A Google Knowledge Panel is the information box shown in the right-hand column of desktop search results (or at the top on mobile) that Google assembles algorithmically from its Knowledge Graph entity database for a query about a notable person, company, brand, or place: name, photo or logo, description, key facts, and links. The owner does not create the panel by hand — Google builds it from independent, reliable sources. That is why getting, verifying, and fixing a panel are three different tasks with different tools, and why a company's knowledge panel almost always shows an "Own this business?" button in the right-hand column of search results — a direct path to Google Business Profile. A person has no such button, and never will in the familiar "claim it in one click" form — not because Google hasn't built the interface, but because a person's panel simply isn't created through a self-service request in the first place. It's a byproduct of the Knowledge Graph, Google's automated database of entities and the relationships between them, assembled from independent sources: Wikidata, authoritative encyclopedias, industry databases like LinkedIn or Crunchbase for certain categories, and a broad body of reliable publications where the name appears in a meaningful context. If Google doesn't consider the entity notable enough based on the sum of these sources, there will be no panel — and no request form changes that. That's where the gap between the person track and the company track comes from: for a company, the same entity graph is joined by a separate, independently manageable layer — Google Business Profile and structured data on the official website — while a person has no such manageable layer at all.
What a Knowledge Panel Is and How It Differs from a Knowledge Card
A knowledge panel appears only when Google is confident that a query maps to a specific, recognizable entity in its Knowledge Graph — the database of objects (people, companies, places, works) and the relationships between them. The panel gathers the name, a photo or logo, a short description of what the entity does, key facts (founding date, job title, headquarters), links to official resources, and related searches. It is not an ad and not a card from a dashboard, but an automatically assembled profile of the entity as Google "sees" it.
A knowledge panel is often confused with a knowledge card (Knowledge Card) — and they are different formats. A knowledge card answers a specific factual question ("the capital of Georgia," "when a company was founded," "an actor's height") as a short block above the results and is not tied to an entity as a profile. A knowledge panel is, in effect, a consolidated profile of the entity itself. A further adjacent format is the local Google Business Profile card for a business with a physical address: it looks similar but is managed separately and by different rules (see below). For a person or company working on a digital profile, the target object is the knowledge panel as an entity profile, not a one-off answer card.
The Person Track: Notability and an Entry in the Knowledge Graph
A person's knowledge panel appears once Google's systems decide that the individual is a distinct, recognizable entity: a title, occupation, or public role confirmed by a stable body of independent, reliable mentions outside the person's own or their company's resources. Press releases, social media posts, and a corporate website barely count here — Google looks for third-party mentions: business media, trade publications, official registries, encyclopedic sources.
The structural backbone of the panel is often (though not always) an entry in Wikidata — an open structured-data repository linked to Wikipedia but existing separately from it. This is exactly where it's worth separating two concepts that clients almost always conflate: a knowledge panel is not a Wikipedia article, the absence of an article doesn't mean the absence of a panel, and deleting an article doesn't necessarily remove the panel if the Wikidata entry and notability in other sources persist. We covered the mechanics of how removing a Wikipedia article actually works, and why that's not the same as managing a knowledge panel, in a separate article, "Removing an Article From Wikipedia: How It Actually Works."
For a narrow group of public figures whose panel Google already considers to exist and to be sufficiently notable, a "Claim this knowledge panel" option is available — phone-number verification, after which limited editing of certain fields and direct submission of corrections becomes possible, bypassing the general form. Availability of this feature depends on the country, the category of activity, and Google's determination of the person's status — it doesn't create a panel from scratch and isn't guaranteed to be available to everyone who formally qualifies. For the vast majority of people, the only correction channel is the feedback form at the bottom of the panel itself: where the three-dot or pencil icon sits, you can flag a specific factual error, and Google reviews the request in the background, without a public review status and without a guaranteed timeline.
