Entity SEO, also known as entity optimization, is an advanced approach to search engine optimization (SEO) that goes beyond mere keyword optimization. It focuses on giving search engines like Google a deep understanding of the real-world „entities“ - people, places, organizations, things or abstract concepts - that are covered on a website. Instead of simply matching keyword strings, modern search engines interpret content semantically by recognizing and classifying entities and their relationships to each other.
This paradigm was established with the introduction of Google's Knowledge Graph in 2012 and the Hummingbird update in 2013, which strengthened semantic search. The Knowledge Graph is a knowledge database that stores billions of entities and their links to provide contextual and more precise search results.
What are entities in the context of SEO?
An entity is a uniquely identifiable object or concept that exists independently of linguistic variations or spellings and has its own distinct identity. Google defines entities as „singular, unique, well-defined and distinguishable things or concepts“. Examples of entities are „Leonardo da Vinci“ as a historical person, a specific brand or product such as „iPhone“, a place such as „Berlin“ or an abstract concept such as „artificial intelligence“.
Search engines recognize entities through various signals:
- Structured data (e.g. Schema.org, JSON-LD) that provides information in a standardized format.
- Knowledge databases such as Wikipedia and Wikidata, which serve as trustworthy sources.
- Language models and natural language processing to analyze context and relationships within content.
- Consistent naming and linking across authoritative sources.
Correct identification enables search engines to better understand the user intention behind a search query and to display relevant content even if exact keywords do not directly match.
The relevance of entity optimization for E-E-A-T and ranking
Entity optimization plays a central role in Google's E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) principles. A website that is considered an authoritative and trustworthy source for specific entities increases its chances of prominent placement in search results. Especially for „Your Money or Your Life“ (YMYL) topics that potentially affect the health, financial stability or safety of users, Google places great importance on the proven experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness of the linked entities.
The optimization for entities therefore includes the following measures:
- Implementing structured dataMarking of entities on the website with Schema.org markup (preferably JSON-LD) to enable search engines to make a clear assignment and to promote rich snippets.
- Content quality and contextCreation of comprehensive, precise and in-depth content that highlights entities in a clear context and shows their relationships to each other.
- Internal and external linkingBuild a strong internal link profile that connects entities and links to external, authoritative sources to strengthen your own authority.
- Consistency and branding: Uniform representation of brands, products and people across all channels to support recognition as an independent entity in the Knowledge Graph.
Consistent entity optimization not only improves visibility in search results, but also the relevance of content for users and optimally prepares a website for future algorithm updates, as Google increasingly relies on a semantic understanding of the internet.
