Knowledge graph
The database of entities and their relationships that sits behind modern search.
What is a knowledge graph?
A knowledge graph is a structured store of entities, people, places, businesses, concepts, and the relationships between them. Google’s is the best known; other engines and AI systems maintain their own.
It is why a search engine can answer a question about a thing rather than just return documents containing words.
Why should a local business care about the knowledge graph?
Being represented as an entity in a knowledge graph is what allows a system to be confident about you. Not being represented, or being represented inconsistently, is a ceiling on everything else.
You cannot edit a knowledge graph directly. You influence it by making the sources it draws on consistent.
What do people get wrong about the knowledge graph?
That a knowledge panel and the knowledge graph are the same thing. The panel is a visible display; the graph is the underlying data. You can exist in the graph without ever getting a panel.
| Term | What it is |
|---|---|
| Knowledge panel | A visible display |
| Knowledge graph | The underlying data |
How can you check this for your own business?
Search your business name and look for any structured summary the engine offers. Then search a well-known competitor and compare what each of you gets.
The difference is usually a difference in how consistently each business is described across sources, not a difference in quality.
See where you actually stand
The free Visibility Check puts twelve real buying questions from your category to three surfaces.
Get my free Visibility CheckRankings are never guaranteed. Anything we could not trace to a primary source is absent from this page, not estimated. The audit runs the same six layers described on the pricing page, and Share of Answer is scored quarterly.