Microsoft Bing Now Supports data-nosnippet HTML Attribute
▼ Summary
– Microsoft Bing now supports the data-nosnippet HTML attribute, giving brands more control over content in search results and AI-generated answers.
– This feature allows webmasters to exclude specific page sections from snippets and AI summaries without impacting indexing or ranking.
– Key use cases include hiding paywalled content, excluding comments or ads, and keeping outdated promotional material out of previews.
– Bing has joined Google in offering this attribute, despite Microsoft previously stating no plans for near-future support.
– The implementation enables businesses to protect sensitive content and shape their brand representation in AI summaries.
Microsoft Bing has officially integrated support for the data-nosnippet HTML attribute, offering website owners enhanced authority over how their material appears within search engine results and AI-generated responses, including those in Copilot. This development is especially significant for brands aiming to maintain consistent messaging and protect proprietary information from being displayed out of context.
The primary advantage of this feature is the increased control it provides. Businesses can now designate specific portions of their web pages to be omitted from the text snippets shown in Bing’s search listings and from summaries produced by artificial intelligence. This is particularly useful for safeguarding content that sits behind a paywall or for concealing experimental sections that are not intended for public consumption. By doing so, companies can more effectively manage their brand’s portrayal in automated summaries.
From a technical perspective, implementing the data-nosnippet attribute is straightforward. Webmasters can apply it to any HTML element, signaling to Bing’s crawler that the enclosed content should not be used for generating snippets. It is crucial to understand that this action does not impact the page’s indexing or its ranking within search results. Bing will continue to crawl and evaluate the entire page for relevance, but it will simply skip the marked sections when creating previews for users.
Practical applications for this functionality are diverse. Organizations can use it to hide premium articles or text reserved for subscribers, ensuring that only a teaser or the general context is visible. It also allows for the exclusion of user comments, advertising blocks, or legal disclaimers from search result previews. Furthermore, it helps keep outdated promotional material or variations from A/B tests from appearing in snippets, preserving a clean and current public-facing image.
With this move, Microsoft Bing aligns itself with Google, which has supported the same HTML attribute for some time. This alignment is noteworthy given that earlier this year, a Microsoft product manager had indicated that support for data-nosnippet was not on the immediate roadmap. The decision to implement it now underscores the growing importance of providing webmasters with tools to control their content in an increasingly AI-driven search environment.
(Source: Search Engine Land)
