Mastering Entity SEO for AI Search Success
The advent of AI search is fundamentally transforming SEO, shifting the focus from website authority to entity recognition. An “entity” is a recognizable “thing”—like a brand, product, person, or feature—that AI models understand, connect, and use as building blocks for answers. For instance, Omnisend is seen by AI not just as a website, but as a network of interconnected entities, including its platform, co-founder Rytis Lauris, and specific features like Shopify integration. AI leverages “vector space” to map relationships between these entities, enabling a deeper, semantic understanding beyond mere keywords.
This paradigm shift means a website ranking #1 in traditional search might be overlooked by AI if its brand isn't effectively structured as an entity. AI utilizes “dense retrieval,” prioritizing semantic meaning and relationships across the web over simple keyword matches. A significant benefit is that unlinked brand mentions, or “co-citations,” in authentic discussions (e.g., Reddit, podcasts, YouTube reviews) now carry substantial weight, strengthening a brand's entity in AI's knowledge base. A prime example is Microsoft OneNote, which frequently appears in AI recommendations for note-taking tools due to its deep integration with the Microsoft ecosystem and numerous mentions, despite Evernote often dominating traditional search with backlinks. This underscores a crucial risk for brands relying solely on classic SEO.
Entities are recognized through various channels: structured data like Google's Knowledge and Shopping Graphs, human conversation data from forums and reviews, and multimodal recognition from audio/video transcripts. The new SEO dynamic rewards genuine presence and discussion, making it harder to “game” than traditional PageRank. To optimize, brands must assess their entity foundation (e.g., schema, Wikidata), understand how AI decomposes queries, map competitive entity relationships (e.g., Omnisend vs. Klaviyo in different contexts), optimize content for rich entity density, and actively build strategic co-citations in relevant, authentic discussions. This approach emphasizes genuine participation and brand presence, though quality traditional SEO remains vital.
(Source: https://backlinko.com/entity-seo)
