You are looking at the HTML representation of the XML format.
HTML is good for debugging, but is unsuitable for application use.
Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query>
    <search>
      <p ns="0" title="Sweepstakes" snippet="...s&#039; websites; these sweepstakes promotions often employ CAPTCHA (an acronym &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart)&#10;" size="12697" wordcount="1933" timestamp="2008-10-09T20:09:33Z" />
      <p ns="0" title="Lynx 16" snippet="...catboat], with one mast at the front of the boat and one gaff rigged sail, &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; the sail is four-sided. &#10;" size="15888" wordcount="2938" timestamp="2021-04-09T19:38:11Z" />
      <p ns="0" title="Maine Harbors" snippet="...rea was known as part of the &amp;quot;Megunticook Plantation&amp;quot;, from an Indian name &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; &amp;quot;great sea swells.&amp;quot;&#10;" size="82058" wordcount="13392" timestamp="2013-07-10T18:25:33Z" />
      <p ns="0" title="Athwart" snippet="&#039;&#039;Athwart&#039;&#039; is an adjective or adverb &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; toward one side of the boat or another, usually perpendicular to the fore-a&#10;" size="633" wordcount="110" timestamp="2015-08-12T14:18:28Z" />
    </search>
  </query>
</api>