Google’s Knowledge Graph; What’s it Really?
“Google just announced its Knowledge Graph. It’s another step away from raw keywords (without knowing what those words really mean), toward understanding things in the real-world and how they relate to each other. The knowledge graph improves our ability to understand the intent of a query so we can give better answers and search results.” Matt Cutts – May 16, 2012
So what is Google’s Knowledge Graph and how does it impact all of us who are involved in Internet Marketing?
It’s always been Google’s dream of indexing the world’s information and today their database contains an index of over 500 million people, places and things.
Along with Google’s extensive database their algorithm now contains over 3.5 billion attributes and connections. (Jack Menzel Google Search Project Manager)
It’s About Things and Not Strings
In Google’s announcement of their knowledge graph they stressed that it was about things and not strings.
So what does Google feel are things and strings as it relates to their new search engine algorithm?
Things: Using the study of Semantics, Wikipedia describes it as the study of meaning. It focuses on the relationship between signifiers such as words, phrases, signs and symbols.
Strings: The old way of doing Search Engine Optimization by focusing only on the keywords that you want to rank for.
The Old Way of Doing SEO
Face it people, the old way of doing SEO since Panda, Penguin and now Google’s Knowledge Graph is dead!
The old way of doing keyword research, then stuffing keywords into your articles or blog posts and getting backlinks using these same keywords don’t work anymore … so stop wasting your time and money doing it this way.
To survive online today you MUST stop chasing Google’s search engine algorithm where it is today and focus on where it is going to be months, if not years from now and cut it off at the pass.
The New Way of Doing SEO
With Google’s new Knowledge Graph, Google’s focus is and will be for the foreseeable future on how it identifies the relationship content of your site with other information it has stored in its huge database and then sorting out this content for the user with the most relevant content on top.
Therefore, for your website to rank well in Google’s SERPs (search engine result pages), it must be more relevant with more relational content then your competitor.
Keep It Simple Stupid
In developing your content for Google’s new search, I’m reminded of what Matt Cutts said during one of his Google SEO videos;
“Keep it simple stupid, don’t write content that sounds repetitive or un-natural and you should be fine”
Use Stop Keywords and Synonyms to Dilute
In several articles we have reviewed on how to beat Google’s Penguin and Panda updates the writers suggested using more stop words to dilute your keyword density.
In our testing, using stop words between keyword phrases to dilute keyword density had little, if any, effect in increasing our rankings.
However, what did have measurable effect however was using semantically correct synonyms along with stop words.
What are Stop Words?
The Google Guide describes stop words as short function words such as the as… the, is, at which, or along with simple digits and single letters.
Other examples specific to all of us Internet Marketers could also include words such as … click here, more info.
What are semantically correct synonyms?
Wikipedia describes Semantics as the relationship between signifiers such as words, phrase, signs and symbols.
Where Can I Find These Semantically Correct Synonyms?
During day one of our SEO Essentials class, we teach a process we call Google Eyes where basically you use Google’s results along with the results from Ask and Amazon to build up a list of Semantically Correct Synonyms.
However, this process is very time consuming.
In our more advanced SEO training class, we introduce our students to a program that was developed by Michael Marshall. It is called SEO Scout.
The beauty of SEO Scout is that it compares the top 100 rankings for your targeted keyword and provides a list of thousands other words based upon their use on your competitors’ sites.
You then select your best semantically correct synonyms from the results and place them into your article(s) or website.
For More Information about SEO Scout Click here
Semantic Technology In Content Marketing
Companies such as Viacom, Martha Stewart, JP Morgan are already embracing this new emerging technology into their content marketing.
So if you don’t want to be left in the dust when Google does its next big update, you must start embracing semantic applications in your marketing NOW!
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14 Responses to Google’s Knowledge Graph; What’s it Really?
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It’s interesting that the article mentions Google’s mission of indexing the world’s information because I read that they are in the process of digitizing all of the books in the library of congress. This is a gigantic undertaking, but I also read that Google has never been afraid of taking on projects that seem larger than their resources. And that they are resourceful enough to acquire the needed funding – at least they have thus far.
This knowledge graph concept is both alarming and exciting all at once. It is troublesome for those who have been having great success in SEO with all of the old, pre-penguin techniques mentioned in this article. But it is exciting to everyone else who has struggled to get a decent ranking on Google. I for one am happy about this new format. And I look forward to learning more from SE Training SW.
Article was very informational and made me better understand Semantics. Plus the out links give good demonstrations on Semantics with and without stop words. Thank You Roy for the focused content. I greatly appreciate it.
The more lessons I experience on this site, the more impressed I become with Roy’s knowledge of SEO. Many webmasters and marketers who are used to having success with gray / black hat tactics prior to the Pneguin shake up, are coming to the realization that they need to reform their ways. I took an extensive SEO course and I have decided to continue my education here.
I wonder if this knowledge graph concept is here to stay. It would just be more frustrating if they suddenly decided to drastically change their algorithm once again. That would annoy many SEO marketers to no end. Still and all, I do like this new algorithm updates because they enforce rules that force people to create natural content. This is far more organic and natural. It’s about time the white hat people get rewarded.
Don’t think so as Google had implemented LSI way back in 78, however they are being very careful now of NOT calling it LSI
Just curious, why is google being careful now of NOT calling latent semantic indexing by its already known name?
Your info is great. Thanks
My only guess is that LSI got a bad reputation back in the late 90′s because of a couple programs that scraped websites and came up with “goofy” results. Also “Knowledge Graph” sounds a little more mystical then LSI. That’s my guess.
Great article. Thanks! I just wanted to point out a typo in the last sentence. I think that “embarrassing” was meant to read as “embracing.”
From what I understand, the Knowledge Graph was only available to individuals that reside within the United States. Now, individuals who use the English version of Google can use this feature, regardless of where in the world they are located. Google will also be localizing the Knowledge Graph results so that different regions generate different results. This will greatly streamline the search process for individuals who are looking for information regarding entities or locations with common names.
Thanks, fixed
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