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="Secretary" snippet="...to members, parents, and possibly even sponsors should be concise. Concise &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; &amp;quot;free from all elaboration and superfluous detail&amp;quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;[http://www.merriam&#10;" size="4747" wordcount="773" timestamp="2017-12-07T23:27:00Z" />
      <p ns="0" title="Version Control Systems" snippet="... the file has changed. Later, when the user wishes to commit their change, &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; that they wish to add another event to the timeline/history of changes, the&#10;" size="816" wordcount="139" timestamp="2010-02-15T13:05:03Z" />
      <p ns="0" title="Hunter Horde" snippet="My role model is my grandfather. His life story is the exact &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; of how the American Dream can come true. He was born in Georgia on a farm, &#10;" size="1750" wordcount="283" timestamp="2016-01-25T23:53:32Z" />
      <p ns="0" title="2017 FIRST Steamworks" snippet="...he high goal has a funnel shape and processes fuel at a higher efficiency, &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; less fuel must be used up to build up steam pressure. The low goal is simpl&#10;" size="5149" wordcount="867" timestamp="2017-01-20T00:47:29Z" />
    </search>
  </query>
</api>