Knowledge Graph

What it means

A Knowledge Graph is a database of entities, such as people, companies, places, products or concepts, and the relationships between them, which a search engine uses to understand queries. It lets the engine know that a word in a query refers to a particular company rather than an ordinary word, and to show a knowledge panel.

The term is most associated with Google, which introduced it in 2012, but other search engines and language models have similar knowledge graphs. They draw data from public sources, registers, encyclopaedias, companies' own websites and the structured data on pages.

For SEO the important shift is from keywords to entities. The search engine asks not only whether a page contains the search term, but whether it understands which entity the page is about, what its attributes are and how it relates to other entities, such as a company with its address, services and experts.

How it works in practice

A company helps the search engine recognise it correctly through consistent data: the same name, address, phone number and company ID on its website, in the commercial register, in its maps profile and in directories. For local SEO this consistency is one of the basic signals.

On the website it is worth using Schema.org markup, for example the Organization type with logo, contact details and links to official profiles, and the DefinedTerm type for a glossary. This data tells the search engine clearly what the page represents and how entities connect.

Strong links between entities help content too. A glossary with clear definitions and links between related terms creates a small knowledge graph on the website itself, matching the way search engines understand a topic and supporting trustworthiness under E-E-A-T.

What to watch out for

A knowledge panel cannot be bought or created directly. The search engine shows it once there is enough reliable and consistent information about the entity. Conflicting data, such as old addresses in directories or different versions of the company name, can delay it or lead to incorrect information.

If a panel contains an error, the company can suggest a correction through a verified profile, but the final decision lies with the search engine. It is therefore better to prevent errors by maintaining your own data carefully than to fix them later, especially after a change of address, name or logo.