Homepage does not offer a Markdown alternate

This notice appears when your site's homepage doesn't offer a Markdown version through content negotiation. Here's what that means and when it's worth implementing.

What this error means

Some AI agents can request a lighter, easier-to-parse version of a web page in Markdown instead of full HTML, using a technique called content negotiation: the agent's request states it prefers to receive "text/markdown", and the server responds with that version if it's available. For an agent to know that alternate exists, the page must declare it in its <head> with a <link rel="alternate" type="text/markdown" href="..."> tag pointing to the URL where that version is served. We checked and your homepage doesn't include this tag. This isn't a fault in the classic sense: it's a still-emerging practice, not an established standard, and the vast majority of websites don't implement it today.

Why it matters to fix it

Not offering this alternate doesn't affect your traditional SEO, but it does affect how efficiently more advanced AI agents can read you.

Extra parsing cost for AI agents

Without a Markdown version, an agent has to parse your homepage's full HTML to extract the relevant information, instead of receiving it already simplified.

Still a rare practice

Very few sites offer this alternate today, so not implementing it doesn't put you at a disadvantage against most of your competitors.

An early differentiation opportunity

Adopting it now positions you among the first sites ready for a growing ecosystem of AI agents.

How to fix it step by step

Implementing this means serving a Markdown version of your homepage and declaring it correctly.

Step 1

Generate a Markdown version of your homepage

It can be a direct translation of the page's main content into simple Markdown.

Where to apply it: On the same server, responding to requests with an "Accept: text/markdown" header, or at a dedicated URL (e.g., /index.md).

Step 2

Declare the alternate in the <head>

Add a <link rel="alternate" type="text/markdown" href="..."> tag pointing to that version.

Where to apply it: In the <head> of your homepage's HTML.

Step 3

Verify both versions respond correctly

Check that the Markdown version's URL returns the expected content with the right content type.

Where to apply it: By accessing the URL declared in the href directly.

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