Media M

Media-M Tech Insights: Google’s Great Clarity Cleanup

In a significant and unprecedented move, Google’s Knowledge Graph, the foundational fact-checking core of its search algorithms, underwent its largest contraction in a decade. A two-stage, one-week event in June 2025 saw a massive 6.26% drop, with over 3 billion entities deleted. This is a dramatic reversal of the steady growth observed over the past year (a 2.79% expansion from May 2024 to May 2025), and it signals a bold new direction for Google as it refines its advantage in the AI-assistive engine race.

Is google deleting the internet?

This isn’t just an ordinary algorithm update; it’s a strategic “anti-hoarding” move. Google is trading sheer volume for clarity and confidence, building a leaner, higher-quality dataset to power its new suite of AI features like AI Overviews and AI Mode. For SEO professionals and brands, this “great clarity cleanup” marks the dawn of the age of algorithmic clarity.

The data reveals a targeted purge, not a blanket deletion. Here’s a breakdown of the three key areas where Google’s cuts were most decisive:

1. The Post-Pandemic Reset of Event Entities

The most significant cut came in the “event” category, which saw a staggering 76.91% drop. This is a clear post-pandemic reset. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Google ramped up its real-time event tracking to help users navigate cancellations and online-only events. The average lifespan of an event entity plummeted from 839 days before March 2020 to just 124 days afterward. With the world stabilised, Google has deemed the resources required to maintain this level of reactivity no longer necessary and has essentially reset the system.

Impact on SEO: This reinforces a critical lesson: don’t build your long-term digital strategy on temporary algorithmic trends. Instead, focus on building stable corporate, personal, and product brands that have enduring value to the Knowledge Graph.

2. The Ambiguity Purge of “Thing” Entities

Google’s most generic classification, the “thing” category, also took a substantial hit. The number of entities labeled as “thing” was reduced by 15.27%, an estimated 8 billion entities. This is a move away from “multityping,” where an entity is assigned multiple categories, including the generic “thing” label. The proportion of “unityped” entities – those with a single, definitive classification – rose from 23.9% to 28.7% during the update.

Impact on SEO: This indicates that the “thing” category is no longer an easy entry point into the Knowledge Graph. For a brand, product, or concept to be included, it must have a clear and unambiguous identity that can be classified in a more specific way. This highlights the importance of precise entity optimisation.

3. The Focus on Unityped “Person” Entities

Continuing a long-term trend, the June update significantly focused on “person” entities, increasing Google’s confidence that an entity is unambiguously a person from 70.16% to 76.78%. This builds on previous updates that have prioritised roles like “writer” and “author” and emphasised the credibility of content creators. The latest changes show Google is actively removing other classifications from person entities to ensure there is no doubt in its algorithmic mind.

Impact on SEO: For personal brands and content creators, the message is clear: clarity is paramount. Google is actively looking for high-quality, unityped person entities as a signal of expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). A confident, unambiguous Knowledge Graph presence for a person is a key to success in this new era.

Clarity Is Now the Only Point of Entry

The “great clarity cleanup” is a wake-up call for all digital marketers. It solidifies the principle that clarity is the only point of entry into the Knowledge Graph. While brands may invest heavily in top-of-funnel awareness and consideration, the final moment of truth for both humans and AI is confidence. Can the algorithm confidently understand who a brand is and what it offers?

This strategic move by Google is a direct response to the demands of the AI-powered search experience. Generative AI models thrive on clean, unambiguous data. A messy, contradictory digital footprint creates confusion for these models. Google is proactively tidying up its “bottom-of-the-funnel” room, discarding any brand that creates ambiguity.

For SEOs, the path forward is clear: a solid, unityped, and confident presence in the Knowledge Graph is the only way to ensure your brand is at the top of the algorithmic mind at that critical, conversion-focused moment.

Update: In a rare move that breaks from its traditional single summer update, Google launched a second clarity cleanup on August 11, focusing even more sharply on corporation, organisation, and brand entities. This further reinforces the message: Google is doubling down on clarity, and brands that fail to adapt will be left behind.