Definition

Entities

Updated Feb 9, 2026

Definition

In search and NLP, entities are distinct, identifiable things (people, places, products, concepts) that systems use to understand what content is about.

Plain English

Entities are the "nouns" that search engines and LLMs recognize and connect across pages.

Why it matters

  • Consistent entity references help LLMs build accurate knowledge graphs.
  • Ambiguous entity usage confuses retrieval and summarization.
  • Clear entities improve topical relevance signals.