For the unfamiliar, JSON-LD is linked data format that lets web developers create structured data on their site for reading by search engines. Unlike other methods, admins don’t have to change HTML content, meaning greater flexibility. “JSON-LD makes defining links and relationships between data and entities between the data present on your pages easy because it supports nested data,” explains the Bing team. “However, with the wide array of possibilities that comes with JSON-LD, the webmasters should be very alert as to not put invalid and incorrect information in the markup. Remember, even though the markup is not visible on your page, it is still read by the search engines and putting spam data in the markup can hamper your presence on the search engines.”
AI in Search and an Open Environment
At the SEO conference, Microsoft also talked about growing support for voice interactions in Bing, with the addition of clarifying questions when a user’s search is vague. It also talked a little about AI and its cognitive services and the challenges they involve. However, the biggest takeaway is that though Bing now provides debugging for JSON-LD, it won’t prefer it over other forms of markup. This is a different stance to Google, who actively recommends it. Whatever your personal thoughts, you can check out the functionality in Bing Webmaster today.
