Entity Mapping & Topical Authority

What It Does

Entity Mapping discovers all the related entities your audience searches for when exploring your niche. By mapping 30-50 entities across 7 semantic categories, you build a complete knowledge graph that guides content creation for topical authority. The system tracks which entities you have covered, identifies gaps, and prioritizes opportunities based on search volume and competitive difficulty.

Where to find it: Intelligence > Topic Intelligence

Understanding Entities

Entities are specific, identifiable concepts that search engines recognize as distinct objects in a knowledge graph. Unlike keywords (which are just text strings), entities represent real-world things that Google connects semantically.

Examples of entities vs. keywords:

| Keyword | Entity |
|---------|--------|
| "swimwear" | Colombian swimwear industry |
| "fashion" | Medellín textile manufacturing hub |
| "celebrity style" | Ashley Graham (body positivity advocate) |

When you create content about entities, you signal to search engines that you understand the topic at a deeper level. This builds topical authority — making you more likely to rank for related queries even if you do not explicitly target them.

The Seven Entity Categories

ILLIXIS maps entities across 7 categories to ensure comprehensive topical coverage:

| Category | Description | Example |
|----------|-------------|---------|
| Geographic | Physical locations relevant to your topic | "Medellín textile industry" |
| Historical | Evolution and key events in your topic's development | "History of sustainable fashion" |
| Scientific/Technical | Research, materials, processes, technology | "ECONYL regenerated nylon" |
| Cultural | Traditions, practices, social significance | "Body positivity movement" |
| People | Key figures, influencers, experts | "Stella McCartney (sustainable designer)" |
| Adjacent Industries | Related sectors and crossover topics | "Athleisure market trends" |
| Seasonal/Temporal | Time-based relevance and event-driven aspects | "Swimwear trends spring 2025" |

Viewing Your Topic Maps

Step 1: Access Topic Intelligence

Navigate to Intelligence > Topic Intelligence from the left sidebar. If this is your first visit, ILLIXIS automatically creates entity maps from your Core Head Term and Brainstorm Themes configured during onboarding.

Step 2: Review the Dashboard

The dashboard shows:

• Stats Grid — Total maps, total entities, covered entities, and overall coverage percentage
• Primary Topic — Your main entity map based on your Core Head Term
• Theme Maps — Additional maps from your configured brainstorm themes
• Drill-Down Maps — Auto-expanded maps created when you cover strategic entities
• Custom Maps — Manual topics you have added

Step 3: Check Processing Status

New maps take 2-3 minutes to process. An alert banner shows when maps are still processing. Refresh the page to see updates.

Step 4: Review Coverage Scores

Each map card shows:

• Coverage meter — Visual progress bar showing percent covered
• Entity count — "X/Y entities" showing covered vs total
• Status badge — Ready, Discovering, or Analyzing

Green coverage bars indicate 50%+ coverage (strong authority). Yellow indicates 20-50% (growing). Red indicates under 20% (opportunity area).

Exploring an Entity Map

Click any map card to view its detail page.

Coverage Overview

The circular coverage chart shows your overall coverage score. Stats below show total entities, covered count, uncovered count, and high-priority opportunities.

Priority Opportunities

The Priority Opportunities section lists the top 10 uncovered entities ranked by composite priority score:

• Search volume — Higher volume = higher priority (0-40 points)
• Keyword difficulty — Lower difficulty = higher priority (0-20 points)
• Competitor gap — Competitors rank but you do not = higher priority (0-30 points)
• Category bonus — Scientific/historical entities get extra points (0-10 points)

Each opportunity shows:

• Entity name
• Suggested content angle
• Monthly search volume (if available)
• Priority score (0-100)

Entities by Category

Expand any category accordion to see all entities in that group. Each entity shows:

• Entity name
• Content angle (suggested article approach)
• Search volume (monthly)
• Coverage status (Uncovered, Partial, Covered, Skipped)

Building Topical Authority

Topical authority grows when you systematically cover entities across your knowledge graph. Follow this strategy:

1. Prioritize High-Impact Entities First

Focus on entities with:

• Priority score 60+
• Search volume 1,000+/month
• Keyword difficulty under 50

These represent the best ROI opportunities.

2. Cover All Categories

Do not focus only on one category. Authority comes from demonstrating breadth of expertise. Aim for at least 2-3 covered entities per category.

3. Create Comprehensive Pillar Content

When you cover a high-priority entity, create comprehensive pillar content (1,500+ words) that could itself spawn child entities. ILLIXIS automatically creates drill-down maps for strategic entities you cover.

4. Track Coverage Progression

Check your coverage score weekly. Target:

• Month 1: 15-20% coverage
• Month 3: 35-45% coverage
• Month 6: 60%+ coverage

Creating Content from Gaps

From the Priority Opportunities Section

1. Find a high-priority uncovered entity
2. Click Create Brief
3. ILLIXIS creates a Custom Brief pre-populated with:

• Entity name as the target keyword
• Content angle as the detailed prompt
• Relevance context for the writer

4. You are redirected to the brief detail page

From the Category Accordion

1. Expand a category
2. Find an uncovered entity
3. Click the + button on the entity row
4. Brief is created as above

Handling Duplicates

If a similar brief already exists, ILLIXIS shows a modal with options:

• View Existing — Go to the existing brief
• Create Anyway — Create a new brief with a unique suffix
• Cancel — Return to the map

Skipping Irrelevant Entities

Not every discovered entity will be relevant to your brand. Skip entities that do not fit:

1. Click the X button on an entity row
2. Entity status changes to "Skipped"
3. Coverage calculations exclude skipped entities
4. Skipped entities can be restored via the Undo button in the category view

Skip entities that are:

• Off-brand or irrelevant to your audience
• Too competitive for your current authority level
• Already covered by competitors in ways you cannot differentiate

Adding Custom Topics

Click Add Topic to explore new semantic territories:

1. Enter a topic name (e.g., "Sustainable Fashion Materials")
2. Click Add Topic
3. ILLIXIS discovers 30-50 entities for this topic
4. A new Custom Map appears in your dashboard

Add custom topics when:

• Expanding into adjacent niches
• Responding to industry trends
• Targeting new audience segments
• Exploring topics your competitors have missed

Refreshing Coverage Analysis

Coverage status updates automatically when you:

• Create a brief from an entity
• Publish content matching an entity name

To manually refresh coverage:

1. Open an entity map detail page
2. Click Refresh in the header
3. ILLIXIS re-analyzes your content library against all entities
4. Priority scores and search volumes update

Refresh after bulk publishing or importing external content.

Automation Schedule

Entity maps refresh automatically based on your plan:

| Plan | Coverage Refresh | Entity Re-discovery |
|------|------------------|---------------------|
| Enterprise | Weekly | Monthly |
| Professional | Biweekly | Quarterly |
| Starter | Monthly | On-demand only |

Coverage analysis runs on Sundays at 3:00 AM to update which entities have been addressed by new content.

Tips for Best Results

• Start with your Core Head Term — Your primary topic map is most important for authority building
• Target 60%+ coverage for your primary map — This demonstrates comprehensive expertise to search engines
• Do not skip scientific/technical entities — These often have lower competition and establish credibility
• Check competitor coverage — Entities your competitors have not covered represent differentiation opportunities
• Use content angles as-is — The suggested angles are optimized for search intent

Related Features

• Content Gaps — Flat list view of all uncovered entities across all maps
• Topic Clusters — Visualization of how your existing content naturally groups by theme
• Strategy Hub — Entity gap opportunities appear alongside other content signals
• Semantic Clustering — Find similar content for internal linking opportunities