ontology.courses

Entities and knowledge graphs, explained for marketers

Ontology Courses is a free set of short lessons on entities and knowledge graphs. Search engines and AI assistants don't just match keywords; they try to work out which real-world thing a page is about. These lessons explain how that works and what a business can do so it is recognised as one clear entity, not several confusing ones.

Each lesson takes about five minutes, starts with the short answer, and links to the official documentation it relies on. Read them in order or jump to the one you need.

Lessons

1. What is an entity?Things, not strings: why search engines think in entities. 2. Knowledge graph basicsHow entities and their relationships are stored, and what Google's Knowledge Graph is. Bonus. Google Knowledge PanelWhat the panel is, where its facts come from, and how to correct them. 3. sameAs: linking your profilesThe one property that ties your website to your other profiles. 4. How name variants split a businessWhat happened to businesses with inconsistent names in 395 AI answers. 5. Wikidata for businessesWhen a business belongs on Wikidata, and when it doesn't.
Want this done for your business? Neural Command audits how search engines and AI assistants understand your brand. See NRLC.ai.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ontology Courses?
Ontology Courses is a free set of short lessons on entities and knowledge graphs for marketers, business owners and developers, built and maintained by Neural Command, LLC and written by Joel Maldonado.
Is Ontology Courses free?
Yes. Each lesson is free and takes about five minutes. The lessons start with the short answer and link to the official documentation they rely on.
Who writes the lessons?
Joel Maldonado, who leads SEO and AI search at a global domain registrar and runs NRLC.ai, an AI search and visibility consultancy.
Where should I start?
Start with 'What is an entity?', then 'Knowledge graph basics'. After that, the sameAs and name-variant lessons show the two mistakes that split businesses into several entities in AI answers.