Entity-First Indexing
| Abbreviation / alias | Entity-First Index |
|---|---|
| Category | Retrieval / indexing concept |
| Introduced | 2018 |
| Attributed to | Cindy Krum / MobileMoxie entity home · about/bio |
| Attribution status | Explicit first-party terminology |
| Attribution confidence | High |
| Original source | mobilemoxie.com |
| Related concepts | |
| Fraggles Entity Home SEOntology Reasoning Web | |
Entity-First Indexing (Entity-First Index) is a retrieval / indexing concept used in AI SEO. An entity-centric view of indexing in which entities/relationships are organizing primitives rather than URLs alone. The term or framework is attributed to Cindy Krum / MobileMoxie and is documented in 2018.[1]
AI SEO Wiki records the attribution as Explicit first-party terminology, with a confidence rating of High. This rating concerns the documentary evidence for the term's origin; it does not imply that the underlying idea is unique to one practitioner or that the terminology has become an industry standard.[2]
Definition
An entity-centric view of indexing in which entities/relationships are organizing primitives rather than URLs alone. In practical usage, the concept is most useful when its measurement unit, observation window, source set, or decision context is stated explicitly. This is particularly important in AI-mediated search, where answers can vary between models, prompts, retrieval systems, and repeated runs.
Origin and attribution
Entity-First Indexing is attributed in the available documentary record to Cindy Krum / MobileMoxie. The registry dates the term to 2018 and classifies the evidence as Explicit first-party terminology.[1]
Foundational pre-LLM concept with direct relevance to AI retrieval/entity understanding. This qualification is retained because AI-search terminology often spreads rapidly through conference talks, social posts, vendor material, and practitioner communities before a stable publication record exists.
An additional source provides independent or supporting evidence for the terminology or attribution.[2]
Role in AI SEO
Entity-First Indexing sits in the entity, retrieval, and knowledge-representation layer of AI SEO. This layer concerns how machines identify a real-world entity, connect facts to it, retrieve relevant passages, and reconcile information across sources.
It therefore overlaps with Entity Home, SEOntology, Reasoning Web, and Entity-First Indexing.
Application and interpretation
The concept is applied by first identifying the observable behaviour it describes, then testing that behaviour across a sufficiently broad set of prompts or sources. It should be used as a model for investigation rather than as a substitute for direct evidence from the relevant search or AI system.
Related concepts
| Concept | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Fraggles | Fragments of pages that search engines can index/rank/surface independently as answer-like units. |
| Entity Home | The canonical page/source a search or AI system can use as the authoritative home for an entity's facts. |
| SEOntology | Open ontology for representing SEO concepts/relationships in machine-readable form. |
| Reasoning Web | Vision of the web as structured evidence/relationships that AI systems can reason over, not merely retrieve pages from. |
Limitations and attribution notes
The attribution evidence for Entity-First Indexing is comparatively strong, but the existence of a documented term origin does not establish that every underlying mechanism was first discovered by the named creator. Similar ideas can arise independently under different terminology.
The field itself changes rapidly. Model behaviour, retrieval systems, citation interfaces, and measurement tooling can change without the terminology changing, so operational claims should be re-tested against current systems.
See also
References
- Primary/original source for Entity-First Indexing. mobilemoxie.com. https://mobilemoxie.com/blog/the-entity-language-series-translation-and-language-apis-impact-on-search-3-of-5/.
- Creator/entity home. mobilemoxie.com. https://mobilemoxie.com/.
- Creator biography/about page. mobilemoxie.com. https://mobilemoxie.com/about/author/cindy-krum/.