The same entity graph that forms the knowledge panel also partly feeds Google's generative answers — AI Overviews and similar formats increasingly draw on structured, verified entity data rather than text snippets alone. The panel and the generative answer are different formats built on the same underlying digital entity: the first is static and "manual" in terms of sourcing, the second is generated dynamically and can diverge from the panel even when they share the same underlying data. For more on what to do if ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews get something wrong about a person, see our separate article.
See also · ArticleReputation in AI Answers: What to Do When ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews Get It WrongThe same entity graph partly feeds Google's generative answers — but the format and the correction logic there work differently than for a knowledge panel.Read the article →
The Company Track: Google Business Profile and Structured Data
For a company, the data behind the panel is drawn from a broader and, importantly, partly self-manageable set of sources. If a business has a physical presence or a local point of contact, Google Business Profile (GBP) — a standalone product adjacent to the knowledge panel — is verified directly: by postcard, phone call, email, or video verification, depending on the business category and region. A claimed and verified GBP is one of the few cases where a company genuinely manages part of its own data directly, rather than only through feedback.
The second manageable layer is structured data on the official website: correct Organization markup per the schema.org standard, sameAs attributes pointing to verified company profiles on social media, industry databases, and encyclopedic sources, and up-to-date leadership, legal name, and logo data. Google cross-checks this data against external sources rather than taking it on faith, but correct, consistent markup lowers the odds that the algorithm will substitute an outdated or unrelated logo into the panel. The third layer is the same Knowledge Graph a person relies on: a Wikidata entry (if one exists), mentions in reliable business media, industry registries, and databases like Crunchbase. A company's panel is often confused with a Wikipedia article for the same reason as for individuals — they're different objects, and the same breakdown of how article removal or correction works applies here too.
For companies without a local point of sale — holding structures, international groups, publicly traded corporations — Business Profile is often not directly applicable at all, and the main manageable lever becomes structured markup and systematic work with independent sources, rather than a claim form. This is a case where building and then maintaining a company's digital profile isn't a one-off edit but part of systematic corporate online reputation management.
"Clients almost always show up with the same question: 'how do we claim the panel, the way we claimed our Google Business Profile.' For a company with a physical location, that's literally possible. For a person, and for a company without a local presence, it isn't — there's no owner in the usual sense, only notability in independent sources and careful, verifiable feedback. The work isn't about 'getting' a panel — it's about making sure the entity in Google's graph is unambiguous, current, and not confused with anyone else."
How to Find Your Entity in the Knowledge Graph and Look Up Its KGMID
Every entity Google has entered into the Knowledge Graph has an internal identifier — a KGMID (Knowledge Graph Machine ID) in the form /g/11… or /m/0…. The knowledge panel is tied to it, so checking whether such an identifier exists is the first diagnostic step: if the entity is not in the graph, there is no panel, and the task becomes building notability rather than making edits.
You can check whether an entity exists and find its KGMID in several ways, without paid tools:
- Enter the exact name in quotes and see whether a panel appears — in the right-hand column on desktop or at the top of the results on mobile.
- If a panel exists, open its "Share" menu or inspect the URL of related queries: the address often contains a
kgmid=parameter with the entity's identifier. - Check the linked Wikidata entry: many entities list, among their external identifiers, a machine ID matching the Google KGMID in the
/m/…form. - For companies, verify that the entity is not being confused with a same-name brand or a previously existing legal entity: identical names in the graph frequently cause merges.
A KGMID is not something to "get": it is an indicator that Google already treats you as a distinct entity. Having an identifier without a panel means notability is not yet sufficient to display one; having no identifier at all means the entity is not yet in the graph.
Editing, Verification, and Managing the Panel
"Managing" a knowledge panel is not editing a card in a dashboard, but three different channels of influence, each with its own scope.
