Definition
The Knowledge Graph is Google's store of entities and the relationships between them. Google launched it in May 2012 under the line "things, not strings", meaning it understands a query as a thing in the world rather than a string of characters. It is what sits behind knowledge panels.
Example. Search a well known business and the box on the right, with its logo, founders and social profiles, is the graph's view of that entity rendered as a panel.
You can score how clearly your brand is described as an entity with the free Entity SEO Auditor skill.
Is a knowledge panel the same as the Knowledge Graph?
A knowledge panel is not the Knowledge Graph. The graph is the data; the panel is one way Google displays part of it. You can exist in the graph with no panel, and the panel can change or disappear while the underlying entity stays.
How does a brand get into the Knowledge Graph?
A brand gets in by being described consistently enough, in enough independent places, for Google to be confident about who it is. There is no submission form. The work is an entity home, matching schema with sameAs links to the profiles you control, and corroboration from sources Google already trusts. Our entity SEO guide walks the full ladder.
How big is the Knowledge Graph?
Nobody outside Google knows its current size. The figure circulating in SEO writing, 500 million objects and 3.5 billion facts, is from the 2012 launch announcement and is quoted as though it were current more than a decade later. Treat any current number you see without a dated source as unsupported.
Google's Knowledge Graph Search API still exists, and its documentation carries a notice that the API is migrating to Cloud Enterprise Knowledge Graph, so anything built on it is worth checking before you rely on it.
Sources
- Google: Introducing the Knowledge Graph, things not strings (16 May 2012)
- Google: Knowledge Graph Search API
Last checked against these sources on 23 September 2026.