Entity SEO for Google AI Overviews (AIO) in 2025: A Beginner’s Guide

Tony Yan

·September 4, 2025

·8 min read

If you’ve felt overwhelmed by “entity SEO” and confused about how Google’s AI Overviews (AIO) pick sources, you’re not alone. The good news: you don’t need a Wikipedia page or a big brand budget to start showing up. With a few clear steps, you can make your site easier for Google’s AI systems to understand and cite.

In this guide, we’ll explain entities in plain English, show how AIO chooses links, and give you a simple 7‑day plan to get your entity foundations in place—without drowning in jargon.

Start here: What’s an “entity” and why does it matter for AIO?

In simple terms, an entity is a distinct “thing”—a person, company, product, place, or idea—that Google can uniquely identify and connect to related facts.
Think of it like a profile for a “thing,” not just a keyword. Keywords are the words we type; entities are the specific, identifiable concepts behind those words.

Google’s Knowledge Graph stores these entities and their relationships, using schema.org types behind the scenes. Google explains that its Knowledge Graph organizes “real-world entities like people, places, and things” and uses schema.org types in tooling like the Knowledge Graph Search API, documented by Google in 2025 in the Knowledge Graph Search API overview.

Why this matters in 2025: AI Overviews use advanced models to summarize answers and then show “prominent web links” to help people dive deeper. Google stated in 2025 that AI Overviews appear when they’ll be most helpful and that they expose links to relevant sites for exploration in the May 2025 Google Product Blog update on AI Overviews. If your content clearly represents the right entities (and is trustworthy), you’re more likely to be one of those cited links.

How AI Overviews pick links (plain-English version)

Google doesn’t publish a ranking formula for AIO citations, but several signals are consistently emphasized:

Relevance and clarity: Your page answers the query directly and is easy to interpret.
Trust and helpfulness: You show who wrote it, when it was updated, and support claims with evidence.
Structured understanding: Clean site structure and structured data help machines parse your content.

In 2025, Google notes that AI features can identify supporting pages during response generation and show a “wider and more diverse set” of helpful links compared to classic results, per the Google Search Central AI features documentation (2025). Google also shared in 2024 that links selected for AI Overviews can receive more clicks than traditional listings for the same query in the May 2024 Google Product Blog post on generative AI in Search.

Build your entity foundation (the fastest wins)

You can make big progress with a few basics most sites overlook.

Create or clean up your “about” signals

Add a clear About page (who you are), a Contact page, and for local businesses, full NAP (Name, Address, Phone) in your footer.
Keep NAP consistent with your Google Business Profile and key directories. Google’s guidance and community help emphasize consistency for local relevance; start with the Local Business structured data guide (2025) from Google.

Add Organization (or Person) schema with sameAs

Use JSON-LD in a script tag to declare your primary entity and connect it to official profiles (LinkedIn, X/Twitter, YouTube, Google Business Profile, Crunchbase, etc.). Google’s structured data overview explains how JSON-LD helps Search understand content in the Structured data intro from Google (2025).

Example: Organization

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Example Bakery",
  "url": "https://www.examplebakery.com",
  "logo": "https://www.examplebakery.com/logo.png",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/examplebakery",
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/examplebakery",
    "https://maps.google.com/?cid=1234567890"
  ]
}

Mark up authorship and articles

Add Person schema for your authors and BlogPosting/Article schema for posts. Include author name, a unique author URL/bio page, and dates. See Google’s article recommendations in the Article structured data guide (2025).

Example: Author (Person)

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Alex Rivera",
  "url": "https://www.example.com/authors/alex-rivera",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://x.com/alexrivera",
    "https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrivera"
  ]
}

Try this (5–10 minutes):

Paste your homepage URL into the Google Rich Results Test (2025). Fix any errors it flags.
If you use WordPress, confirm your SEO plugin is outputting Organization and Article schema correctly, then re-test.

Connect to the wider web of entities (without chasing Wikipedia)

Wikidata and Wikipedia can help machines disambiguate your entity. But many small brands aren’t yet notable for Wikipedia. That’s okay—don’t force it.
If you are notable, learn the basics before editing. Wikidata has clear intros and notability rules in the Wikidata: Introduction (current in 2025) and Wikidata: Notability policy (2025).
If you’re not notable, focus on official profiles (LinkedIn page, Crunchbase, Google Business Profile), industry directories, and consistent “sameAs” links from your Organization schema. These establish identity and connections the Knowledge Graph can use.

Mini-checklist:

One definitive About page on your site with your official name, logo, and links to profiles
Claimed Google Business Profile (if local) and consistent NAP
2–4 reputable external profiles that match your brand name exactly

Create content that entities—and AIO—love

Think “answer-first” and “clustered topics.”

Answer-first sections: Put a 2–3 sentence plain-English answer near the top of your article, then expand. This helps both readers and AI systems quickly understand your page’s purpose.
Cite your sources: When you mention facts or definitions, cite authoritative sources. Google’s 2025 guidance on helpful, people-first content stresses clear authorship and evidence in the Creating helpful content documentation (2025) from Google.
Topic clusters and internal links: Build one pillar page per core topic, then 3–5 supporting posts that link to and from it using descriptive anchors. Google’s link best practices in 2025 say every important page should be linked from at least one other page; see the Crawlable links guidance by Google (2025).

Example topics

Local bakery cluster: “Sourdough 101” pillar plus supporting posts on starter care, proofing times, and hydration ratios; internal links between all.
B2B SaaS cluster: “Entity SEO for Beginners” pillar plus supporting posts on Organization schema, author E-E-A-T, and monitoring AIO appearances.

The schema markup that matters most (beginner set)

Focus on a small, high-impact set first.

