Entity SEO, Topical Authority and information Gain in the Age of Ai Searches

SEO is finally about SEO. But it’s not SEO anymore. In this session, presented at Digital Marketing Conference Europe, I explore how the foundations of search have fundamentally shifted in the age of AI-powered discovery.

Search is no longer just about ranking pages. It’s about being understood, selected and cited by systems that generate answers.

Drawing from real-world case studies across highly competitive markets — from Brazilian retail to UK-based businesses scaling internationally — this presentation breaks down the three pillars that are redefining organic visibility:

Entity SEO — transforming brands from “strings” into clearly defined entities within the Knowledge Graph
Topical Authority — building depth and breadth to become the definitive source within a niche
Information Gain — delivering unique, non-commoditized insights that go beyond the consensus

Together, these form what I call the Modern SEO Triad — the foundation for succeeding not only in traditional search, but in AI-driven environments like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini and beyond .

The session also challenges outdated assumptions:

Keywords alone no longer dominate SEO
Backlinks, while still relevant, are no longer the sole driver of authority
UX, semantics and entity understanding now play a central role in performance

More importantly, it introduces a practical framework for adapting your strategy:
how to structure your brand’s digital footprint, engineer content for citation, and create an “SEO moat” that remains resilient in an AI-first search landscape.

If you’re still optimizing for rankings, you’re already behind.

This talk is about optimizing for understanding, authority and selection — the real currency of search in 2026.

