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>
    <alllinks galcontinue="Best_of_the_public" />
  </query-continue>
  <query>
    <pages>
      <page ns="0" title="BBC" missing="" />
      <page ns="0" title="Balanced budget" missing="" />
      <page ns="0" title="Barack Hussein Obama" missing="" />
      <page ns="0" title="Bariatric science" missing="" />
      <page ns="0" title="Barry Goldwater" missing="" />
      <page pageid="636" ns="0" title="Bachmann Exposes $105 Billion Secret" />
      <page pageid="490" ns="0" title="Backlash Against Common Core" />
      <page pageid="576" ns="0" title="Bad Facts about Obama’s Prospects" />
      <page pageid="577" ns="0" title="Bailing out the European Union" />
      <page pageid="491" ns="0" title="Battle for Control of the Republican Party Begins" />
    </pages>
  </query>
</api>