Entities vs. Keywords

Entities might sound similar to keywords. They are pretty different. Here’s how they differ and why those differences are so significant.

Keywords are words or phrases used in searches. They’re often the focal points of terms users search for and can be questions, sentences, or single words.

For example, users looking for makeup tutorials may search for makeup, tutorial, smokey eye, how to do a smokey eye, and so on.

Keywords still matter because they connect your content to queries. Your goal is to drive organic traffic to your site by ranking for keywords that help customers find your brand on search engines.

Keywords have long been the peg that SEO hangs its hat on, mainly because search engine algorithms needed clear, concise direction to populate relevant search results. In the early days of SEO, keyword stuffing, which involves adding your chosen keyword far too often or including largely irrelevant, popular keywords, was constantly used. At the time, search algorithms needed to see specific keywords repeatedly to rank content correctly.

As defined by Google, an entity is “A thing or concept that is singular, unique, well-defined and distinguishable.” This doesn’t need to be a physical object and can include colors, dates, ideas, and so on. 

Entities are very similar to the grammatical definition of subject of a sentence. The Entity is  a noun, (a person, place. or thing.)

Emphasizing entities over keywords has allowed search engines to be more accurate in their results. However, search engines aren’t psychic—they need more information to figure out which entity you’re searching for.

For example, a search for the word “apple” could result in pages about the fruit or pages about the company. As interesting as both topics are, if you’re searching for information about whether apple seeds are indeed poisonous, reading about iPhones probably won’t be too helpful. 

You need to add some keywords (adjectives) to tell the search engine which entity you mean. We can think of entities as important topics keywords live within. For entities to be legitimate, they need to link to a search engine knowledge graph representing related information and data across the internet. Knowledge graphs allow search engines to scan your website effectively. 

Google’s Knowledge Graph used Wikipedia as its primary trusted seed set. 

Keywords with context help entities become defined, but you need to know what your distinct entity is all about before you can create your keyword-rich and well-written content. An SEO strategy recognizing both factors is your best bet for success. 

I look at it like this: Sentences are composed of parts, noun, verb, adjective, etc. So Entities are the nouns, and keywords are the adjectives. They modify the entity(noun) with the keyword (adjective). So it is not just searching for a car; it is searching for a 3-year-old hybrid SUV within a specific price range.  

So how does Google finally decide where to rank your site on the SERP page? One of the ways is by your Domain Authority. If your page has a higher DA than your competitors, Google will likely rank it higher. 

Links are built to other content and so enable Google to decide that other relevant pages quote or recognize your site as influential. As this entire exercise is about ranking higher, this alone can tip your page lower or higher. Page authority is a huge deal. 

So when you think about this, remember how a sentence is put together and be sure your adjectives are relevant to the traffic you wish to attract.