July 26, 2025

The Agentic Web

"Voorsorteren" for the future

In Dutch, there's a great word: voorsorteren. It means getting into the right lane on the motorway long before your exit. You do it to ensure a smooth, stress-free journey. I believe the same principle applies to technology. A little bit of smart preparation now can give you a massive advantage when the future arrives.

Right now, I believe we should all be "voorsorteren" for the next evolution of the internet: The Agentic Web.

Thinking about the future shouldn't be a separate task; it should be an integrated part of the process.
Thinking about the future shouldn't be a separate task; it should be an integrated part of the process.

What is The Agentic Web?

For decades, the web has been about humans talking to machines. We type a query, and a computer shows us a list of websites. The Agentic Web flips this around. It's about machines talking to other machines on our behalf.

Imagine AI "agents" that act as super-smart assistants. These agents will not just find information for you, but will be able to take action. Instead of searching for a restaurant's website, your agent could directly ask the restaurant's agent for its menu, check for a free table, and book it for you. This works for everything: ordering takeout, buying tickets for a club night, or getting a quote from a contractor.

Language models will act as universal translators, bridging gaps in language and context, allowing these agents to communicate seamlessly.

How to Prepare Your Website

So, how do you get ready for this? The key is to make your website speak the language of computers as clearly as possible. It's about reducing noise and adding structure.

  1. Use Semantic HTML: Use modern HTML tags like <article>, <section>, and <nav> correctly. This is like putting clear labels on your content so machines know what they're looking at.
  2. Formalise Your Services: Use standards like schema.org to add invisible "price tags" and "instruction manuals" to your products and services. This tells an agent exactly what you offer and how to interact with it.
  3. Create a Digital Front Door: If you have a business process, like a quote request, consider exposing it through a clean, public API. An API is a documented, predictable way for other computers to interact with your services.

What I've Done with willem.com

I believe in practicing what I preach. The recent redesign of this website was my own exercise in "voorsorteren" for the Agentic Web.

I started by making my content more accessible by translating over 160 posts into Dutch, German, and Spanish. I did this within a highly structured content management system. By keeping fields for titles, subtitles, and body text separate but linked, I provide the rich context that AI tools need to understand the relationships between ideas.

By providing structured, context-rich content to the AI (left), my CMS (right) can generate high-quality, structured translations, preparing the content for both humans and machines.
By providing structured, context-rich content to the AI (left), my CMS (right) can generate high-quality, structured translations, preparing the content for both humans and machines.

I also simplified the entire site structure into the clear categories of Work, Insights, and About me. This helps human visitors, but it also creates a logical map for AI agents. The articles themselves are now grouped into four clear topics: Technology & Code, Products & Design, Performance & Sport, and Life & Reflections. I also created a curated overview of my most impactful writing in the Popular Posts section.

Finally, I made sure all this content is available in machine-readable formats like RSS, ATOM, and JSON, creating a direct line of communication for any agent that wants to access it.

Conclusion

Thinking about and preparing for the future now is a low-risk, high-reward strategy. It puts you in the right lane, ready to merge smoothly when new opportunities arise. Taking the time to get your own information in order is how you maximise your chances for tomorrow. Even if the big Agentic Web breakthrough takes a little longer than expected, you will still be left with a website that is exceptionally clean, sharp, and well-organised. And that's always a win.