Age of the Knowledge Engine

It is time to change the way you think. Google is no longer a search engine, but kin to the Wizard of Oz – an all-knowing information engine.  With the launch of Google’s The Knowledge Graph in May 2012, we’ve jettisoned from Web 2.0 to the fascinating world of Web 3.0.

In Web 2.0, search results were basically comprised of a hierarchy of documents with no interrelationship or connectivity between them.  The Knowledge Graph enhances Google’s search engine results by linking information together in a relationship formed by similar topics. This new semantic web page is changing the way content is discovered across the web by linking data together.

The Knowledge Graph consists of more than 570 million objects and 18 billion facts. The Knowledge Graph gives you answers to questions quickly and efficiently, and showcases comprehensive summaries on a given topic, all by combing related data and concepts across the web.  Linked data provides more useful and meaningful information to the web search, which we all know is Google’s ultimate goal.

The Knowledge Graph collects information from many sources including Wikipieda, Wikidata, Freebase, Schema, CIA World Factbook, FDA, National Library of Medicine and more.  Google is displaying information from resources they consider to be authoritative in nature and/ or highly-recognized data sources .

Search for a person, place or thing and you’ll see new information powered by the Knowledge Graph.  For example, when searching on the brand Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, not only does Google display information from Wikipedia, but the search results also showcase videos from YouTube.  The YouTube video search results also show you search results for what other people search for in relation to this brand.

Here are a few steps your business can take to get listed in The Knowledge Graph

1. Contribute to Wikipedia, Freebase, and CIA World Factbook
2. On Freebase, review topic IDs and link your content to Freebase topics
3. Consider Content Discovery Networks
4. Develop and optimize your brand in Google+. We are seeing Google + information where the knowledge graph is displayed in Google.  Be sure to link up your site to your Google+ Business page.
5. Add rel=publisher to your site.
6. Have a well-optimized YouTube channel with compelling videos.  Include words in your optimization that are similar to Freebase Topic IDs. Start paying attention to Freebase topics that YouTube is assigning to your content

Your business can’t afford to miss out on the huge potential of being indexed properly by Google’s Knowledge Graph. Users can find information easier, advertisers don’t have to compete with irrelevant search results for valuable search engine real estate, and for businesses, brand’s can stand out if positioned properly. The advantages are endless. The semantic web isn’t going anywhere. In fact, we are seeing dramatic changes to the way results are displayed.  Start preparing for it now, so you don’t get left behind.