Knowledge Graph
The Knowledge Graph is Google's database of entities and relationships used to understand real-world things — people, places, organizations, and concepts. It is the foundation of Entity SEO and Semantic Branding strategies.
Entities vs Keywords
Traditional SEO focuses on keywords — strings of text that match user queries. The Knowledge Graph focuses on entities — real-world things with properties and relationships. The shift from keyword-based to entity-based understanding is what makes structured data and schema markup critical for modern SEO and GEO.
Knowledge Panels
When Google recognizes an entity in the Knowledge Graph, it can display a Knowledge Panel — a rich information box showing key facts, images, and related entities. Getting a Knowledge Panel requires strong, consistent entity signals across the web, including schema markup, Wikipedia references, and authoritative mentions.
How Schema Feeds It
JSON-LD schema markup is the primary way to communicate entity information to the Knowledge Graph. Organization, Person, and Product schemas with sameAs links and unique @id references help Google connect your domain's entities to its broader understanding of the world.
Related Terms
- Entity Registry — Centralized entity management for schema
- Semantic Branding — Owning terms in the Knowledge Graph
- Schema-Stitch — Connecting entities across pages
- JSON-LD — The data format for feeding the Knowledge Graph