Entity SEO
What is entity SEO?
Entity SEO is an optimization strategy focused on building the identity of a brand, person, or product as a recognizable "entity" within Google's and AI's ecosystem. An entity is a thing that Google can unambiguously identify and link to the Knowledge Graph — for example, a company, person, place, or product.
In the era of GEO, entity SEO is particularly important — AI models need to know WHO you are before they decide to cite you in their responses.
Why does it matter?
- Knowledge Graph — recognized entities can appear in Google's knowledge panel
- Disambiguation — Google distinguishes your company from companies with similar names
- E-E-A-T — a strong entity identity strengthens expertise and authority signals
- Visibility in AI — ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity cite sources they can unambiguously identify
- Rich results — entities with complete Schema.org have a better chance of enhanced results
How to build entity SEO?
1. Schema.org Organization/Person
Complete structured data with name, address, tax ID, sameAs (LinkedIn, GitHub), knowsAbout, and logo.
2. NAP consistency
Name, Address, Phone — the same data on your website, in Google Business Profile, directories, and on LinkedIn.
3. Mentions in credible sources
Citations in media, industry portals, and publications build entity recognition.
4. Relationships between entities
Linking people to companies (author -> worksFor -> Organization), companies to services, services to locations.
Best practices
- Complete Schema.org — Organization with full details, Person for key individuals
- Google Business Profile — a verified profile with up-to-date information
- Wikipedia/Wikidata — for larger brands, an entry that builds entity recognition
- Consistent
sameAs— a list of social media profiles in Schema.org - Topical authority — content clusters building expertise on a topic
- Author markup — linking content to specific people (Person schema)
More about structured data in the Schema.org guide.
Related terms
- Knowledge Graph — Google's knowledge base about entities
- Schema.org — structured data
- E-E-A-T — expertise signals
- GEO — optimization for AI
- Topical authority — thematic authority