Understanding Metadata & Its Purpose

Google’s Knowledge Graph can be hard to find, but its results are not. The Knowledge Graph contains relevant, context-specific information regarding your searches on Google. The Knowledge Graph or Panel is Google’s way of connecting information. Google’s searches have become more and more complex, as you already know. It’s no longer producing the result that closest matches a search term. The Knowledge Graph is generating results by combining useful information that was used by the searches before them.‍

What can I do to get information in the Knowledge Graph?

To get your content in the Knowledge Graph, find out what your potential customers are searching for. SEO, written content, and fully optimizing your site makes it easier for Google to understand a business. Using structured data to enhance significant elements of your site include names, dates, addresses, locations, and more. Structured data can be implemented in the examples above, and also, Metataging. Which is why we’re all here, isn’t it?

Getting your information out there is imperative. Sign up for GMB (if you haven’t already) and add everything you possibly can. Many other parts of the Knowledge Graph are generated from structured data, like reviews, so be sure to mark up your data in any which way you can.‍

Knowledge Graph & Knowledge Panel are Two different things

This is where most people get confused and lump them together. When conducting a search, for example I Googled “Leonardo Dicaprio.” The Knowledge Panel is what you see on the right hand of the webpage. The Knowledge Graph is what powers the Knowledge Panel. When there’s an immense amount of data showing up for the search the Panel will be filled with all kinds of relevant facts, images, and related searches.

How Do I get a Knowledge Panel?

Step 1: Make a GMB, verify your business, & add relevant data. Tier Level has already been utilizing this tool since it came out years ago. Entities on your Google My Business (such as people and places) can also contribute, after they have been verified.

Google will decide whether your business is worthy of a Knowledge Panel, you can’t apply for one. One correlation is if your brand has a Wikipedia page, it will often have Knowledge Panels as well. To get a Knowledge Panel takes lots of time & effort, and success is never guaranteed. ‍

Metataging & Metadata

As previously mentioned, Metataging is related to structured data. Metataging is a way to lock in structured data to be transported with an image file. This makes it easier for the Knowledge Graph to understand so that users can more easily find digital images via search.  However, (this one is very important) Facebook strips all metadata from the image itself. The data will NOT be recovered by downloading the image uploaded to Facebook. This means one of the most important places to upload your metataged photos is Google My Business. The website is also important, but uploading to GMB will help affect search results quicker. Metataged photos are going to change the ten main keywords their GMB shows up for, see below for reference.

There are 3 Different Categories of Data: One is Administrative data, which includes location, date of creation, job identifiers, and other details. Second, is Rights Data this identifies the creator, copyright information, credits, and underlying rights. Last and most important is Descriptive Data. This includes the title, keywords, caption, location, and much more. Interesting descriptive into the coding of photos will get you the most out of  metadata. ‍