Organization or LocalBusiness (site-wide)

For local businesses, include address and openingHours where relevant. See the Local Business structured data documentation from Google (2025).

Person (authors) and Article/BlogPosting (content)

Attach author Person to each article and keep dates accurate. See the Article structured data guide (2025) by Google.

Product (if you sell products)

Include offers, price, availability, and reviews when present. Reference the Product structured data guide (2025) from Google.

Copy/paste article example

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BlogPosting",
  "headline": "Answer-First Guide to Entity SEO",
  "image": [
    "https://www.example.com/images/entity-seo-cover-1x1.jpg",
    "https://www.example.com/images/entity-seo-cover-4x3.jpg"
  ],
  "datePublished": "2025-09-01T09:00:00+00:00",
  "dateModified": "2025-09-03T11:15:00+00:00",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Alex Rivera",
    "url": "https://www.example.com/authors/alex-rivera"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Example Media",
    "logo": {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      "url": "https://www.example.com/logo.png"
    }
  },
  "about": {
    "@type": "Thing",
    "name": "Entity SEO",
    "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization"
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage": "https://www.example.com/blog/entity-seo-answer-first"
}

Validation workflow

Test your page with the Rich Results Test by Google (2025).
Inspect the URL and monitor enhancements in Google Search Console (2025).
Keep schema in sync with visible content; mismatches can reduce trust.

Monitoring progress (and what’s realistic in 2025)

Reporting: As of mid‑2025, Google counts AI Overviews/AI Mode clicks in the main Search Console Performance reports for Web; dedicated filters are still evolving. Industry coverage in 2025 notes Google is working toward clearer reporting; see the Search Engine Land explainer on AI Mode traffic in GSC (2025) and SERoundtable coverage of AI Mode reporting updates (2025).
Manual tracking: Keep a simple log of target queries, take screenshots of AIO appearances, and note whether your pages are cited.
Iterate: When you improve entity clarity (schema, sameAs, citations), watch for gradual changes in impressions, queries, and page engagement.

Controls: If you don’t want your content used in AI Overviews

You can limit AI’s ability to quote or summarize your content by standard robots controls at the page level:

Use to prevent snippets, which also limits AI summaries.
Use noindex to keep a page out of the index entirely. Google documents these directives in the robots meta tags and X‑Robots-Tag guidance (2025) and reiterated page-level options in the 2025 robots refresher from Google Search Central.

Quick wins and common pitfalls

Quick wins

Add Organization schema with accurate sameAs links today.
Put a brief answer box at the top of key articles and add author bylines.
Create one pillar page and link 3–5 supporting posts to it with descriptive anchors.

Pitfalls to avoid

Chasing Wikipedia notability before you’re ready—focus on official profiles and directories first, aligning with the Wikidata notability rules (2025).
Misusing FAQPage schema on pages that aren’t true FAQs; keep markup aligned with Google’s FAQPage documentation (2025).
Publishing thin, AI-only content without clear authorship or evidence. Google’s 2025 guidance on helpful content stresses originality and transparency in the Search Essentials and helpful content pages (2025).

Mini case examples (so you can picture it)

Local bakery: Adds LocalBusiness schema, verifies Google Business Profile, standardizes NAP in the footer, publishes an “Hours and Menu” page, and a short FAQ on pickup times. A pillar page on “How to store sourdough” links to 4 supporting posts. Result: clearer entity signals and better eligibility for local and informational AIO queries, following the Local Business structured data guide (2025) by Google.
SaaS blog: Publishes an answer-first guide on “What is entity SEO,” with Article and Person schema, cites authoritative Google docs, and interlinks a pillar plus supporting posts. They validate in the Rich Results Test (2025) from Google and watch GSC for query growth.

7‑day micro‑plan (30–45 minutes/day)

Day 1: Baseline audit

List your official name, URL, logo, and social profiles. Note inconsistencies to fix.
Action: Create/refresh About and Contact pages.

Day 2: Organization/Person schema

Add Organization schema site-wide; add Person schema for each author.
Action: Include sameAs to 2–4 authoritative profiles.

Day 3: Article basics and answer-first

Pick 2 articles. Add a 2–3 sentence answer near the top; add/update byline, publish and updated dates.
Action: Validate in the Rich Results Test (2025).

Day 4: Topic cluster

Choose one pillar topic; outline 3–5 supporting posts.
Action: Add internal links both directions (supporting ↔ pillar). Use descriptive anchor text; see Google’s internal linking best practices (2025).

Day 5: Local or product specifics

Local: Add LocalBusiness schema and ensure NAP in footer and Contact page.
Product: Add Product schema with offers, price, and availability.
Action: Re-test key pages; monitor Search Console.

Day 6: Source citations and E‑E‑A‑T

Add 1–2 authoritative citations to each key article. Make author bios clear.
Action: Review Google’s helpful content guidance (2025) and align.

Day 7: Monitor and log

Check GSC trends and manually review AIO appearances for 3–5 target queries.
Action: Record a before/after snapshot and list next fixes.

Quick self-check before you publish

Do your Organization and author pages exist and match your schema?
Are sameAs links accurate and consistent across profiles?
Does each important article have a clear, 2–3 sentence answer near the top?
Did you validate structured data without errors or critical warnings?
Are pillar and supporting posts interlinked with descriptive anchors?
Did you cite at least one reputable, primary source where you make claims?

Wrap-up

Entity SEO isn’t about gaming AI—it’s about being unambiguous about who you are, what each page covers, and how it connects to trusted knowledge on the web. Start with your entity foundations (Organization/Person schema, sameAs, clean About/Contact), write answer-first content with real citations, then validate and iterate. That’s enough to put you on AIO’s radar—and it’s absolutely achievable for beginners in 2025.