text that describes the destination instead of saying "click here"
Anchor text should label the target page, not the act of clicking.
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Use readable URLs with words instead of opaque IDs or tracking parameters
Canonical URLs should look like /blog/ai-readiness, not /p?id=8c4e91a2-utm_source=x.
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Make sure your real content dominates the page over chrome and navigation
On content pages, the main content area should hold at least half the page's text.
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Keep your prose readable so AI summaries stay faithful to your meaning
Median Flesch Reading Ease at fifty or above, grade level twelve to fourteen depending on audience.
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Expand acronyms and mark defined terms so AI captures their meaning
Use abbr for acronyms and dfn for term definitions, with dl for glossaries.
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Make sure your page converts cleanly into Markdown that AI tools can read
Headings, lists, links, tables, and code blocks should all survive an HTML-to-Markdown conversion.