Entity SEO, Topical Authority and Information Gain in the Age of AI Searches - BrightonSEO 2026

by Felipe Bazon

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speakerdeck.com/felipebazon @FelipeBazon @FelipeBazon

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speakerdeck.com/felipebazon @FelipeBazon @FelipeBazon

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speakerdeck.com/felipebazon @FelipeBazon @FelipeBazon

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speakerdeck.com/felipebazon @FelipeBazon @FelipeBazon

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DO YOU KNOW ANY OF THESE BRANDS?

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“MOVING FORWARD, ENTITY SEO IN COMBINATION WITH TOPICAL AUTHORITY AND INFORMATION GAIN ARE MY BIGGEST BETS TO SUCCEED IN AN AI OVERVIEWS WORLD.”

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https://speakerdeck.com/felipebazon/topical-authority-in-the-age-of-entity-seo-brightonseo-san-diego

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@Felipe_Bazon Were Mystic Bazon’s Predictions on the mark?

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Were Mystic Bazon’s Predictions on the mark? @Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon Were Mystic Bazon’s Predictions on the mark?

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@Felipe_Bazon Were Mystic Bazon’s Predictions on the mark?

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THE MODERN SEO TRIAD • ENTITY OPTIMISATION • TOPICAL AUTHORITY • INFORMATION GAIN

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Source: The Keyword by Google @Felipe_Bazon

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Keywords alone no longer dominate Seo Since then … @Felipe_Bazon

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Keywords alone no longer dominate Seo Backlinks Became Less Influential. Since then … @Felipe_Bazon

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Keywords alone no longer dominate Seo Backlinks Became Less Influential. Ux became an integral part of Seo Since then … @Felipe_Bazon

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Keywords alone no longer dominate Seo Backlinks Became Less Influential. Ux became an integral part of Seo Google evolved towards understanding topics, concepts and entities. Since then … @Felipe_Bazon

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Entity SEO Entity SEO is the technique of reducing ambiguity around a brand so that search engines and AI systems understand it as an entity—rather than just text. In practice, this means making it clear who the brand is, what it does, which topics it should be associated with, and which signals underpin its legitimacy within the digital ecosystem. It is the brand's transition from "string" to "thing" mode. @Felipe_Bazon

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Entity Optimisation Entity Optimsation + Topical Authority + Information Gain "If we view Entity SEO, Topical Authority, and Information Gain as the holy trinity of search in 2026, then Entity Optimisation is the bedrock they all sit on. Without a clear graph-based identity, your authority has no anchor." @Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon Entity Disambiguation [Hedgehog] Query Term {Hedgehog (animal) Spiny mammal Eulipotyphlan family Erinaceinae Hedgehog (agency) Company Organisation LTD Hedgehog (band) Beijing Rock Band Related Entities Mammals Domesticated animals Nocturnal animals Related Entities Marketing Digital Marketing SEO Related Entities Chinese Rock Indie Rock Rock n’ Roll Context Determines Entity Selection Hedgehog Species (Animal) Hedgehog Digital (Agency) Hedgehog Lyrics (Band)

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Unique Identifier: An ID that Distinguishes Hedgehog (animal] From Hedgehog (agency) Each Entry on the Knowledge Graph Has: @Felipe_Bazon Define Properties: Specific Attributes to each Entity type (Business Concept, Seo Agency) Relationship to other entities: Connections that provide context (animal, Agency, concept)

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Wikidata and wikipedia itself Knowledge Graph Draws Information From: @Felipe_Bazon Licensed datasets Structured data extracted from Crawled pages References from other Authoritative Entities

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“IDENTITY CHECK: HAS YOUR BRAND TRANSITIONED FROM A SEARCH STRING TO A RESOLVED KNOWLEDGE GRAPH ENTITY?”

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Source: Kalicube Knolwedge Graph Explorer @Felipe_Bazon

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Source: Kalicube Knolwedge Graph Explorer @Felipe_Bazon

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Hedgehog’s Knowledge Panel @Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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Google Knowledge Graph aPI (GKG] Alternative way to check Entities @Felipe_Bazon

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“DOES A RESOLVED ENTITY STATUS WITHIN GOOGLE’S KNOWLEDGE GRAPH GENUINELY CATALYSE PERFORMANCE, OR IS IT A MERELY SEMANTIC WINDOW DRESSING?”

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@Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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Source: Semrush Position Tracking @Felipe_Bazon

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“ARE YOU AN ENTITY WITHIN GOOGLE KNOWLEDGE GRAPH?”

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Source: Kalicube Knolwedge Graph Explorer @Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon Source: https://kalicube.com/learning-spaces/faq-list/the-kalicube-process/how-does-the-kalicube-process-work/

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“IN PRACTICE, ENTITY SEO SYNTHESISES THE ELEMENTS THAT ENABLE SEARCH ENGINES AND AI TO CONSTRUCT A CLEARER, MORE CONSISTENT, AND MORE SEMANTICALLY PRECISE PROFILE OF A BRAND—SPANNING EVERYTHING FROM STRUCTURED DATA AND INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE TO CONTENT, BACKLINK PROFILES, AND EXTERNAL SIGNALS OF LEGITIMACY.”

