What is an entity in SEO?
An entity is a single, identifiable thing, such as a company, a person, a city or an idea, that exists independently of the words used to describe it. “Apple” the company and “apple” the fruit share a word but are different entities.
Google described this shift in 2012 when it launched the Knowledge Graph, under the heading “things, not strings”. At launch it said the graph held more than 500 million objects and more than 3.5 billion facts about and relationships between them.
Why do entities matter for search and AI answers?
Entities help a search engine work out which meaning you intend and how your page relates to other topics. A page that clearly names and describes the entities it covers is easier to match to the right searches and easier for an AI assistant to summarise accurately.
They also help with your own brand. If search engines can recognise your business as a distinct entity, with consistent details across the web, they are less likely to confuse it with something else that shares the name.
How do you make entities clear on a page?
Write so that a reader, or a machine, never has to guess what you mean. In practice:
- Use the full, specific name of each entity at least once, not just a pronoun or a nickname.
- Explain what the entity is in a short phrase the first time it appears.
- Cover the related entities people expect to see alongside it, such as the founder of a company or the ingredients of a recipe.
- Add schema markup for the main entity, with sameAs links to its official site, Wikipedia or Wikidata entry where they exist.
- Keep your business name, address and description consistent across your site and profiles.
What does entity coverage look like in practice?
Here is a page about a coffee grinder, before and after making its entities explicit.
| Entity | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Product | “this grinder” | “the Baratza Encore ESP burr grinder” |
| Brand | Not named | Baratza, with a link to the official site |
| Concept | “grind size” | Grind size, explained for espresso and filter |
| Structured data | None | Product markup with brand and sameAs |
Frequently asked questions
Are entities the same as keywords?
No. A keyword is a string of words people type. An entity is the thing those words refer to. Several different keywords can point to the same entity, and one keyword can point to several entities.
Do I need schema markup for entities to count?
No. Search engines can pick out entities from plain text. Schema markup simply states them explicitly, which removes guesswork, especially for your own brand and products.
What is the sameAs property?
It is a schema.org property that links an item to a reference page which clearly identifies it, such as its Wikipedia page, Wikidata entry or official website.
How do entities relate to topical authority?
Covering a subject well usually means covering the entities that belong to it and how they connect. A site that does this across many pages tends to look more thorough on that subject.