Can AI really understand a brand - or is it still getting confused by conflicting information?
In this episode of The Search Session, Gianluca Fiorelli sits down with semantic SEO and structured data strategists Martha van Berkel and Mark van Berkel to explore how AI is reshaping semantic search, structured data, and the web.
The conversation goes beyond the buzzwords to unpack knowledge graphs, Schema.org, entity management, data governance, schema drift, NLWeb, MCP, and what it takes to build an agent-ready, machine-understandable brand.
Because as search becomes more AI-driven, being visible isn’t enough. AI needs to understand what a brand actually is.
This is the 78th episode of: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_sm3ydVBxdAJ84k2qsH1LkTDbtbdNrGh
Here's what you'll learn in this episode:
- (00:06) Meet Our Guests: Martha van Berkel and Mark van Berkel
- (04:44) A New Business Case for Structured Data
- (08:11) The Growing Sophistication of Semantic Search
- (15:30) Disambiguation, Identifiers, and Identity on the Web
- (20:28) Data Governance at Enterprise Scale
- (24:55) Emerging Standards: WebMCP, MCP, NLWeb and Agent Discovery
- (33:15) How AI Systems Actually Use Structured Data
- (40:41) Optimizing for Agents: ARIA, SKOS, and Actionability
- (46:37) Balancing Creative Tone with Machine Clarity
- (51:07) Working Together as Co-Founders and a Couple
👉 Read the full article and explore additional insights:
https://www.advancedwebranking.com/blog/semantic-data-layer-brand-ai-understand
Where to find Martha van Berkel
Where to find Mark van Berkel
Where to find Gianluca Fiorelli
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