# A markdown alternate is declared

How the A markdown alternate is declared check works, what a failure means, and how to fix it in the AI Context Files dimension.

- Dimension: AI Context Files (5% of the total score)
- This check: 1 point
- Check id: `markdown-alternate`

## What does this check look at?

The document head contains a <link> with rel="alternate" and type="text/markdown", in either attribute order.

## What does a failure mean?

No markdown alternate is declared on the page.

> This reads the declaration only. The scanner fetches one URL, so it does not follow the alternate to confirm that it resolves, and a page can pass this check while pointing at a link that 404s. That limitation is stated here rather than hidden; closing it means a second request in the fetcher.

## How do I fix it?

- Publish a markdown version of the page and point at it with <link rel="alternate" type="text/markdown" href="...">, so an agent can fetch the content without the chrome around it.

## Why is it worth 1 points?

Deliberately low. Most tools in this category weight llms.txt heavily and imply it is a ranking factor; the evidence does not support that, so neither does this score.

## What else is measured in this dimension?

- [/llms.txt is present and structured](https://geo-scanner.ccie13192.com/checks/llms-txt/) — 4 points
- [A crawler policy is published](https://geo-scanner.ccie13192.com/checks/ai-context-robots/) — 1 point

## How do I see my own result?

Run a free scan on your own domain at https://geo-scanner.ccie13192.com/ - the report lists every failed check with the evidence that produced it.

The full method is published at https://geo-scanner.ccie13192.com/methodology/