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-continue>
    <backlinks gblcontinue="0|Main_Page|5265" />
  </query-continue>
  <query>
    <pages>
      <page pageid="1495" ns="0" title="Bert Winiford Wilson" touched="2023-09-25T15:42:54Z" lastrevid="23903" counter="87258" length="18187" />
      <page pageid="1526" ns="0" title="William B. Heeter" touched="2022-11-25T19:33:17Z" lastrevid="23811" counter="8675" length="4104" />
      <page pageid="1573" ns="0" title="Tree: James Elgie Beals" touched="2021-02-08T10:46:54Z" lastrevid="23365" counter="5231" length="1615" />
      <page pageid="1576" ns="0" title="Tree: Winnifred May Kline" touched="2007-10-27T05:04:41Z" lastrevid="10121" counter="5832" length="2090" />
      <page pageid="1577" ns="0" title="Tree: John Duncan Williams" touched="2011-05-31T19:35:51Z" lastrevid="18795" counter="8636" length="1788" />
      <page pageid="1578" ns="0" title="Tree: Corinna Brady Lowder" touched="2012-08-04T01:29:44Z" lastrevid="20774" counter="5393" length="2053" />
      <page pageid="1579" ns="0" title="Tree: Mack Herron King" touched="2015-06-23T02:44:15Z" lastrevid="22686" counter="5217" length="2259" />
      <page pageid="1581" ns="0" title="Tree: Bert Winiford Wilson" touched="2015-06-20T17:46:39Z" lastrevid="22554" counter="7423" length="2270" />
      <page pageid="1582" ns="0" title="Tree: Clara Mabel Wimer" touched="2024-04-26T14:47:21Z" lastrevid="23925" counter="5296" length="1985" />
      <page pageid="2796" ns="0" title="Tree: Nancy Grace Thomas" touched="2007-08-16T02:03:35Z" lastrevid="7121" counter="3035" length="1699" new="" />
    </pages>
  </query>
</api>