How To Leverage Google’s Knowledge Graph For Better Rankings

When it introduced the Knowledge Graph in 2012, Google dubbed it “a critical first step towards building the next generation of search“.

Indeed, this handy addition to the search results page tends to shorten search time, present accurate and rich information without additional clicks, and dip a little deeper into Google’s vast information plains to pull out the most relevant related search terms in order to contextualize the specific search result.

Welcomed by users but not completely understood by marketers, Google’s Knowledge Graph offers exciting opportunities for small-to-medium businesses. This article will explore this unique offering by Google and give you pointers on how to make the most of it.

Knowledge Graph is Google’s shot at making search even more human-friendly by returning not only ranked page results but also an instant overview of the most relevant data on your search term.

For example, when you search for “Katy Perry”, you will notice a panel on the top right, which contains representative pictures of her, her biography, social media channels, music streaming that carry her albums, and other information such as her height and net worth. At the bottom of the panel, there is a list of her albums and a host of related searches, which contextualize Katy Perry as a show business celebrity and associate her to other Hollywood personalities such as pop stars or prominent romantic partners.

This panel of condensed vital information is the Knowledge Graph, a zero-clicks-needed, multidimensional and comprehensive response to a specific search term. You can already see how good it would be for your business to make an appearance there, right?

In essence, the knowledge graph is a vast database Google has amassed thanks to its superior crawling, indexing, and organizing capabilities. This makes any of Google’s 3.5 billion facts about half a million entities instantly retrievable when a user enters the appropriate search term.

Knowledge Graph does not only mean quick and accurate search results for the user; it also presents an excellent opportunity for website owners to appear in highly relevant searches and reach new users. Here is how.

It is important to note that content on your website plays an important part when it comes to optimizing for the Knowledge Graph. Since crawling and indexing provide the backbone of Knowledge Graph, your first step towards website optimization is to fall in line with Google’s automated processing concepts.