Agent Readiness

What is agent readiness (AAO)?

Agent readiness, also called AAO (Agent & Agentic Optimization), is the set of measures that make a company discoverable, understandable and hireable for autonomous AI agents. Classic SEO optimizes web pages for human users, and GEO prepares content for generative search systems. Agent readiness goes one step further: it makes a company directly reachable for software agents through open protocols.

The background is the emerging agentic web, where AI agents, and no longer only people, research, compare and complete tasks. For an agent to consider a company at all, the company has to provide its identity, services and interfaces in a machine-readable form.

Example: a user asks an AI assistant to find an accounting firm that takes on new clients. The assistant's agent checks which firms it can query directly. A firm that publishes an agent card and an MCP server can answer the request; a firm with only a brochure website may not be considered.

This glossary entry explains the term. For how we implement it, see our agent readiness service; for practical steps on your own site, read the guide on optimizing your website for AI agents.

The building blocks of agent readiness

Agent readiness is made up of several technical and content building blocks that work together:

• Agent card – a machine-readable business card (usually at /.well-known/agent-card.json) that tells an agent who the company is and what it offers. It is part of the A2A standard.
• MCP server – provides concrete tools and data through the Model Context Protocol that an AI agent can use directly.
• Agent-readable structured data and Markdown – clean schema data, clear Markdown versions of content and files such as llms.txt that make it easier for agents to understand a site.
• Content signals – explicit notes on which content agents may use and how it should be interpreted.

Why agent readiness is becoming important

When an AI agent looks for a provider on a user's behalf, it can only consider companies it can technically read and contact. Without an agent card or an MCP server, a company stays invisible to agentic search, however well it ranks on Google.

At SEOX, we treat agent readiness as its own discipline next to SEO and GEO. We use our own website as proof that it works: in the independent test on isitagentready.com, seox.ch reached the highest level – Level 5 "Agent-Native" with a score of 71.

We apply the same structured setup, from the agent card and MCP server to agent-readable content, to client projects as part of our Agent readiness (AAO) service.

How agent readiness fits together

Agent readiness builds on two open standards: the A2A protocol for communication between agents and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for access to tools and data. Together they form the technical foundation of the agentic web.