Titles, descriptions and headings AI agents understand

Before an AI agent reads a page in full, it reads the labels: the title, the description and the headings. They're how it decides whether a page answers the question it was asked, and how it finds the right part of a long page. They're also the parts of a page most often left on autopilot.

Why the labels matter more to agents than to people

A person landing on your page takes in the design at a glance: the hero image, the logo, the layout. An agent sees none of that. It sees text, in order, and leans heavily on the few pieces of text that say what the page is.

• The <title> is the page's name. It shows in browser tabs and search results, and it's often the first thing an agent records about a page it has visited.
• The meta description is a one or two sentence summary. Search engines and AI search tools may show it, quote it, or use it to decide whether a page is worth opening.
• Headings (<h1> to <h6>) are the outline. An agent looking for "delivery times" on a long FAQ uses them to jump to the right section.
• The lang attribute on the <html> tag says what language the page is in, so the agent reads and quotes it correctly.

If you've done SEO work, most of this will be familiar. The difference is that an agent isn't ranking your page among ten others; it's trying to complete a task, and a vague label can mean it picks the wrong page or gives up. There's more on that shift in SEO got you found. Agent readiness gets you chosen.

What AgentScore checks

The "Clear page title, description, and headings" check, in the Readability category, reads your home page's HTML before any JavaScript runs and looks for four things:

Looks for	Counts as missing when
A <title>	There's no title tag, or it's empty
A meta description	There's no <meta name="description">, or it's empty
An <h1> heading	There's no h1 in the HTML (one added later by JavaScript doesn't count)
A lang attribute	The <html> tag has no lang

All four present is a pass, and the result shows your title. One or two missing is a warning. It fails if there's no title at all, or if three or more are missing. The check confirms these things exist; it can't tell whether the wording is helpful. The rest of this guide is about that part.

Writing titles agents can use

A good title says what the page is and whose it is, specific enough to tell it apart from every other page on your site.

Page	Weak	Better
Home page	Home	Northwind Coffee: specialty coffee beans and brewing gear
Product	Shop	Ethiopia Yirgacheffe whole bean coffee, 340 g | Northwind Coffee
Category	Collection	Pour-over coffee kits | Northwind Coffee
Policy	Info	Shipping rates and delivery times | Northwind Coffee

• Put the specific part first. The product or topic, then your brand.
• Make every title unique. If twenty pages share a title, an agent comparing them has nothing to go on.
• Include the variant or size when it matters. "340 g" or "Pro plan" is exactly what an agent needs to match a request.
• Skip the slogans. "Where every cup tells a story" says nothing about what's on the page.

Writing descriptions that summarize the page

Write the meta description as the answer to "what will I find here?" One or two plain sentences: what the page offers, for whom, and anything that sets it apart, such as price range, delivery area or a free trial.

<meta name="description" content="Light-roast single-origin coffee from
Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia, with notes of jasmine and lemon. Roasted to order,
340 g bag, ships free in the US over $40.">

Avoid repeating the title, stacking keywords, or reusing one description across many pages. If a platform fills it in automatically from the first lines of the page, check that those lines are useful. Cookie notices and "Free shipping this week" banners make poor summaries.

Using headings as an outline

Headings should read like a table of contents. Someone reading only your headings should understand what the page covers and where each part is.

• One h1 per page that names the page's subject, usually close to the title. The check only needs at least one, but more than one makes the page's subject less clear.
• h2s for main sections, h3s inside them. Don't skip levels or pick a heading level for its size; use CSS for size.
• Make headings descriptive. "Delivery times by region" beats "Good to know". On FAQ pages, the question itself makes a good heading.
• Use real heading tags. Bold text styled to look like a heading isn't one. Agents, and screen readers, can't see the styling.
• Keep headings in the HTML. If your page builder adds them with JavaScript, many agents won't see them. See our guide to JavaScript-only content.

A product page outline might look like this:

h1  Ethiopia Yirgacheffe whole bean coffee
  h2  Tasting notes
  h2  Brewing suggestions
  h2  Shipping and returns
  h2  Reviews

Don't forget the lang attribute

It's one attribute, and it's often missing from custom themes: <html lang="en">. Use the right code for each language version, such as lang="fr" or lang="en-GB". It helps agents interpret the page, translate it correctly and quote it in the right language. Screen readers use it to choose a voice.

Fixing it across a whole site

1. Start with templates. Titles, descriptions and headings on product, category and policy pages usually come from a theme template. Fix the pattern once and every page benefits.
2. Feed templates real data. Product name, variant, category and brand make good titles. Short product descriptions make good meta descriptions.
3. Hand-write the important ones. Your home page, top categories and policy pages deserve titles and descriptions written by a person.
4. Crawl for duplicates. Most SEO crawlers report missing and duplicate titles, descriptions and h1s across the whole site.
5. Re-run AgentScore to confirm the home page passes.

Clear labels are one part of a readable site. For the rest, see the agent readiness guide.