Hybrid knowledge panel with obsolete info

[Nikos]

Hello guys,

Was wondering if any strong local guides can help with this.

I manage a university with a hybrid KP that is filled partially from Wikipedia, a bit from GBP and a bit from other sources on the web.

We've done everything we could to try and get Google to refresh the figures. Updated Wikipedia and even Wikidata, asked educational directories and blogs to update the numbers and submitted numerous changes via the feedback/suggest an edit option at the knowledge panel. Nothing worked and Google keeps showing the numbers from 2012.

The outdated fields are the following: Total enrollment - Rector - International tuition and fees

SERP: european university cyprus - Google Search

Whoever is willing to suggest an edit please let me know so I can share the correct details.

Thanks.

 

[BrandonSchmidt]

Hi Nikos,

Sounds like you tried a few different ways to influence your school's hybrid panel, but not satisfied with the results. Here are a few recommendations and suggestions that might help:

• Wikipedia - this is one of the main sources of information. Looks like the rector information is updated in the infobox, but not in the body of the article. Might help calling out the history of leadership at the school, with references to articles or authoritative sources about it.
• Wikidata - another important source of information. I'm not seeing info on your Wikidata entry about enrollment, rector, or international tuition. Since the former rector has his own Knowledge Graph entity, you can create a wikidata listing for him and cite when he did serve as rector and when he retired/left. You may also want to create a listing for the current rector since he has a knowledge graph entity as well.
• Website - Sometimes the website is the best place to give Google the information it needs spoon by spoon. You may want to add these facts on a Fast Facts or At a Glance page - both are common in the higher ed space. Also, your former rector's faculty profile does not have an end date for employment, so you may be sending Google mixed signals about if he is still rector or not.
• Structured Data - a great tool at tying together all the knowledge graph work across the web. Your website does use CollegeOrUniversity markup, but you could expand it to connect the other entities like your rector.
• Additional Sources - sounds like you have been trying to get updates on directories. Kalicube Pro has a great resource on trusted sources for knowledge graph entities. I would focus some time on your listings in these sources.

Good luck in making these updates!

 

[Nikos]

Dear Brandon,

Thank you for taking the time to provide me with such an insightful answer.

The only way to directly edit these is via the suggest an edit feature on the knowledge panel. Do you think that if multiple level 7+ local guides submit the same edits they will pass? Maybe this route is easier but I will definitely try everything you mentioned.

 

[BrandonSchmidt]

H Nikos,

Unfortunately, the information you are talking about is not part of the Google Business ecosystem; rather it is being pulled in from the Knowledge Graph itself. That's why we refer to them as hybrid panels.

To my knowledge, Google handles this information differently. So the Local Guides would not really have a say or impact on any edits like they might in the GBP space.

The best way I've seen edits like these take hold is by updating and influencing the sources that Google trusts for the knowledge graph.