Jason Barnard at YoastCon 2019: How the Knowledge Graph Sparked the Era of Algorithmic Understanding

In February 2019, Jason Barnard, CEO and founder of Kalicube, took the stage at YoastCon in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, to talk about something most marketers hadn’t yet considered: the Knowledge Graph.

His session, “The Knowledge Graph: What Is It? How Does It Work? How Do You Get In?”, established the idea that a brand’s authority and success would increasingly depend on algorithmic understanding, a concept he would later expand upon in The Kalicube Process™.

Organized by Yoast BV, the conference gathered some of the world’s leading SEO and digital marketing experts. Jason shared the stage with names like Joost de Valk (who he would later assist in building his personal website) and Jono Alderson, but his contribution stood out for its foresight. He demystified how Google builds its internal map of facts - its Knowledge Graph - and showed how businesses could actively shape that understanding, rather than leaving it to chance.

The Path to Algorithmic Clarity Begins with Entity Optimization.

Jason’s presentation at YoastCon 2019 was based on the strategic shift from keyword-centric SEO to an Entity-based search model, recognizing that Google was no longer just indexing pages; it was building knowledge and defining Entities. The goal was no longer to “rank” but to be understood.

This was the seed of what Kalicube now calls Entity Optimization - the art and science of ensuring algorithms correctly comprehend who an entity is, what it does, and why it matters.

That same strategic foundation now powers Phase 1 of The Kalicube Process - the Understandability Phase™:

Establish the Facts: This involves explicitly using Structured Data (Schema Markup) to communicate clear, factual statements to machines - speaking the Native Language of Algorithms that they are designed to understand.
Build the Anchor: This process creates a definitive Entity Home, the brand’s single source of truth online - the specific page where Google’s Knowledge Extraction Algorithm begins its understanding.
Achieve Validation: This foundational work is strengthened through consistent Corroboration from trusted third-party sources, earning the algorithm’s Algorithmic Confidence and leading to the Knowledge Panel Tipping Point.

This is how a brand moves from ambiguity to comprehension - from being seen as a set of pages to being recognized as a trusted, identifiable Entity.

Why YoastCon 2019 Marked a Turning Point for Kalicube’s AI Strategy

Jason’s talk at YoastCon 2019 was a prophetic moment that unveiled the future of marketing: the Age of Algorithmic Clarity. The Knowledge Graph, as the definitive source of factual understanding, underpins how AI Assistive Engines like Google AI Overviews, Bing Copilot, and ChatGPT operate today. When a brand’s factual identity is established in this database, the AI stops guessing and starts presenting an accurate, authoritative AI Résumé.

The full Kalicube Process is a direct evolution of this insight:

The Understandability Phase ensures machines know who the brand is.
The Credibility Phase™ ensures they Trust what the brand says, by reinforcing NEEATT (Notability, Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness, and Transparency).
The Deliverability Phase™ ensures they Recommend the brand confidently.

This is no longer optional. As AI Assistive Engines reshape the customer journey, brands that fail to engineer this understanding risk disappearing from the algorithmic conversation altogether.

Learn how your brand can achieve Algorithmic Clarity - the foundation of authority, visibility, and trust in the age of AI. Book a call with Jason Barnard today.

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