SEO entities could be seen as the cornerstone of modern search engine optimisation. They are interconnected semantic elements designed to assist search engines in comprehending both explicit and implicit language. In more simplistic terms, they bridge the gap between how humans communicate and how machines process information.
By enriching your content with interconnected topics and relationships, you’ll be providing valuable data points that empower AI to understand specific topics in a more nuanced way. Tools like Gemini or ChatGPT will benefit but whether or not that sits comfortably with you is beside the point, the objective has always been to make your website the go-to place for expert knowledge and information.
Let’s start with defining some specifics about what entities are. According to Google, an entity is a singular, unique, well-defined, and distinguishable thing or concept. It’s essential to emphasize that an entity can encompass various forms, whether it’s a person, place, item, or idea. It’s not strictly confined to physical entities; anything identifiable, such as a noun, qualifies as an entity.
To illustrate, let’s consider the example of searching for ‘film’ versus ”films” in Google. The results vary significantly, demonstrating the importance of singular versus plural entities with film being defined as a movie to watch or the physical object in which pictures are printed on. Similarly, a search for ‘a celebrity’ yields different outcomes compared to ‘celebrities.’ Entities can span a wide range, from tangible objects to abstract concepts.
The concept of entities in SEO isn’t new either but has gained prominence over the past decade. Earlier, search engine results were plagued by low-quality tactics like keyword stuffing and copied content, prompting Google to introduce updates like Panda and Penguin. Having quality content was and still is the key to organic search success.
Subsequently, Google rolled out the Knowledge Graph in 2021, shifting focus from mere strings of keywords to real-world entities. This transition aimed to enhance user experience by delivering more accurate and comprehensive search results. For instance, when querying about ‘President Biden’s birthdate,’ Google understands the context and provides relevant information about Joe Biden, along with associated entities like his spouse, Dr Jill Biden and being the Vice President to President Barack Obama and so forth.
Understanding entities isn’t just about recognising nouns; it’s about comprehending detailed connections between them. Knowledge Graph illustrates these relationships, enabling search engines to offer richer, more nuanced results.
When crafting content, it’s imperative to consider entities holistically rather than fixating solely on keywords. For instance, if you’re writing about ‘Sailing to the French Rivera,’ incorporating related entities like charter maps, itineraries, and travel planners enhances the content’s relevance and visibility.
Incorporating entities into your SEO workflow involves various strategies, from leveraging automated tools to manual research methods. Utilising Google Trends, autocomplete suggestions, Answer the Public and even Wikipedia can uncover relevant entities to enrich your content.
Once you’ve identified key entities, structuring your content around them is pivotal. Creating a topical map helps organise the key topics, subtopics, keywords, and entities, providing a clear framework for optimisation.
Can Implementing Schema Assist Entity SEO?
As well as some obvious benefits from triggering potential search results features, schema markup allows you to define and connect entities like people, places, things, and events within your content. It decreases the chances of any ambiguity in words. This helps Google understand the meaning and relationships between different elements on your page, providing a deeper context to your website and external resources elsewhere.
There are two schemas to help you. By setting relatedLink and significantLink schema, it would allow you to state which pages are related to which. Here’s how to use them: Show page hierarchy with RelatedLink: Use RelatedLink to link to parent pages and parent categories, indicating their position within your site’s structure.
Use SignificantLink to link to any internal page that closely relates to the current page’s content and theme.
By annotating content with appropriate schema types and linking to relevant Wiki pages, you can reinforce the entity’s relevance and authority.
What else can I do to boost entity SEO?
Using internal linking further strengthens entity associations within your website, enhancing its overall topical relevancy. By consistently linking back to primary entities across your content, you will reinforce their importance and relevance.
In essence, mastering entity SEO involves understanding the nuances of entities, optimising content around them, and signaling their relevance to search engines through schema markup and internal linking.
Lastly, by strategically incorporating local entities into content and leveraging Google Maps, can see a significant uplift in search visibility and website traffic. This topic deserves its very own article but creating and building your online prominence by increasing online citations via articles and various social platform mentions, is important for local ranking success and brand footprint.
To sum up, embracing entity SEO isn’t just about understanding keywords; it’s about embracing the interconnectedness of entities and leveraging them to enhance your online presence and drive business success.