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“HOWEVER, CLARITY OF IDENTITY IS NOT A PANACEA. ONCE THE SYSTEM RESOLVES WHO THE BRAND IS, IT MUST THEN DETERMINE WHICH THEMES IT SHOULD BE MAPPED TO, AND WITHIN WHICH TERRITORIES IT HOLDS THE AUTHORITY TO EXCEL. THIS IS PRECISELY WHERE TOPICAL AUTHORITY ENTERS THE FRAY.”

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Topical Authority Topic Authority refers to the perceived level of expertise, trustworthiness and depth that a website or content creator conveys in relation to a speci fi c subject or fi eld. Building this authority means consistently producing high-quality, in-depth content that comprehensively addresses the various aspects of a topic — signalling to search engines that the site is a reliable source within that niche. @Felipe_Bazon

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“TOPICAL AUTHORITY IS AN ADVANCED SEO METHODOLOGY USED TO ESTABLISH VALIDATED EXPERT STATUS ACROSS ONE OR MORE DEFINED THEMES BY METICULOUSLY CULTIVATING CONTENT BREADTH AND DEPTH. ACQUIRING THIS AUTHORITY IS A PREREQUISITE FOR CAPTURING TOP-TIER SERP VISIBILITY AND CHANNELING QUALIFIED TRAFFIC FROM HIGH-VELOCITY, COMMERCIAL INTENT KEYWORDS.”

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“IN THE AGE OF AI SEARCHES, TOPICAL AUTHORITY IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO POSITION A SITE AS THE DEFINITIVE, TRUSTED SOURCE WITHIN A SPECIFIC NICHE.”

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@Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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Source: Semrush Position Tracking @Felipe_Bazon

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Source: Semrush Position Tracking @Felipe_Bazon

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Source: Semrush Position Tracking @Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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Content Breadth @Felipe_Bazon

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Content Depth @Felipe_Bazon

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How to Build Topical Authority Start with a Topical Map of you Niche @Felipe_Bazon

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How to Build Topical Authority @Felipe_Bazon

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How to Build Topical Authority Start with a Topical Map of you Niche Conduct an Entity Research of your Brand, Products and Authors. @Felipe_Bazon

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How to Build Topical Authority Start with a Topical Map of you Niche Conduct an Entity Research of your Brand, Products and Authors. Create Content Hubs or Clusters (pilar Pages, Supporting ARticles, Industry REsearches and Videos) @Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon

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How to Build Topical Authority Sindicate through your Brand Social Media Channels Forget Domain Authority and focus on Entity Link building Go beyond links and start giving more weight to Unlinked Brand Mentions @Felipe_Bazon

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ENTITY SEO & TOPICAL AUTHORITY: A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP

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How topical Authority enhance Entities By Building Connections between content pieces and Entities. By Leveraging entities to Signal Deep Expertise within a topic. By assuring E.e.a.t signals of authors that are entities within GKP.

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“BEING A RECOGNIZED ENTITY AND HAVING TOPICAL AUTHORITY JUST GETS YOU AN INVITE TO THE PARTY. BUT IF YOU WANT TO BE THE PERSON EVERYONE IS LISTENING TO, YOU NEED INFORMATION GAIN. YOU NEED TO TELL THE SYSTEM SOMETHING IT DOESN'T ALREADY KNOW. OTHERWISE, YOU'RE JUST ECHOING THE LLM'S OWN TRAINING DATA BACK TO IT."

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Information Gain Information Gain is the metric used to quantify the unique incremental value a piece of content provides over existing web resources. In the AI era, Google’s algorithms increasingly prioritise "divergent value"— rewarding content that fi lls informational gaps with unique insights rather than simply echoing the consensus.

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Source: Animalz @Felipe_Bazon

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Intro to Information Gain Score Source: Google's Patent @Felipe_Bazon

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Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9990421B2/en @Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon Source: https://www.kopp-online-marketing.com/the-evolution-of-search-from-phrase-indexing-to-generative-passage-retrieval

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Empirical Proof that Information gain is used @Felipe_Bazon

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Empirical Proof that Information gain is used @Felipe_Bazon

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Information Gain: Engineering content value Execute a "consensus gap analysis”: what everyone repeats vs. what remains unanswered. Embed original evidence: include primary data, proprietary frameworks, experimental results and case studies. @Felipe_Bazon

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Write for selection and citation: craft precise snippets that encapsulate your unique differentiation Move beyond the “how to” to delivery decision criteria, constraints and trade-offs @Felipe_Bazon Information Gain: Engineering content value

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Published: March 3, 2024 @Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon Published: February 22, 2024

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@Felipe_Bazon Published: October 19, 2023

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@Felipe_Bazon Published: September 3, 2024

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@Felipe_Bazon

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@Felipe_Bazon Published: September 3, 2024

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@Felipe_Bazon Published: August 30, 2024

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“HOW ABOUT GEO? AREN’T YOU GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT?”

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THE MODERN SEO TRIAD • ENTITY OPTIMISATION • TOPICAL AUTHORITY • INFORMATION GAIN

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“"THE SYNERGY BETWEEN THESE THREE PILLARS CREATES AN IMPENETRABLE SEO MOAT. IF ENTITY SEO IS YOUR PASSPORT AND TOPICAL AUTHORITY IS YOUR PERMIT TO TRAVEL, INFORMATION GAIN IS THE UNIQUE STORY YOU TELL WHEN YOU ARRIVE."”