Entity Executive Summary in Entity SEO: What you Need to Know
In this article you will learn what an Entity Executive Summary is, why it is important in Entity SEO and how to write a hugely powerful “at-a-glance 40 word summary” of any Entity.
What is an Entity Executive Summary?
An entity is a thing (person, company, podcast, book, music artist, etc.). The Entity Executive Summary is a short, simple text that summarises who or what the entity is, what the entity does, offers, or specialises in, and the audience it serves. Simple!
When writing the Entity Executive Summary, remember that this is the information Google is most likely to display in the entity’s Knowledge Panel.
Pro Tip: Keep it short, but clear and concise, and use about 20-50 words.
The Importance of Semantic Triples in the Entity Executive Summary
Google tends to focus on the first semantic triple it sees in the Entity Executive Summary.
A semantic triple sounds complicated, but it’s actually simple grammar: subject -> verb -> object.
Choose the first semantic triple of your Entity Executive Summary wisely, because the first object you mention will often be the focus of Google and will likely be used as the Entity’s subtitle in the Knowledge Panel.
For example, using the statement: Jason Barnard is an author and digital marketing consultant.
“Jason Barnard” is the subject, “is” is the verb, and “author” is the first object and “digital marketing consultant” is the second object. Google will focus most on the “author” object because it was mentioned first.
Stating What You Offer and to Whom in the Entity Executive Summary
After the semantic triple that states who you are, you need to continue with what you offer and the audience you can serve.
For example…
This example indicates clearly who I am, what I offer and which audience I serve.
Adjectives in the Entity Executive Summary
You can include adjectives, but don’t overuse them.
For example, adding the word “groundbreaking” will help make the copy more appealing to your human audience, but will not penalise you in Google’s algorithms.
Where Should I use the Entity Executive Summary
Put the Entity Executive Summary at the top of the Entity Home. The H1 should be the Entity name (optionally with “About…” or “Meet…”), and the paragraph immediately after that should be the Entity Executive Summary.
You will also use it on every profile Google’s Knowledge Algorithms are using for that entity. For example, Crunchbase, LinkedIn and DnB.
What are the Pitfalls and Drawbacks When Writing an Entity Executive Summary?
As with anything you do to positively influence Google’s algorithms, there are many geeky aspects, hundreds of things that can go wrong, and thousands of things you will do suboptimally.
Here are three common problems with Entity Executive Summaries that we regularly have to solve for clients (and that you should avoid):
Lack of Clarity
People overcomplicate and try to say too much. Keep it simple, make it clear to a first time reader. Clarity is an art that takes time to master. At Kalicube, we have mastered this art!
Including Information That isn’t Helpful
People often include supurfluous information that isn’t essential to understanding who the entity is, what it offers and to whom. Save the non-vital information for the Entity Description. Say what is important and keep it short. Simplicity is an art.
Kalicube is a groundbreaking digital marketing agency that specialises in Brand SERP Optimisation and Knowledge Panel management, serving companies and people worldwide.
Meaningless Fluff
At Kalicube we see this all the time: texts that talk about “changing the world for the better” or “we see our users as friends”. This type of message could be used on a mission statement page, or the homepage. In the Entity Executive Summary this type of text should be avoided. You can include it in the Entity Description Extension, but generally speaking we advise against this type of prose in favour of simplicity and clarity.
Pro Tip: At Kalicube, we analyse the Entity Executive Summary using Google’s own Natural Language Processing, then we find the perfect balance between the needs of Knowledge Algorithms and the needs of your human audience.
Incomplete Implementation.
In order to fully understand and be confident it has understood, Google (and Bing) needs to see this Entity Executuve Summary repeated across the entire brand (entity) digital ecosysem. You need to find all the important references and update them with this clear and concise mini-description.
Finding all the sources Google uses as factual reference about the entity is a HUGE task. More than 12 hours of mundane work. Our experience at Kalicube shows that a human will always miss a significant number of important sources.
Further, you’ll waste time and resources focussing on the wrong parts of the digital ecosystem since you’ll need to guess how much influence each of them has in Google’s Knowledge Algorithms.
Pro Tip: The Kalicube Pro SaaS platform typically finds about 40% more referring sources than other platforms (or even a manual search), prioritises them algorithmically, and saves you hours of tedious manual work.
Here is a case study of compiling a digital ecosystem manually vs using Kalicube Pro.
How Does an Entity Executive Summary Fit into Brand SERP Optimisation and Knowledge Panel Management?
Google still focuses on text-based content. Therefore, a clear and concise Entity Executive Summary is fundamental to giving Google a basic understanding of your Entity and help it navigate your longer Entity Description – both of which are hugely influential in Google’s Knowledge Algorithms.
The Entity Executive Summary is therefore fundamental to Brand SERP Optimisation and Knowledge Panel Management. A well-written Entity Executive Summary conveys basic facts to Google:
- Who /what the entity is
- What the entity offers
- What audience the entity serves
These three pieces of information are the foundation on which Google builds both the Brand SERP and Knowledge Panel.
If the Entity Executive Summary confirms what Google already understands, it reassures Google’s Knowledge Algorithms and increases its confidence in its understanding.
If the Entity Executive Summary contradicts what Google has understood, then it can alter Google’s understanding of the facts. The extent a contradictory or unclear Entity Executive Summary changes Google’s understanding of the facts, or confidence in the facts will vary according to circumstances. Each case is unique.
Using the Entity Executive Summary to change Google’s perception of the entity is surprisingly effective. Of course, there are tens of thousands of moving parts that need to be managed, but the Entity Executive Summary is the most important.
Pro Tip: At Kalicube, we have been helping our clients communicate effectively with search engines and optimise their brand on Google for over 10 years. In that time, we have learned one simple fact: we get the best results when the first (big) focus is to define the perfect Entity Executive Summary. From there, we can reliably develop a full and effective strategy for our clients that will ensure they have the control of how Google and Bing present the brand or person across all their platforms.
Do you want to build your Knowledge Panel using The Kalicube Process?
Free DIY option: download our free Knowledge Panel checklist, where Knowledge Panel expert Jason Barnard reveals how we use the Kalicube Process to trigger and manage Knowledge Panels for our clients.
Kalicube’s Knowledge Panel Checklist Free Download >>
If you need help for getting your Knowledge Panel, Kalicube offers a package consultancy + SaaS deal or a Done-for-You services.
