Crane Index™ Research › AI Readability 2026 › FTSE 100
Crane Index™ · Annual edition
UK FTSE 100 AI Readability 2026
As of 1 October 2026, the median UK ftse 100 site scored 43 out of 100 on the Crane Index™, the measure of how readably a site presents itself to AI engines. Across the 41 sites a machine could read, scores ran from 21 to 65, a 44-point gap between the strongest and the weakest.
What this measures. The score reads how readably a site presents itself to AI engines: entity markup, structured data and machine resolvability. It is not a measure of design, brand or quality. A site can look excellent to a person and still be hard for a machine to read, and a low score is a readability finding, never a judgement on the business.
The field in 2026
The field was led by GSK at 65, with Taylor Wimpey next at 63. Not one site cleared 70 out of 100, and 15 scored below 40.
At the foot of the field sat Experian at 21, BAE Systems at 21, Lloyds Banking Group at 24. Each is a site a machine struggled to read, not a business doing anything other than well at what it does.
The full 2026 ranking
Composite out of 100, with the three reads behind it: AI Search Readiness (retrieval), Agent Readiness (execution) and Brand Representation.
| Rank | Organisation | Crane Index | Search | Agent | Brand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GSKgsk.com/en-gb | 65 | 70 | 89 | 37 |
| 2 | Taylor Wimpeytaylorwimpey.co.uk | 63 | 65 | 83 | 41 |
| 3 | Whitbreadwhitbread.co.uk | 62 | 66 | 79 | 40 |
| 4= | NatWest Groupnatwestgroup.com | 59 | 72 | 69 | 36 |
| 4= | Reckittreckitt.com | 59 | 77 | 63 | 37 |
| 6= | Legal & Generallegalandgeneral.com | 58 | 75 | 63 | 37 |
| 6= | Persimmonpersimmonhomes.com | 58 | 66 | 62 | 46 |
| 8 | Phoenix Groupstandardlifeplc.com | 57 | 65 | 71 | 36 |
| 9 | Weir Groupglobal.weir | 56 | 53 | 76 | 39 |
| 10 | Schrodersschroders.com/en/global/individual | 54 | 65 | 65 | 33 |
| 11 | British American Tobaccobat.com | 53 | 63 | 68 | 28 |
| 12 | Kingfisherkingfisher.com | 52 | 60 | 62 | 35 |
| 13= | Croda Internationalcroda.com/en-gb | 50 | 64 | 62 | 25 |
| 13= | Marks & Spencermarksandspencer.com | 50 | 50 | 87 | 13 |
| 15 | Ashtead Groupir.sunbeltrentals.com | 49 | 63 | 58 | 25 |
| 16 | HSBC Holdingshsbc.com | 47 | 62 | 68 | 10 |
| 17= | JD Sports Fashionjdplc.com | 44 | 50 | 68 | 13 |
| 17= | London Stock Exchange Grouplseg.com/en?gad_source=7&gad_campaignid=22138219600&gclid=CMmlsuWvmJcDFRMGiAkdPHkGMQ | 44 | 57 | 68 | 8 |
| 17= | Mondimondigroup.com | 44 | 47 | 71 | 13 |
| 20= | Convatecconvatecgroup.com | 43 | 52 | 53 | 24 |
| 20= | Rightmoverightmove.co.uk | 43 | 49 | 65 | 15 |
| 22= | 3i Group3i.com | 42 | 47 | 68 | 10 |
| 22= | Smiths Groupsmiths.com | 42 | 47 | 68 | 10 |
| 22= | United Utilitiesunitedutilities.com | 42 | 48 | 68 | 10 |
| 25 | Spirax Groupspiraxgroup.com | 41 | 40 | 69 | 13 |
| 26 | Rio Tintoriotinto.com | 40 | 46 | 62 | 13 |
| 27= | International Consolidated Airlines Groupiairgroup.com | 39 | 40 | 68 | 8 |
| 27= | Intertek Groupintertek.com | 39 | 45 | 63 | 8 |
| 27= | Prudentialprudentialplc.com/en | 39 | 42 | 62 | 13 |
| 27= | SSEsse.com | 39 | 36 | 68 | 13 |
| 31 | Pearsonpearson.com/en-us | 38 | 38 | 62 | 13 |
| 32 | Smith & Nephewsmith-nephew.com/en-us | 37 | 41 | 62 | 8 |
| 33= | Glencoreglencore.com | 36 | 32 | 62 | 13 |
| 33= | Landseclandsec.com/en | 36 | 33 | 56 | 18 |
| 35 | WPPwpp.com/en | 35 | 38 | 58 | 8 |
| 36= | Barclayshome.barclays | 33 | 56 | 30 | 13 |
| 36= | Beazleybeazley.com | 33 | 28 | 55 | 15 |
| 36= | Severn Trentseverntrent.com | 33 | 32 | 59 | 8 |
| 39 | Lloyds Banking Grouplloydsbankinggroup.com | 24 | 24 | 34 | 15 |
| 40= | BAE Systemsbaesystems.com | 21 | 14 | 34 | 15 |
| 40= | Experianexperianplc.com | 21 | 13 | 34 | 15 |
Download this edition: the full field as a spreadsheet (CSV), or the same run as JSON. Licensed CC BY 4.0, so it is yours to publish and build on with attribution. Every unreadable site carries empty score cells, never a zero.
This is the fixed 2026 edition, pinned to the scan measured 1 October 2026, so the figures on it do not change. The live field, re-run on the first of each month, is on the current FTSE 100 benchmark. For how the score is built, see the methodology.
Licensed CC BY 4.0. Cite as: The Crane Index™, UK FTSE 100 AI readability 2026, The Crane Consultancy, measured 1 October 2026. https://thecraneconsultancy.com/research/ftse-100-ai-readability-2026/