For many years, SEO was heavily focused on keywords. The goal was often to identify the exact words and phrases people were searching for and include them in the right places on a page.
Nowadays, keywords still matter, but search engines have become much better at NLP (Natural Language Processing), and understanding meaning, context, and relationships between concepts. This is where semantic SEO comes in: instead of looking only at individual words, search engines try to understand what a page is really about and how different topics, people, brands and concepts are connected. That is also why entities have become increasingly important in SEO.
What are entities?
An entity is simply a specific, identifiable thing. It could be:
- A person, such as Tom Cruise
- A company, such as Nike
- A place, such as London
- A product, such as iPhone
The important difference is that an entity has a clear meaning beyond the words used to describe it.
Keywords versus entities
Keywords are still relevant for SEO, but their role has shifted from exact-match repetition to understanding user intent and topical depth.
- Intent and Demand: Keywords show you what your audience is searching for, what questions they have, and how much demand exists for a topic.
- Topical Clarity: Search engines and AI systems use keywords to map out subjects and connect pages to relevant queries
A keyword is what someone searches for. An entity is the person, brand, product or concept behind that search.
For example, someone might search:
Best day trips from Berlin
In the phrase “day trips from Berlin”, there is one clear named entity and one important concept:
- Berlin is the entity. Google can recognise Berlin as the capital city of Germany and connect it with other entities such as Germany, Brandenburg, Potsdam, museums, attractions, train stations and transport providers.
- Day trip is more of a concept or search intent than a specific named entity. It tells Google that the person is probably looking for places they can visit from Berlin and return from within the same day.
So Google does not just read the three words separately. It can interpret the search more like:
“What places or experiences can I visit from Berlin in one day?”
From there, it may connect the query with relevant entities such as Potsdam, Sanssouci Palace, Spreewald, Dresden, Deutsche Bahn, Berlin Hauptbahnhof and other destinations or transport options. These connections help Google understand which pages are really about the topic and which results may be most useful for the searcher.
What are Knowledge Graphs and Knowledge Panels
Sometimes, when you search on Google, you see a special box with information about a person, place, company or thing. This is called a Knowledge Panel.
It gives you useful facts at a glance, so you can quickly understand what something is and learn more about it.
Google gets much of this information from its Knowledge Graph, which you can think of as a huge digital database that connects facts about people, places, brands and other things.
For example, when you type “apple” in the search bar, Google can connect: Apple → technology company → iPhone, and it triggers a Knowledge panel
These connections help Google understand the meaning and context behind a search, rather than simply matching words on a page; they help Google understand the context around it and return more relevant information.
AI tools such as ChatGPT also build associations between entities from the information they have learned from. For a business, this means it can matter whether your brand is clearly connected online with the services you provide, the topics you are known for and the areas where you have expertise.
You can learn more about Knowledge Graphs and Knowledge Panels on the Official Google website.
What is entity optimisation or entity SEO?
Entity SEO is a way of optimising your website around entities, such as people, places, brands, products, and concepts, and the relationships between them, rather than focusing only on individual keywords.
In simple terms, it helps search engines and AI platforms understand who you are, what you are known for, what your content is about and how everything connects.
For instance, if you are a SaaS company like monday.com, you want Google and AI platforms to understand the relationships between your brand, products, solutions and the topics you want to be known for:
monday.com → Work management software → Project management → CRM → Workflow automation → Integrations → Product pages and resources
The clearer these connections are, the easier it is for search engines to understand what your company offers, which topics it has authority around, and when your brand should be relevant to a user’s search.
What tools can you use to identify entities?
You don’t need an expensive SEO tool to start exploring entities. There are a few free tools that can help you identify which entities are present in your content.
One option is the free InLinks Named Entity Checker. It’s very easy to use, simply enter a URL and the tool will show you the named entities it detects on the page. This can help you check whether your content clearly communicates the people, brands, places, and concepts you want associated with it.
Another useful option is the free WordLift Entity Extractor. You can use it to analyse a piece of content and identify the entities and concepts within the text or type any URL.
These tools can be particularly useful when reviewing important service or location pages. For example, if you run a dog daycare business, you could analyse your dog daycare page and check whether relevant entities and concepts such as dogs, dog daycare, pet care, dog walking, dog behaviour and your local area are clearly represented.
How can you strengthen your entities?
Build strong internal connections
Use internal links to connect related pages and make the relationships between your topics clear.
For example, an accountancy firm could link its main Accounting Services page to related services and resources such as:
Accounting services → Tax planning → Bookkeeping → Payroll → VAT returns → Business advisory
This creates clear connections between the services you offer and the topics your business specialises in, helping both potential clients and search engines understand your expertise.
Keep your brand information consistent
Make sure your key information is consistent across your website and other online platforms.
That includes things such as:
Brand name, author name, company information, job title, location, social profiles and business listings.
For example, if you use one version of your name on your website, another on LinkedIn and a different company description on industry websites, it can make those connections less clear.
Consistency makes it easier for search engines and AI systems to recognise that all of those references relate to the same person or brand.
Entity SEO is ultimately about helping search engines move from “these pages contain similar words” to “I understand who this brand is, what it is known for and how these topics are connected.”
How can Entity SEO improve your online visibility and revenue?
Optimising your website around the entities and topics you want Google to associate with your brand can strengthen both visibility and commercial performance.
Google already uses entities to understand what your content is about, how different concepts are connected, and where your brand fits within a topic. By making those relationships clearer, you can help search engines better understand your expertise, relevance and authority, increasing your chances of appearing for the right searches and reaching people who are more likely to become customers.
