Octa Engineering Notes Christian Elías
Request for Comments: OCTA-7 octa.page
Category: Informational May 2026
JSON-LD Entity Graph for Brand Disambiguation on Minimal Sites
Abstract
How to use JSON-LD with @id, sameAs, and rel=me to establish a
coherent entity graph that disambiguates a brand sharing its name
with unrelated entities — the three-node minimum, Wikidata's role,
and what structured data cannot do.
Status of This Memo
This memo documents architecture notes for the Internet community. It
does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of
this memo is unlimited. The canonical version lives at
https://octa.page/doc/jsonld-entity-graph-brand-disambiguation/ and
the machine-readable source at
https://octa.page/doc/jsonld-entity-graph-brand-disambiguation.md
When a brand name is shared by multiple unrelated entities — a watch
retailer, a consulting firm, a capital fund — Google has no reliable
way to determine which result belongs to which entity unless the
sites themselves publish structured signals. For a minimal site with
a single indexed page, the problem is acute: no content volume, no
backlink density, no topical authority. The only lever is the entity
graph.
1. The Problem with Unnamed Entities
A JSON-LD block without "@id" is a hint. Google reads it, may or may
not associate it with a Knowledge Graph node, and continues. Two
sites publishing the same ""name": "Avelor"" with no canonical
identifier produce ambiguous signals that Google resolves arbitrarily
— usually by favoring whichever has more content or backlinks.
"@id" changes this. It declares a URI as the canonical identifier for
the entity, making the JSON-LD node addressable and linkable across
documents:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Organization",
"@id": "https://avelor.es/#organization",
"name": "Avelor"
}
Any other document that references ""@id":
"https://avelor.es/#organization"" is now making a verifiable claim
about the same node — not about a similarly-named entity.
2. The Three-Node Graph
A minimal site needs at minimum three nodes to establish a coherent
entity graph:
graph LR
WS["WebSite\n/#website"]
ORG["Organization\n/#organization"]
WP1["WebPage\n/pronunciacion#webpage"]
WP2["WebPage\n/manifesto#webpage"]
WS -->|publisher| ORG
WP1 -->|isPartOf| WS
WP1 -->|about| ORG
WP2 -->|isPartOf| WS
WP2 -->|about| ORG
"WebSite" → "Organization" via "publisher" establishes that the
domain is owned by the entity. "WebPage" → "Organization" via "about"
tells Google that each page is about the entity, not merely hosted
there. Without the "about" relation, secondary pages are just pages —
they don't strengthen entity recognition.
In practice, both the "WebSite" and "Organization" nodes live in a
single JSON-LD array on the homepage:
[
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "WebSite",
"@id": "https://avelor.es/#website",
"url": "https://avelor.es",
"name": "Avelor",
"publisher": { "@id": "https://avelor.es/#organization" }
},
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Organization",
"@id": "https://avelor.es/#organization",
"name": "Avelor",
"url": "https://avelor.es",
"foundingDate": "2018",
"logo": {
"@type": "ImageObject",
"@id": "https://avelor.es/#logo",
"url": "https://avelor.es/og-image.png",
"width": 1200,
"height": 630
},
"sameAs": [
"https://www.linkedin.com/company/avelor-es/",
"https://github.com/avelor-es",
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q139894905",
"https://wellfound.com/company/avelor"
]
}
]
3. sameAs as Cross-Domain Corroboration
"sameAs" is where external profiles become structural. Each entry is
a claim that the listed URL represents the same real-world entity.
Google cross-references these: if LinkedIn, GitHub, Wikidata, and
Wellfound all describe something called "Avelor" with "avelor.es" as
the website, the entity is corroborated from four independent
sources.
The order of "sameAs" entries doesn't matter. Coverage does. Wikidata
carries disproportionate weight because it is Google's primary source
for Knowledge Graph entities — a Wikidata entry with "P856" (official
website) pointing to the domain creates a bidirectional link that
Google can verify.
4. rel="me" as the HTML Layer
JSON-LD operates at the semantic layer. "rel="me"" operates at the
HTML layer and is processed independently by Google (and
IndieWeb-aware tools). Publishing both for the same set of profiles
removes the dependency on Google's JSON-LD parser being
authoritative:
These live in "" on every page via the shared layout, so every
URL on the domain carries the ownership signal — not just the
homepage.
5. Choosing Which Pages to Index
The standard advice for minimal brand sites is to index only the
homepage. The counterintuitive move is to index pages whose content
is about the brand name itself — even if they have no conventional
SEO value.
A pronunciation guide ("/pronunciacion") is a page whose entire
subject is the word "Avelor": its phonetics, its syllable stress, its
distinctiveness. Google indexes this as a document whose topic is the
brand name. A manifesto whose every paragraph invokes the same name
does the same. Neither page targets keywords. Both pages reinforce
entity identity.
The constraint is that these pages must not collapse the brand into a
market vertical. A "/services" page indexed with keywords like
"software consulting Mexico" creates topical associations that
constrain how Google categorizes the entity. Pages about the name,
the philosophy, the pronunciation — these are safe.
6. logo as ImageObject
Declaring "logo" as a plain URL string works but leaves resolution
ambiguous. As an "ImageObject" with explicit dimensions:
"logo": {
"@type": "ImageObject",
"@id": "https://avelor.es/#logo",
"url": "https://avelor.es/og-image.png",
"width": 1200,
"height": 630
}
Google uses the logo in the Knowledge Panel. The "@id" on the
"ImageObject" makes it referenceable from other entities if the
domain ever expands to multiple sub-brands.
7. What This Doesn't Solve
Entity graphs establish identity. They do not generate rankings for
non-branded queries. A site with one indexed page and no backlinks
will not appear for any search term that isn't the brand name itself,
regardless of how complete the structured data is.
The graph is a precondition for Knowledge Panel appearance and
branded search consolidation — nothing more. External corroboration
(editorial backlinks, directory listings, Google Business Profile) is
what converts a well-formed graph into visible search presence.
Christian Elías Informational [Page 1]