Introduction

Some businesses still think that SEO is all about writing as many blog posts as possible and obtaining backlinks.

However, SEO has changed, no longer does quantity win the day. Now its all about quality, and that means answering your customers questions better than your competitors.

Also, your businesses ranking signals have to be white hat, as any deviation from white hat seo, well the websites likely to be hit by a penalty.

And now business owners are being informed by marketing agencies that its all about “things and not strings”-but what does this even mean?

Well, do not worry, as we will explain all.

Entities

A place, a person or even an event can be an entity. Its basically something that’s well-known, and Google has got very good at understanding these entities.

So, for example, let’s say the entity is a famous electric car brand, well Google will know all the relevant facts about that entity.

Yet Google doesn’t stop there, it also knows people that are connected to that entity. Also the technology that drives that particular car, well Google will know about that, and all the famous inventors that may have contributed over the years to allow that technology to work.

So, as you can see, its like a web of knowledge, yet Google knows how all the pieces fit together, how they interconnect.

Yet the important events, people or places are called entities.

Knowledge base

As you can imagine, Google has loads and loads of sources where it can obtain good quality information. So, this information can presumably be cross-checked, so that Google can build a knowledge base, and this knowledge is stored in what we SEO’s call a “knowledge vault”.

So, like any good contestant on a gameshow will have a good knowledge base of general knowledge, well so does Google.

Yet Google’s grasp on important facts is getting stronger and stronger as each day passes. So Google is building more confidence and knowledge on entities, and in the future us SEO’s believe that Google will have an incredibly in-depth knowledge of many more entities.

Why do I keep hearing this phrase “things and not strings?”

Us SEO’s sure latch on to buzzwords and phrases, yet this one is an important one. This means that “things and not strings” is actually a description that is used to claim that Google is becoming less reliant on backlinks, and more on its understanding of entities.

Now, before you start to think that backlinks are no longer important, do not, as backlinks are still an essential part of any seo strategy.

Yet, this phrase things and not strings offers us an insight that Google is changing, and its knowledge on businesses, places, and things in general is getting better.

The onus is therefore on us SEO’s to help define a business, which is an entity so that Google can gather the relevant facts, and then the algorithm can therefore weigh-up how relevant and how important that business is when Google is answering a question.

So, for example, seo agencies like ours can see as likely direction for seo in future, that is when someone asks Google to find say a “divorce solicitor” it might not be the businesses with the best backlinks being displayed at the top of the results.

Instead it will be the solicitor’s practice which is the most defined entity. That’s to say the entity has been deemed the most relevant, because Google deems that as the most important business for that query based on:

 

·        Quality of information of that the solicitor’s website offers

·        How important that business is in the local area, i.e business reviews

·        Quality of NAP information

·        Social buzz on social media

 

This is just a theory at the current time of writing, as seo’s now at the moment still appreciate that backlinks are still a very important component of an SEO marketing strategy.

Yet, many seo agencies, including ours believe that this phrase, “things and not strings” is an indication that Google could be removing its self slowly from backlinks as a major ranking factor.

 

Rich snippets

If your business is well-known, well its probable that Google has knowledge of the business in its Knowledge Graph. 

This means that when people search for your company, they may be presented with what is called a “rich snippet”. Which can include links to other entities which Google deems are related to your business.

So, it could be a link to a website which explains more about your businesses founder for example. Or perhaps your business is closely aligned to a charity, and the link to that charity is also displayed.

So basically, the rich snippet will often give facts about your business, and links to more information about those facts.

 

Can our SEO company help?

If your business requires help with its seo, then why not give us a ring?