If you’ve been involved in SEO for any length of time, you’ll probably have noticed that there’s a seemingly endless supply of new techniques and terminology being introduced, often accompanied by claims that everything we’ve previously been doing is now obsolete. Over the years, we’ve had semantic SEO, latent semantic indexing, topical authority and various other concepts that supposedly represent the next big thing in search engine optimisation. More recently, I’ve been seeing increasing references to something called ‘entity SEO’, with some suggesting that we should be moving away from traditional keyword optimisation and concentrating on entities instead. However, having looked into what this actually involves, I’m struggling to see how it’s significantly different from what a competent SEO specialist should already be doing.
That’s not to say that entities aren’t important to Google, because they certainly are. The technology behind them is genuinely interesting, and it’s helped search engines become considerably better at understanding what people are looking for. What I’m questioning is whether businesses really need to start worrying about ‘entity optimisation’ as though it’s an entirely new discipline, particularly when most of the recommended techniques seem remarkably familiar.
What Exactly Is an Entity?
In SEO terminology, an entity is essentially something that can be clearly identified, such as a person, place, organisation, product or concept. Unlike a keyword, which is simply a word or phrase, an entity represents a particular thing, regardless of how somebody might describe it.
For example, consider the word ‘Apple’. Depending on the context, somebody searching for Apple might be interested in the technology company, the fruit or even a record label. Google needs to understand which of these things the person is actually looking for, rather than simply finding websites that contain the word.
This isn’t a particularly new development. Back in 2012, Google announced its Knowledge Graph, describing its ambition to understand ‘things, not strings’. The idea was that Google could identify real-world objects and understand the relationships between them, rather than relying entirely on matching search queries against words appearing on websites.
It’s an impressive technological achievement, but that doesn’t necessarily mean website owners need to completely rethink how they approach SEO.
Isn’t This Just Keyword Optimisation?
This is where I start becoming a little sceptical. If you read some of the advice surrounding entity SEO, you’ll find recommendations to identify the important entities associated with your subject, include related concepts in your content and make sure Google understands the context of what you’re writing about.
Which sounds suspiciously like what we’ve been doing with keyword research for years.
Let’s say you’re optimising a website for a company offering commercial property insurance. A sensible SEO strategy would involve researching relevant searches, identifying the different types of insurance customers might be interested in and creating useful content explaining the various policies available. You’d naturally mention things like landlords, business premises, liability, buildings insurance and commercial tenants, because they’re all relevant to the subject.
Apparently, if you describe those things as entities rather than related keywords and topics, you’re now practising entity SEO.
Of course, there’s a technical distinction between a keyword and an entity, but from the perspective of somebody creating content for a website, I’m not convinced it makes an enormous amount of practical difference. A well-written article about commercial property insurance should already contain the relevant terminology, explain the important concepts and demonstrate an understanding of the subject.
If it doesn’t, I’d suggest the problem is probably poor content rather than a failure to optimise for entities.
What About Semantic Search?
Part of the argument for entity optimisation is that Google has become considerably more sophisticated at understanding the meaning behind search queries, particularly following developments such as Hummingbird in 2013, RankBrain in 2015 and BERT in 2019.
These technologies have helped Google move beyond simply matching individual words, allowing it to better interpret context, relationships and the intentions behind searches. For example, somebody searching for ‘how much does it cost to insure a shop’ might be looking for essentially the same information as somebody searching for ‘retail premises insurance prices’, despite using different terminology.
However, this is precisely why I’ve been advising people against obsessing over individual keyword variations for years. There’s little point creating separate pages targeting dozens of almost identical search phrases when one comprehensive, well-written page could satisfy all those searches.
The fact that Google is getting better at understanding language doesn’t mean keyword research has suddenly become irrelevant. It simply means we should be concentrating on what people actually want to know, rather than trying to manipulate search rankings by repeatedly inserting particular phrases into our content.
I’d argue that’s just good SEO, regardless of what terminology you choose to describe it with.
Is There Anything Genuinely Different?
To be fair, there are some areas where understanding entities can provide additional value, particularly when it comes to structured data and Google’s Knowledge Graph.
Structured data allows website owners to provide search engines with information about specific things appearing on their pages, such as products, organisations, recipes and events. This can help Google interpret content and, where appropriate, display additional information through enhanced search results.
For example, an ecommerce website can use product structured data to provide information about prices, availability and reviews. However, structured data has been part of SEO for years, and implementing it correctly should already be a consideration for websites where it’s relevant.
Similarly, making sure Google can clearly identify your business, understand what it does and associate it with accurate contact details and other information is obviously worthwhile. However, maintaining a consistent business identity across your website, Google Business Profile and other relevant sources is hardly a revolutionary idea.
These are legitimate technical considerations, but I’m not convinced they justify presenting entity SEO as an entirely separate strategy that businesses suddenly need to invest in.
Do You Need an Entity SEO Strategy?
Personally, I think there’s a tendency within the SEO industry to overcomplicate things, sometimes by introducing new terminology for techniques that have existed for years. I’m not suggesting that everybody discussing entity SEO is deliberately trying to make the subject sound more complicated than it really is, but I do wonder whether some of the excitement is driven by the need to constantly present something new.
If you’re already conducting proper keyword research, understanding search intent, producing comprehensive content and implementing appropriate structured data, there’s a good chance you’re already doing most of what entity optimisation advocates recommend.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t learn about how Google understands entities. I find the technology fascinating, and understanding how search engines interpret information can certainly help inform your SEO strategy.
However, I wouldn’t recommend abandoning a perfectly sensible SEO approach simply because somebody has decided that keywords are old-fashioned and entities are the future.
Ultimately, Google’s objective is to provide people with relevant, useful information that answers their questions. The technology it uses to achieve that objective will undoubtedly continue to evolve, but the fundamental principles of good SEO haven’t changed nearly as much as some people would have you believe.
If your website clearly explains what you do, covers the subjects your customers are interested in and provides genuinely useful information, you’re probably already on the right track.
Whether you call that keyword optimisation, semantic SEO or entity optimisation doesn’t particularly matter to me.
I’d be far more interested in whether it’s actually generating any traffic.