The agentic web: websites that answer questions
Microsoft wants every website to be able to talk — to people and to AI agents. The idea is simple: ask a site a question and get an answer from its own content.
By the Xuru Technologies team · 21 May 2025
Key takeaways
- At Build on 19 May 2025, Microsoft set out its vision of an "open agentic web".
- It introduced NLWeb, an open project for adding natural-language interfaces to websites, compatible with MCP.
- Structured, well-organised content is what makes conversational search on a website work.
- Businesses can already add AI assistants that answer from their own website content.
Today a visitor hunts through menus to find your parking information or refund policy. Tomorrow they — or their AI assistant — will simply ask.
What happened
MobileSyrup and Creative Strategies covered Satya Nadella's keynote, which framed AI agents working across the web and in business systems. NLWeb was presented as a way for any site to offer a conversational interface using its existing structured data, and to be reachable by agents through MCP.
What it means for business websites
- Structure is strategy. Clean pages, schema markup and clear FAQs make your content usable by AI.
- Visitors expect answers. An on-site assistant that knows your services, policies and hours can convert faster than menus.
- Agents will visit. Make key information accessible and accurate for them too.
- Accuracy is critical. Assistants must answer only from your approved content.
What to do now
| Step | Detail |
|---|---|
| Tidy content | One clear page per service; FAQs on each |
| Add structured data | Business details, services, FAQs, products or events |
| Pilot an assistant | Trained on your pages, with handover to a person |
| Review conversations | Spot gaps in your content and fix them |
Frequently asked questions
What is NLWeb?
An open project from Microsoft that helps websites provide natural-language question answering over their own content, and expose it to AI agents.
Do I need NLWeb to add an AI assistant to my site?
No. Several approaches can add an assistant that answers from your content. What matters is accurate content and good guardrails.
Will AI assistants give wrong answers about my business?
They can if poorly set up. Limit them to your approved content, test them and let them hand over to a person.
Let visitors ask. Answer instantly.
We add AI assistants that answer from your own website content, capture enquiries and hand over to your team.
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