Sara Taher
Key takeaways
- 1:01An entity is a singular, unique, well-defined noun (person, place, item, or idea) that Google can distinguish from similar terms; for example, 'book' is an entity but 'books' is not, and spelling variations like 'color' vs 'colour' represent the same entity.
- 3:02Google transitioned from keyword-based search to entity-based understanding after the 2011 Panda update; the knowledge graph enables Google to return related entities, summaries, and disambiguate queries like 'Diana' to Princess Diana.
- 10:10Research entities using free tools: Google Search autocomplete and suggestions, Google Trends for related queries, Wikipedia pages, Google Knowledge Graph API, and competitor content analysis to identify terms to include alongside your main keywords.
- 15:17Optimize pages by creating a topical map, documenting keywords and entities, writing schema markup (like WebPage with mainEntity or custom types with sameAs links to Wikipedia), and building internal links to ensure every mention of an entity links back to its authoritative page.
- 18:22A local contractor achieved a 32% traffic lift by identifying and incorporating geographic entities (nearby landmarks like Colorado State University) into content and linking to driving directions from those entities.
Questions Sara Taher answered
Sara mentions she has a case study and practical approaches to follow, including using tools like Google Search, Trends, and Wikipedia to research entities, then incorporating them into content strategy with schema markup and internal linking.
Entity SEO Explained (With Tactics You Can Actually Use)9:08
No, entities help Google understand different languages. For example, 'car' in English is recognized as the same entity as 'auto' in German, enabling cross-language disambiguation.
Entity SEO Explained (With Tactics You Can Actually Use)17:22
Entities rank based on relatedness (how connected to the search term), notability (importance compared across industries), contribution (prominence within a specific industry), and prizes/awards. For example, 'Apple' ranks for the company over the fruit due to higher notability.
Entity SEO Explained (With Tactics You Can Actually Use)19:23
In Sara Taher's words
“An entity as per Google's definition is a thing or concept that is singular, unique, well-defined and distinguishable.”
Entity SEO Explained (With Tactics You Can Actually Use)1:01
“Google wanted to move away from those tactics that can be easily manipulated to rank and therefore not providing users with the best results.”
Entity SEO Explained (With Tactics You Can Actually Use)3:02
“Google moved from things not strings—no more focus on words but the things, right? And real world entities.”
Entity SEO Explained (With Tactics You Can Actually Use)5:04
“You cannot achieve topical authority without being able to include entities because entities help you go in depth and cover the topic thoroughly.”
Entity SEO Explained (With Tactics You Can Actually Use)8:07
“They incorporated all those local entities into the content and it was amazing to see that this website received 32% lift by simply adding geographically relevant terms to the page.”
Entity SEO Explained (With Tactics You Can Actually Use)18:22