- Verification and "claim this knowledge panel." For a limited set of public figures whose panel Google already considers to exist, a "Claim this knowledge panel" button is available: sign in with the same Google account, confirm your identity (usually through one of the linked official profiles), and verify. This opens limited editing of some fields and a priority channel for submitting edits. Availability depends on country and category and is not guaranteed.
- Suggest an edit / feedback. For the vast majority of people and companies, the main channel is the feedback form at the bottom of the panel ("Suggest an edit" / "Feedback"). An edit must be specific and factual: not "the data is wrong," but "the job title shown is X, the correct one is Y," with a link to a supporting source. Google reviews the request in the background, without a public status or a guaranteed timeframe.
- Working with primary sources. The most durable lever is to put in order the places Google draws data from: the Wikidata entry, structured markup on the official website (schema.org
Organization/Person,sameAsattributes), and consistent data in reliable external sources. An edit submitted through the form without fixing the primary source is often rolled back.
Google Business Profile verification stands apart — it is a separate product for businesses with a physical presence (see the company track above): it gives direct control over the local card, but not over the entire knowledge panel as such.
Three Reasons a Panel Doesn't Appear or Shows the Wrong Thing
In practice, nearly every client inquiry comes down to one of three causes — and each has its own fix, not interchangeable with the others.
Insufficient notability
Google can't find enough independent, reliable mentions to recognize the person or company as a distinct, stable entity. There's no panel at all — and no feedback form will create one until an objective body of third-party mentions builds up.
Entity merging
The algorithm confuses the person with a namesake, or the company with a similar brand or a previously existing entity: someone else's photo, biography, logo, or another organization's figures end up in the panel. The cause is insufficiently disambiguated data in Wikidata and related resources, not a glitch specific to your panel.
The panel exists but hasn't been verified
Data is outdated, the photo or logo no longer matches current reality, the title or company leadership is listed incorrectly — because the panel has never been updated and no one has submitted feedback through Google's available tools. Technically, this is the fastest of the three causes to fix.
Person vs. Company Side by Side: Who Can Do What
The mechanics differ enough that expectations from one track shouldn't be applied to the other — here's a direct comparison of the key factors.
| Factor | Person | Company |
|---|---|---|
| Default data source | Knowledge Graph: Wikidata (if an entry exists), reliable independent media, and industry databases | Knowledge Graph + Google Business Profile (if there's a physical presence) + structured data on the official website |
| Self-service claim or feedback only | Generally feedback form only; "Claim this knowledge panel" is available to a limited group of notable figures via phone verification | Full claim via Google Business Profile (if applicable) + feedback on the knowledge panel itself |
| What's needed for verification | Sustained notability in independent sources; for a claim, meeting the public-figure criteria plus a phone number | Proof of business ownership (postcard, call, video) for GBP; for everything else, correct site markup and consistent external data |
| Typical time to appear or update | From a few weeks to several months for a panel to appear; feedback-based correction has no guaranteed timeline, usually weeks | GBP verification — a few days to a couple of weeks; panel data updates after fixes to the site and sources — usually weeks, sometimes longer |
Can a Knowledge Panel Be Removed or Hidden
You cannot fully "remove" your own knowledge panel on request: it reflects what Google already considers a publicly notable entity, and it is removed not by a button but by changing the underlying data. Through the feedback form you can pursue corrections of specific wrong or outdated facts, and in specific cases the removal of personal or sensitive data covered by Google's policies (for example, contact details) or by the right to be forgotten. Removing an accurate but unwanted panel at your own discretion is generally not possible — what works here is not removal but managing the composition and accuracy of the entity's data. We cover the mechanics of lawfully removing links from search results separately in "The Right to Be Forgotten: How to Legally Remove Links from Google and Yandex."
What to Do If the Panel Already Shows the Wrong Thing
Before fixing anything, it's worth separating two tasks: getting a panel that has never existed, and correcting an existing but wrong or outdated one. The first task isn't solved with a form but with systematic work on notability — verifiable mentions in independent sources and a clean, consistent data structure around the entity. The second is faster and more predictable if you work through it in order, rather than firing off corrections to different forms all at once.
