Knowledge Graph

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• What Is a Google Knowledge Graph?
• How Does a Google Knowledge Graph Help SEO?
• What Steps Do You Need to Take to Translate the Knowledge Graph into SEO Success?

If you’ve recently asked Google a specific question, you may have noticed a box at the top of the search results that answered your question without the need to actually click on a link. If you have a website for your business, you may have even wondered what you could do to make your site appear in that prime real estate at the top of Google. You can take a few steps to help optimize your web content and land in Google’s Knowledge Graph.

What Is the Google Knowledge Graph?

Google Knowledge Graph is a database Google uses to improve its search results, gathering information from a variety of different sources. The Knowledge Graph was launched in 2012 and understands facts about things, people, and places and how all of these things are connected. Using the Knowledge Graph, Google aims to improve the relevancy of its search results and present Knowledge Graph boxes within search results to give direct answers to end-user questions. 

How Does the Google Knowledge Graph Help SEO?

The results in the Knowledge Graph correlate with the Google algorithm and give users immediate access to the most relevant information without ever needing to click a link. The websites that Google pulls the information from get an immediate boost in visibility among users. If companies can get their brands in the Knowledge Graph, they’ll benefit from getting the premier real estate in the Google search results, with higher visibility and possibly even greater trust and authority among searchers.

What Steps Do You Need to Take to Translate the Knowledge Graph Into SEO Success?

Now that you understand the potential impact that Google Knowledge Graph could have on your business, it’s important to take measures to protect your SEO strategy and prepare for the Knowledge Graph and other new search functionalities Google could launch in the future.

1. Avoid Writing General Content

While the Knowledge Graph can improve visibility, it can also reduce the need for users to actually click on the search results that appear, which means that it can actually lower your traffic for certain topics. You can counter this by avoiding writing articles that provide general information about topics, even when they’re relevant to your industry. Instead, focus on creating content about specific niches.

The Google Knowledge Graph only provides common types of information on general topics, so the more specific your content is, the less likely it is that Google’s Knowledge Graph will take over the search results. In addition, the more specific you are with the content you write, the less competition you’ll have, which means a higher ranking in the search results pages for lower-traffic keywords.

2. Use Schema Markups

You also can take steps to get your content featured in the Knowledge Graph. Google crawls the internet for information, searching for microformatting on pages that have high domain authority. If you want the Knowledge Graph to find your page more easily, you should use schema microformatting to mark up the content. Schema.org is a free resource you can use to mark the content on your site. It also offers guidance for how you can get it added to your site.

3. Create a Wikipedia page

Google often pulls information directly from Wikipedia to populate the Knowledge Graph because the information on the site is generally very reliable. In fact, one study revealed that Wikipedia is 99.5% accurate, making it one of the most reliable sources of information on the internet. Utilize this by creating a Wikipedia page for yourself, your organization, or any other information that you want the Knowledge Graph to pull.

4. Create Social Media Profiles

If you haven’t done so already, create social media profiles for your company or yourself. Google shows social media profile links in the Knowledge Graph results. You should have company and personal profiles, if you’re trying to promote yourself, on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest, since those are the four that show up in the results Knowledge Graph offers.

5. Write for Your Audience

Google values content that’s helpful and written specifically for people as opposed to content that fits into an algorithm. If you’re creating content with the reader in mind, you’re far more likely to get Google’s attention. Your content should include a simple, one-sentence description of your company or concept. It should provide supplemental information about what your company does. There should be a minimum of 1,200 words of supplemental information. Provide links to relevant pages along with videos and images that help you present the topic and enhance what you’re explaining.

While this may seem like a lot of effort, it’s important to keep mind that Google is looking for exceptional content on topics. If the information that you’re providing is just average, then Google isn’t going to pull information from your website for the Knowledge Graph. To appear in the Knowledge Graph, your content has to be the best.

6. Use Keywords

While keywords may not carry quite the weight that they used to a few years ago, they are still important, particularly if you want to appear in the Google Knowledge Graph. The keywords you’re targeting should be in the URL, meta description, title tag, and image names. When you’re writing, it’s also important to include the keyword in the H1 heading, the introduction, body, and conclusion.

7. Promote Your Content

Now that you have exceptional content that’s optimized with the right keywords, the next step is to start promoting it. You can submit your URL to Google directly and also promote your content on social media. You could even use paid advertising to drive traffic to your site and encourage Google to crawl the page. When it does and sees the above-average, user-friendly content you created, you may end up in Knowledge Graph.

Knowledge Base: SEO