Semantic SEO: entities, attributes and topical maps

Search engines have moved a long way from counting how often a word appears on a page. When Google introduced its Knowledge Graph in 2012, it described the shift as "things, not strings". Semantic SEO is the practical side of that idea: plan and write content around the things a topic is made of, and the questions people have about them.

What is semantic SEO?

Semantic SEO is an approach to content that focuses on meaning and coverage. Instead of targeting one keyword per page and repeating it, you work out what a topic includes, which subtopics deserve their own pages, and how those pages relate.

The goal is that a reader, and a search engine, can tell from your site that you cover a subject thoroughly: the basics, the details, the comparisons and the practical questions, each in the right place.

What are entities and attributes?

An entity is a distinct, identifiable thing: a person, a place, an organization, a product, a concept. Attributes are the facts that describe it, such as a price, a location, a size or a date.

Two practical habits follow from this. First, name entities clearly and consistently, so it is obvious what a page is about. Second, cover the attributes people care about. A page about an espresso machine that never mentions price or size leaves out what buyers want to know.

Structured data from schema.org is a way to state some of these facts in a format machines read directly, for example the name and address of a business or the author and date of an article.

What is a topical map?

A topical map is a plan of every page you need to cover a subject, grouped into sections and connected by internal links. It is the hub and spoke model written down before you start writing.

• Pillar: the broad page for the whole topic, for example "home espresso".
• Sections: the main subtopics, such as machines, beans, grinding and drinks.
• Hubs: one page that leads each section, usually the most searched subject in it.
• Articles (spokes): the specific pages under each hub, each answering one question or intent.

A good map also separates the core sections, closest to what you offer, from the outer sections that support them. Core sections usually come first, because they are where readers are most likely to become customers.

How do you build a topical map by hand?

Start from one seed topic, collect the questions and subtopics around it, group the ones that need the same page, and arrange the groups into sections.

1. Pick a seed. The topic you most want to be known for, not the broadest word you can think of.
2. Collect subtopics and questions. Look at headings on the strongest pages for the seed, the questions people ask in forums and support emails, and related searches.
3. Group by page, not by word. Two phrases belong on one page when searchers want the same thing. The most reliable test is whether the same pages rank for both; see keyword clustering by SERP overlap.
4. Form sections. Groups that share a subtopic become a section. The group with the most demand becomes its hub.
5. Mark what exists. List pages you already have. Update them rather than writing new pages for the same subject.
6. Set an order. Pillar and core hubs first, then the articles under them, then outer sections.

How should hub and spoke pages link to each other?

Link along the structure: the pillar to each hub, each hub to its articles, and each article back to its hub, the pillar and a couple of close siblings. That gives readers a path in both directions without turning every page into a link list.

• Use descriptive anchors. "How to dial in a grinder" tells a reader and a search engine more than "read more".
• Vary anchors naturally. Use the target's main phrase and close variants, written as part of a sentence.
• Keep the count sensible. A handful of well-placed contextual links does more than dozens in a footer.
• Link hubs to each other only where the subjects really connect.

How do you check that a page covers its topic?

Compare your page with what the topic requires: the entities and attributes a reader expects, the questions people ask, and what the strongest pages for that query already include.

• Does the first paragraph answer the main question directly?
• Are the key entities named, and their important attributes covered?
• Is each common question answered once, in the place a reader would look for it?
• Does the page add something the others don't, such as your own experience, examples or data?
• Does it link to the hub, the pillar and the closest related pages?

How does the Postly Rank Topical Map work?

Postly Rank's Topical Map turns a seed keyword into sections, hubs and articles, using its own search index (the Join Postly Index, built by its crawler JoinPostlyBot), not Google data.

1. You enter a seed keyword with a country and language, and optionally a site you have audited in Postly Rank.
2. It runs keyword research on the seed and picks the strongest ideas: 12 keywords per map on Free, 80 on Pro and 150 on Agency.
3. It looks at the top 10 results in the Join Postly Index for those keywords and groups keywords that share results into articles (SERP overlap).
4. Articles that share a subtopic form sections; leftovers are grouped by intent, such as questions, comparisons or pricing. The most popular article in each section becomes its hub.
5. With your business profile and an audited site, it labels sections as core or outer, and marks articles that match an existing page as "update".
6. It suggests a publishing order and an internal link plan: pillar and hubs linked both ways, each hub to its articles, and each article to the pillar and its two closest siblings, with varied anchors.

The Free plan shows the pillar and a preview of one section (2 maps a day). Paid Postly Rank plans show the full map, exports and a content calendar, and can send the map to the SEO Writer as a list of articles. Popularity and difficulty figures in the map are Join Postly Index estimates, not Google search volumes or rankings.