Transcript

1. speakerdeck.com/felipebazon @FelipeBazon @FelipeBazon
2. “HOW TO DOMINATE ONE OF THE MOST COMPETITIVE PRODUCT CATEGORIES IN BRAZILIAN RETAIL SECTOR”
3. “HOW TO RANK A SUBDOMAIN FROM A .CO.UK CCTLD ABOVE HIGH AUTHORITATIVE DOMAINS WITH .COM.BR CCTLDS”
4. “HOW WE HELPED AN OFFICE CLEANING COMPANY FROM LONDON EXPAND THROUGHOUT THE UK WITH OVER 13 FRANCHISEES”
7. DO YOU KNOW ANY OF THESE BRANDS?
8. “MOVING FORWARD, ENTITY SEO IN COMBINATION WITH TOPICAL AUTHORITY AND INFORMATION GAIN ARE MY BIGGEST BETS TO SUCCEED IN AN AI OVERVIEWS WORLD.”
9. https://speakerdeck.com/felipebazon/topical-authority-in-the-age-of-entity-seo-brightonseo-san-diego
10. @Felipe_Bazon Were Mystic Bazon’s Predictions on the mark?
11. Were Mystic Bazon’s Predictions on the mark? @Felipe_Bazon
12. @Felipe_Bazon Were Mystic Bazon’s Predictions on the mark?
13. @Felipe_Bazon Were Mystic Bazon’s Predictions on the mark?
15. THE MODERN SEO TRIAD • ENTITY OPTIMISATION • TOPICAL AUTHORITY • INFORMATION GAIN
16. Source: The Keyword by Google @Felipe_Bazon
17. Keywords alone no longer dominate Seo Since then … @Felipe_Bazon
18. Keywords alone no longer dominate Seo Backlinks Became Less Influential. Since then … @Felipe_Bazon
19. Keywords alone no longer dominate Seo Backlinks Became Less Influential. Ux became an integral part of Seo Since then … @Felipe_Bazon
20. 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
21. 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
22. Entity Optimisation Entity Optimsation + Topical Authority + Information Gain "If we view Entity SEO, Topical Authority, and Information Gain as the holy triad 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
23. @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)
24. 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)
25. Wikidata and wikipedia itself Knowledge Graph Draws Information From: @Felipe_Bazon Licensed datasets Structured data extracted from Crawled pages References from other Authoritative Entities
26. “IDENTITY CHECK: HAS YOUR BRAND TRANSITIONED FROM A SEARCH STRING TO A RESOLVED KNOWLEDGE GRAPH ENTITY?”
27. Source: Kalicube Knolwedge Graph Explorer @Felipe_Bazon
28. Source: Kalicube Knolwedge Graph Explorer @Felipe_Bazon
29. Hedgehog’s Knowledge Panel @Felipe_Bazon
30. @Felipe_Bazon
31. @Felipe_Bazon
32. @Felipe_Bazon
33. @Felipe_Bazon
34. Google Knowledge Graph aPI (GKG] Alternative way to check Entities @Felipe_Bazon
35. “DOES A RESOLVED ENTITY STATUS WITHIN GOOGLE’S KNOWLEDGE GRAPH GENUINELY CATALYSE PERFORMANCE, OR IS IT A MERELY SEMANTIC WINDOW DRESSING?”
37. @Felipe_Bazon
38. @Felipe_Bazon
39. @Felipe_Bazon
40. @Felipe_Bazon
41. @Felipe_Bazon
42. Source: Semrush Position Tracking @Felipe_Bazon
43. “ARE YOU AN ENTITY WITHIN GOOGLE KNOWLEDGE GRAPH?”
44. Source: Kalicube Knolwedge Graph Explorer @Felipe_Bazon
45. @Felipe_Bazon
46. @Felipe_Bazon Source: https://kalicube.com/learning-spaces/faq-list/the-kalicube-process/how-does-the-kalicube-process-work/
47. “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.”
48. “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.”
49. Topical Authority Topic Authority refers to the perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and depth that a site or creator projects regarding a speci fi c subject or domain. Building this authority requires the consistent production of high-quality, long-form content that comprehensively addresses every facet of a theme—signalling to search engines that the site is the de fi nitive, trusted source within that niche. @Felipe_Bazon
50. “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.”
51. “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.”
52. @Felipe_Bazon
53. @Felipe_Bazon
54. @Felipe_Bazon
55. @Felipe_Bazon
56. Source: Semrush Position Tracking @Felipe_Bazon
57. Source: Semrush Position Tracking @Felipe_Bazon
58. Source: Semrush Position Tracking @Felipe_Bazon
59. @Felipe_Bazon
61. Content Breadth @Felipe_Bazon
62. Content Depth @Felipe_Bazon
63. How to Build Topical Authority Start with a Topical Map of you Niche @Felipe_Bazon
64. How to Build Topical Authority @Felipe_Bazon
65. 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
66. 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
67. @Felipe_Bazon
68. 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
69. ENTITY SEO & TOPICAL AUTHORITY: A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP
70. 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.
73. “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."
74. 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.
75. Source: Animalz @Felipe_Bazon
76. Intro to Information Gain Score Source: Google's Patent @Felipe_Bazon
77. Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9990421B2/en @Felipe_Bazon
78. Empirical Proof that Information gain is used @Felipe_Bazon
79. Empirical Proof that Information gain is used @Felipe_Bazon
80. 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
81. 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
82. @Felipe_Bazon Source: https://www.kopp-online-marketing.com/the-evolution-of-search-from-phrase-indexing-to-generative-passage-retrieval
83. Published: March 3, 2024 @Felipe_Bazon
84. @Felipe_Bazon Published: February 22, 2024
85. @Felipe_Bazon Published: October 19, 2023
86. @Felipe_Bazon Published: September 3, 2024
87. @Felipe_Bazon
88. @Felipe_Bazon Published: September 3, 2024
89. @Felipe_Bazon Published: August 30, 2024
90. “HOW ABOUT GEO? AREN’T YOU GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT?”
91. THE MODERN SEO TRIAD • ENTITY OPTIMISATION • TOPICAL AUTHORITY • INFORMATION GAIN
92. “"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."”
93. @Felipe_Bazon
94. @Felipe_Bazon
95. @Felipe_Bazon
96. @Felipe_Bazon
97. @Felipe_Bazon
98. “SEO IS FINALLY ABOUT SEO, BUT IT IS NOT SEO ANYMORE.”
99. THANK YOU. Felipe Bazon @FelipeBazon @Felipe_Bazon Hedgehog Digital