What Google’s patents reveal about how rankings actually work today
Still Chasing Keywords? You’re Optimizing for the Past.
Every week I see websites still doing SEO like it’s 2011. Cramming keywords into headers, forcing awkward variations into paragraphs, and building pages that exist for no other reason than to “match the query.”
But here’s the problem:
Google hasn’t ranked pages that way in a long time.
If your SEO strategy still revolves around isolated keywords, you’re optimizing for a world that no longer exists.
Over the last decade, Google’s shift toward entities, relationships, and semantic understanding has become impossible to ignore. And if that wasn’t clear from the search results, it’s written plainly in Google’s own patents.
Semantic SEO isn’t a trend.
It isn’t “advanced.”
It isn’t optional.
It’s built into how Google’s algorithm works.
This week, I’m showing you the evidence, straight from Google’s own patents, so you understand exactly why semantic SEO works and why keyword-only SEO is less effective under modern ranking systems.
Quick Primer: What Google Actually Means by “Entities”
Before we get into patents, here’s the short, no-nonsense definition Google uses:
An entity is a real-world thing Google can uniquely identify.
A person.
A business.
A product.
A location.
A concept.
A tool.
A format.
A category.
“Apple” is a surface word that can refer to multiple different entities.
Google has to decide which entity the user meant.
- Apple Inc. is one entity.
- Apple (the fruit) is another entity.
The string is the same, but the entity interpretation is completely different.
This is why entities matter. They give Google meaning, not just text.
Where keywords are surface strings, entities are:
- stable
- unambiguous
- language-independent
- deeply connected to other entities
- rich with attributes and relationships
This is why entities power:
- the Knowledge Graph
- Google Discover
- AI Overviews
- featured snippets
- “people also ask”
- search intent interpretation
- topic grouping
- and increasingly, ranking itself
Entities let Google understand who, what, where, when, and why, not just which pages contain the words.
Keywords help Google find candidates.
Entities help Google understand what exactly those documents are about.
The Big Picture: How Google Uses Entities in Search (Supported by Patents)
When you search for something, Google isn’t simply matching words in pages. Its internal process looks a lot more like this:
Step 1: Google identifies the entity or entity type behind the query.
Is this about a person? A product? A brand? A medical condition?
This step is spelled out in Google’s entity-resolution patents.
Step 2: Google retrieves documents from authoritative sources for that entity type.
Authority isn’t just backlinks, it’s source authority for the entity, proven in multiple patents.
Step 3: Google ranks results using entity metrics, not keyword counts.
Metrics include:
- entity relevance
- authority
- popularity
- citations
- engagement
Each entity type has its own weighting.
Step 4: Google updates entity definitions dynamically.
Google learns from search behavior and new content, refining its internal entity graph.
This is the core shift:
Google ranks entities, not pages stuffed with keywords.
And it retrieves pages that best represent or support those entities.
This one shift explains why topical authority works…
Why keyword stuffing died…
Why AI-written fluff collapses…
Why internal linking is more powerful than most SEOs realize…
And why semantic structure matters more than ever.
What Google’s Patents Actually Reveal
One of the biggest misconceptions in SEO is that semantic SEO is “theory.”
It isn’t. Google has been filing entity-centered patents for over a decade, and together they form a clear picture of how modern search works.
Here are the four patents that matter most, and what they tell us.
Patent: Entity-Based Search & Resolution
US9443021B2 / US20130173639A1
This patent describes how Google takes a user query and determines:
- What entity or entity type the query is actually about (remember the note about source context?),
- Which sources are authoritative for that entity, and
- How to resolve different references to the same entity (e.g., “NYC,” “New York City,” “New York, NY”).
Key insights:
- Google doesn’t just look for keyword matches. It is looking for entity-aligned documents.
- It prioritizes sources that have demonstrated authority for the entity type behind the query.
- It normalizes variations into a single, unified entity.
Why it matters:
If your content isn’t clearly tied to an entity, or you don’t appear authoritative for that entity type, you’re invisible, no matter how many keywords you match.
