KGMID and Knowledge Graph: a glossary
KGMID
Also written as Knowledge Graph Machine ID.
What is KGMID?
A KGMID is the unique identifier Google assigns to an entity in its Knowledge Graph, and it is the key every fact, attribute and knowledge panel about that entity connects back to.
Who uses the term KGMID?
KGMID is Google's own term, exposed in the kgmid URL parameter and in the Knowledge Graph Search API. It is used by entity SEO practitioners and by anyone auditing how Google resolves a brand.
The same identifier is sometimes called a KGID, an entity ID, or simply a machine ID. All four name the same string.
How does KGMID differ from related terms?
A KGMID identifies an entity. A URL identifies a page. The whole shift the book describes is that Google increasingly reasons about the first rather than the second.
IDs beginning /m/ are older, inherited from the Freebase database Google acquired. IDs beginning /g/ are ones Google has created since. The prefix indicates origin, not quality.
What does KGMID SEO: Claim Your Entity Before Google Defines It for You say about KGMID?
The book's framing is that the string itself is meaningless to humans but to Google's systems it IS the entity, the single key every fact, attribute, relationship and panel connects back to. Its blunt version: having an ID means Google recognises you as a thing, and not having one means you exist to Google only as words on pages, which in the entity era is barely existing at all.