- Confirm the panel actually exists: search the exact name or company name in quotes and check the right-hand column of results, rather than relying on memory that "it used to be there."
- Find and check the linked Wikidata entry, if one exists — often the source of the error sits there rather than in the panel itself.
- Clean up the structured data on the official website: Organization or Person markup, current
sameAslinks to verified profiles, and a consistent spelling of the name or company name across every language version. - For companies with a physical presence, claim the Google Business Profile and complete verification if that hasn't already been done.
- Submit a specific, factual correction through the feedback form on the panel itself: not a general "the data is wrong," but an exact statement of what's incorrect and what it should say instead.
- If you suspect a merge with a namesake or a similar brand, don't try to "delete" someone else's data directly — systematically reinforce the disambiguation of entities in the sources Google treats as reliable.
From there, it's a matter of method and patience: Google doesn't publish a review status for feedback and gives no guaranteed timelines. AEGIS Reputation Lab supports both tasks — building notability from scratch for a person who has no panel yet, and targeted correction of an existing company panel — as part of systematic work on the digital profile, not a one-off edit to a single card.
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Frequently Asked Questions
A person's panel isn't created on request — it appears automatically once Google's systems recognize the individual as a distinct, sufficiently notable entity based on independent, reliable mentions: business media, industry sources, official registries. There's no direct way to "request" a panel; the work comes down to systematically building verifiable notability, not filing a form.
If the company has a physical location or local presence, the primary tool is Google Business Profile verification (postcard, phone call, email, or video). For companies without a local presence there's no direct claim option: data is confirmed through correct structured markup on the official website and consistent external sources, while individual errors are reported through the feedback form on the panel itself.
Through the feedback form at the bottom of the panel — citing the specific error and the correct value, not a general complaint. For a limited group of notable public figures, the "Claim this knowledge panel" option is also available with phone verification, providing a more direct editing channel. For companies, updating the logo or leadership data also moves faster if the same data is synchronized in the official website's structured markup.
This isn't a technical glitch specific to your panel, but a result of insufficiently disambiguated data in the sources Google uses — most often Wikidata and shared open databases. There's no direct way to "unmerge" entities with a single request; the fix is to systematically reinforce unambiguous, disambiguated data about each entity in reliable sources, rather than trying to remove someone else's data from the panel directly.
No. The knowledge panel and a Wikipedia article are different objects: the panel draws on Google's broader entity graph, of which Wikipedia and the associated Wikidata are only one source, not the sole condition. A panel can exist without a Wikipedia article and, conversely, can survive after an article is deleted, if notability in other reliable sources remains sufficient.
A knowledge panel is a consolidated profile of a specific entity (a person, company, or brand): name, photo or logo, description, key facts, and links; it appears in the right-hand column on desktop and at the top on mobile. A knowledge card answers a one-off factual question — a country's capital, a founding date — as a short block above the results and is not an entity profile. For a person's or company's digital profile, the target object is the knowledge panel.
A KGMID (Knowledge Graph Machine ID) is the internal identifier of an entity in Google's Knowledge Graph, in the form /g/11… or /m/0…, to which the knowledge panel is tied. You can find it by opening the URL parameters of panel-related queries (the kgmid= parameter) or through the linked Wikidata entry's external identifiers. Having a KGMID means Google already treats you as a distinct entity; not having one means the entity is not yet in the graph, and the task becomes building notability.
You generally cannot remove an accurate knowledge panel on request — it reflects a publicly notable entity and is removed not by a button but by changing the underlying data. Through the feedback form you can pursue corrections of wrong or outdated facts, and in specific cases the removal of personal or sensitive data covered by Google's policies or the right to be forgotten. What works is not "removing the panel" but managing the accuracy and composition of the entity's data.
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