Patent: Ranking Results Using Entity Metrics
WO2014089776A1
This patent is one of the clearest indications that Google ranks entities, not strings of text.
According to the patent, Google calculates a composite entity score using metrics like:
- relevance
- authority
- citations
- engagement signals
- popularity
- connections to other authoritative entities
And here’s the critical part:
Different entity types use different ranking weights.
A doctor, a restaurant, a SaaS tool, and a historical figure each require different signals to rank well.
Why it matters:
You don’t win by repeating keywords. You win by strengthening the signals that describe, support, and validate your entity.
Patent: Creating & Updating Entity Definitions Dynamically
US9146954B1
This patent reveals that Google constantly updates and enriches entity definitions based on:
- search result patterns
- user behavior
- co-occurring information
- structured and unstructured content across the web
In other words:
Your content actively teaches Google what an entity is, what attributes it has, and how it relates to other entities.
Why it matters:
This is the foundation of topical authority. Every page you publish should help Google refine the meaning of your core entities.
4.4 Patent: Entity-Based Search Retrieval
US20190068730
(This is the patent many SEOs overlook, and it’s a big mistake.)
This patent focuses on the retrieval stage of search.
Before ranking even happens, Google needs to decide which documents are worth considering.
This patent states that Google prioritizes:
- entity-rich documents
- content with clear entity relationships
- content that maps to known entity types
- content with structured or semi-structured entity information
- content that helps diversify entity representations
And it does this across multiple formats:
web pages, videos, documents, feeds, and more.
Why it matters:
You could have great content, strong backlinks, and perfect on-page optimization… yet Google may never retrieve your page for competitive queries unless it is entity-complete and contextually grounded.
This is the silent killer of keyword-first SEO.
How to Align Your SEO With Google’s Entity System (A Practical Action Plan)
Identify your core entities.
Your brand, key services/products, main topics, and key audience segments.
These form the semantic spine of your site.
Define entities clearly on-page.
Lead with clarity:
- “X is…”
- “X helps…”
- “X relates to…”
State attributes.
State purpose.
State relationships.
Use internal links to show relationships.
Link pages based on meaning, not just keywords:
- concept → subcategories
- service → use cases
- product → components
- problem → solution
This builds your site’s knowledge graph.
Cover your topic through a topical map.
Create core pages that define your main entities and supporting pages that provide context.
This eliminates gaps and strengthens entity completeness.
Strengthen your entity metrics.
Google ranks entities with proven authority.
Improve signals like:
- mentions in trusted sources
- citations
- original research or data
- expert-level guides
- tools or resources
- real-world reputation
Write content that improves Google’s understanding.
Every page should add:
- attributes
- relationships
- definitions
- context
This is how you “teach” Google what your entity is.
Final Takeaway: Stop Optimizing for Words. Start Optimizing for Meaning.
Once you see how Google actually works, keyword-first SEO stops making sense.
Google’s patents don’t describe:
- matching phrases
- counting keywords
- ranking text strings
They describe:
- entities
- relationships
- attributes
- context
- authority built through meaning, not repetition
Semantic SEO isn’t “advanced.”
It’s not some theory cooked up by thought leaders on Twitter.
It’s baked into Google’s architecture.
You either align with how Google fundamentally understands the world…
or you fight the algorithm at every turn.
Here’s the simplest way to summarize everything:
Google ranks entities, not keywords.
And it retrieves and ranks the pages that best define, support, and reinforce those entities.
That’s why topical maps matter.
That’s why internal linking matters.
That’s why source context matters.
That’s why content depth matters.
That’s why keyword-only SEO fails.
If your pages strengthen your core entities, and the relationships around them, Google will see you as the authoritative home for that topic.
If they don’t, you’re just another site repeating words.
Semantic SEO is the present and future of search.
The sooner you shift from keyword optimization to meaning optimization, the faster everything else starts to work:
- rankings
- relevance
- authority
- retrieval
- brand visibility
- trust
This is the system Google is actually using.
