Entity Stacking: The Off-Page AEO Playbook Nobody Talks About

Most AEO content focuses on what you put on your page. The dirty secret of why some brands get cited 10× more than equally-optimized competitors is what's off the page — the entity graph that tells LLMs your brand exists, what it does, who runs it, and who vouches for it.

What is entity stacking?

Entity stacking is the practice of building a coherent, machine-readable identity for your brand and authors across the sources LLMs use to disambiguate entities — Wikipedia, Wikidata, Crunchbase, LinkedIn, GitHub, news outlets, and authoritative industry sites. The goal is for any LLM, given your brand name, to retrieve a confident, well-supported set of facts about you.

Why on-page alone isn't enough

An LLM can read your perfectly-schemaed page, but if it can't cross-reference your brand against external entity sources, it won't confidently cite you on competitive head terms. Entity stacking is what closes the gap.

The entity stack: 7 external sources to ship

1. Wikidata entry (the foundational identifier — Q-number). 2. Crunchbase profile (for B2B and SaaS). 3. LinkedIn Company Page with consistent description. 4. Founder/exec LinkedIn profiles with sameAs back to brand. 5. Google Knowledge Panel claim. 6. At least one Wikipedia mention if notability allows. 7. Profiles on the top 3 industry-vertical directories.

Author entity stacking

Authors get the same treatment. Every byline-bearing person should have: complete LinkedIn with credentials, Person schema with sameAs, byline history on 5+ third-party authoritative sites, ideally a personal site with About page, and a Wikidata entry once notable. This is what powers E-E-A-T at the LLM layer.

How long does entity stacking take?

Wikidata: 1 day. Crunchbase: 1 week. LinkedIn: ongoing. Wikipedia: 3–18 months and only if notable. Industry directories: 2–4 weeks. Plan for entity stacking as a 6-month track that runs parallel to on-page work.

Common entity stacking mistakes

Inconsistent brand descriptions across sources (LLMs flag conflicts). Author profiles that don't link back to the brand site (no sameAs loop). Skipping Wikidata because it 'feels low-value' (it's actually the highest-value single entry). Creating a Wikipedia page before being notable (gets deleted, hurts trust).

Frequently Asked Questions

Is entity stacking just citation building with extra steps?

Related but distinct. Citation building gets your name in many places. Entity stacking ensures every place describes you the same way and links back to a canonical identifier.

Do I need a Wikipedia page?

Helpful but not required. Wikidata + Crunchbase + LinkedIn is a strong baseline.

Can entity stacking hurt me if done wrong?

Yes — inconsistent descriptions across sources erode trust. Coordinate copy before you ship anywhere.

How does this relate to E-E-A-T?

It's the off-page expression of E-E-A-T. On-page Person schema declares expertise; entity stacking proves it externally.

Where does this fit in the CITE framework?

It's the bulk of the Trust step. Index without Trust caps your citation ceiling.