Machine legibility
Machine legibility is how easily AI systems, search engines and agents can read, understand and accurately describe a company or product. It depends on a consistent description, content that can be read without scripts, structured documentation and genuine mentions elsewhere.
What it means
More buyers now ask an AI assistant about a product before visiting its site. The assistant answers from what it can read, and if the company's own description is inconsistent, hidden behind scripts or missing, it describes the company from whatever else it finds.
Machine legibility isn't a promise of being cited. It makes sure that when an AI system does describe you, it describes what you actually are.
How we use it
Our method We believe the machine is now part of the audience, and we tore down our own old website the way an AI system reads it, in Teardown: our old website.
Related terms
Published 28 September 2026. All terms