Entities and facts
Explain the thing. Then connect the facts.
Entity SEO explains the people, organizations, places, products and concepts described on a website. Start with a clear identity, verify what is said about it, and explain the relationships the reader needs.
Free learning from Semantec SEO.
Start with identity
A name is a label. An entity is what the label refers to.
Two businesses can share the same name. One business can use a legal name, trading name and abbreviation. Treating those cases as the same problem can join unrelated records or split one organization into different apparent identities.
A type places the subject in a category, such as Person or Organization. An attribute describes a characteristic. A relationship connects one subject with another. Keep each statement specific enough to check: who did what, to which thing, and under which conditions?
Search phrases supply useful language, but repeating a name cannot explain a service, establish a qualification or resolve a disputed identity. Use the entity introduction for the definition and entities and keywords to compare the thing with its wording.
A worked example
Keep the company, person, service and place separate.
The fictional Harbour Workshop repairs furniture. Alex is a person associated with the workshop. This teaching example supplies no customer facts or search outcome.
- Organization
- Harbour Workshop is the proposed business subject. Its approved name and contact details would need business confirmation.
- Person
- Alex has a separate identity. A mention beside the business name does not establish that Alex founded or owns it.
- Service
- Furniture repair describes work the business must confirm it offers. A service label supplies no warranty, qualification or price.
- Place
- An address identifies a location. It does not, by itself, establish the surrounding area served.
- Relationship
- “Harbour Workshop provides furniture repair” connects company and service. “Alex founded Harbour Workshop” is a different claim and needs separate support.
The direction and meaning of a relation belong in the explanation. Founded, owns, works for and provides are different statements even when the same names appear.
Evidence before expansion
Turn candidate names into supported statements.
Begin with the page’s question and the material its owner can approve for publication. Collect candidate subjects and labels with the passages that mention them. Then compare identity, dates, versions and conditions before accepting a fact.
- Resolve aliases using evidence about the same subject, rather than a similar spelling.
- Keep a proposed detail distinct from a confirmed detail.
- Retain the condition that narrows a statement, such as the service area or relevant period.
- When records conflict, identify who can resolve the conflict before publishing one answer as settled.
Language models and extraction programs can suggest names or relations. Their output is a proposal to check, not factual verification or evidence that a search system recognizes the subject. Use entity evidence and conflicting facts for the fuller review.
Different models
A website plan is not an external knowledge graph.
An editorial map helps a team decide what to explain. A formal graph represents statements and relationships. A vocabulary such as Schema.org supplies types and properties for compatible descriptions. These serve different purposes.
A well formed model can still contain a false statement. Publishing an identifier or markup does not establish that an external system accepts the identity, displays a knowledge panel or changes a ranking.
Use knowledge graphs, taxonomies and ontologies for representation choices. The Schema.org data model explains the vocabulary’s structure and its limits; it is not a universal model of every subject.
Choose useful detail
Give the main subject enough context.
On the invented workshop’s service page, the business, the supported repair work, the relevant place and the request conditions help a visitor judge fit. Alex’s role belongs only where it is supported and useful to that task.
Prominence comes from the explanation: the heading, opening answer, supporting facts and relationships. It is not a universal mention count, word distance or proprietary score. A page does not need every known fact about every entity it mentions.
Read main and supporting entities to choose the focus, then entity prominence and context to examine how the text develops it.
Keep facts current
Change the fact and its dependent descriptions together.
A new trading name does not automatically mean a new legal entity, a change of ownership or a different founder. Establish what changed, retain the prior detail and source, then find the descriptions that depend on the accepted new fact.
Review current business introductions, contact information, service descriptions and suitable structured data. Historical quotations and references to other organizations need their own treatment. Consistency comes from resolving the fact, not copying a disputed detail everywhere.
Use names and aliases for terminology and identity across pages for shared values and maintenance responsibilities.
Choose your next question
View the focused articles.
Choose the explanation that matches the decision in front of you. You can enter at any point.
What is an entity?
Separate the subject from its name and the statements made about it.
Entities and keywords
Connect search wording with the thing it describes.
Attributes and relationships
Describe values and connections with their supporting evidence.
Resolve similar names
Decide which records refer to the same thing.
Evidence and conflicting facts
Resolve source differences, dates and responsibilities.
Knowledge graphs and ontologies
Compare representations and the purposes they serve.
Main and supporting entities
Choose what the page needs to explain prominently.
Entity prominence in context
Examine the explanation without a mention quota.
Names and aliases
Connect accepted labels with a stable subject.
Identity across pages
Maintain the descriptions that share a fact.
Work with Semantec SEO
Commission entity analysis
Semantec SEO can examine the subjects, source material and relationships your website needs to explain. The agreed scope identifies the outputs, unresolved facts and responsibilities.