Google doesn't just rank your content anymore. It ranks you.
Search engines now score the person behind the content; your expertise across platforms, your credentials, whether other authorities recognize you.
When you publish consistent expertise across platforms, Google creates a knowledge entity for your name, connecting your website to your LinkedIn, guest articles, podcast appearances, and social profiles.
Google either recognizes you as credible or it doesn't. If it does, every article you publish gets an authority boost. If it doesn't, your content ranks like it was written by nobody.
The 2024 Algorithm Leak
Google's algorithm was leaked in 2024 and the code revealed how the system works: it scores your expertise by tracking your credentials, where you publish, and which authorities cite you.
The higher your score, the higher you rank.
Google scores you on E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. These four signals determine whether your content gets prioritized or buried.
The system connects your identity across every platform. When you publish an article, Google verifies whether your LinkedIn profile matches your website bio, whether your conference appearances support your claimed expertise, whether your credentials stay consistent. It tracks professional affiliations, location, name variations, and expertise areas to build a complete profile.
Strong entities make three things immediately clear: who you serve, what problem you solve, why you're credible. Vague positioning prevents entity recognition. Specific positioning builds entities that search engines can verify and rank.
Depth beats breadth in entity-based SEO
AI systems favor clear, specific expertise over broad positioning because machines can't rank what they can't categorize.
When your entity connects to one specific problem domain, competitors can't replicate your position. They'd need years of focused content to build equivalent entity strength.
Clear personal brands compound. Every article reinforces the same expertise. Every mention strengthens the same positioning. Broad personal brands require constant repositioning—market shifts force pivots, audience confusion requires explanation, and energy gets scattered across too many topics to build deep authority anywhere.
What This Means For You
Pick one expertise area and own it. If you write about brand strategy, productivity, parenting, and real estate, search engines can't build a strong entity for you. Choose the domain where you want authority. Publish everything there.
Get quoted in industry publications. One TechCrunch quote about SaaS pricing carries more weight than 50 self-published blog posts. Google tracks third-party mentions to verify expertise.
Keep your professional profiles consistent. Same job title, same headshot, same bio across LinkedIn, your website, and Twitter. Search algorithms verify you're the same person by matching these details.
Publish where your audience searches. B2B consultants need LinkedIn, not Medium. Designers need Dribbble and Behance. Developers need GitHub and Stack Overflow.
Build depth before breadth. Write 30 articles about your area of expertise before writing one article each about 30 topics. Google rewards comprehensive coverage of specific domains.
Entity building takes 12-24 months. Most entrepreneurs quit after six months. Once established, competitors can't easily overtake you because they'd need equivalent time investment to build the same recognition.
The entrepreneurs who understand entity-first optimization early will own knowledge graph positions that take competitors years to outrank.
Start building now or spend the next two years watching competitors own the positions you want.