Valuable Online Real Estate Available for FREE
Google users are noticing more and more knowledge panels when searching for their favorite artists, writers or companies. What’s a knowledge panel? It is the expanded section on the right-hand side of the Google result, and over the past year, Google is showing the knowledge panel more frequently. The knowledge panel is made up of a collection of aggregated information (dates, names, biographical details, net worths, popular songs, etc) found on 3rd party sites.
Knowledge Panel Getting Stronger
Google released the Knowledge Panel, aka KP, in 2012, but has been showing it more and more in SERPs over the past year. It is now one of the most valuable pieces of internet real estate a person or business can control, especially when using it in conjunction with a reputation management/building campaign. Here are the two steps to claim and make changes to a Google Knowledge Panel.
Claiming a Google Knowledge Panel
Claiming a KP is done through a verification process and can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Google requires a valid governmental ID and proof of control for the social media accounts related to the person or business cited in the existing generated Knowledge Panel. FYI – a panel can not be CREATED, only CLAIMED. It must already be created by the Google Algorithm and then claimed through Google’s required process. Information from Google about how to claim an existing KP is available here.
Verifying a Google Knowledge Panel
Once verified, changing information can also be an unfamiliar process since no information can be directly edited and changed instantly. Changing the information is done through a ‘suggest an edit’ submission by the verified Google account that controls that knowledge panel. All edits submitted (that can or will be approved) have to be cited elsewhere on the internet from a 3rd party source, much like the Wikipedia process of editing information on a verified page. Items that are available to change using this process are shown below.
