Entities vs. Fields | Yext Hitchhikers Platform

What You’ll Learn

In this section, you will learn:

• When to use a field vs. an entity
• How data modeling relates to user permissions
• Listings-specific considerations for Data Modeling

When is something an Entity vs. a Field?

This is one of the most important questions to ask yourself as an expert Yext Data Modeler. And the answer isn’t easy – it depends.

Remember what we learned before: Entities are the thing. Fields are what describes that thing.

One rule of thumb is what can an entity do vs. what can a field do.

An Entity can be:

• Listed (given there’s a network for that type)
• Reviewed
• Published as a page
• Returned as a Result Card in Search

Fields can be:

• Displayed on an Entity’s listing or Page
• Used as a direct answer in Search
• Used as criteria for Advanced Filters or Saved Searches

Typically, Entities will be things like Locations, People, Events, Products, whereas fields will be the details of those things like name, description, photos. You can relate Entities together using fields – you’ll learn more about this soon.

Additional Considerations

1. Consider how your end users will interact with Yext.

   • Fields have permissions but you cannot assign sub-field permissions. If a user is only able to update parts of a field, you will either need to break into two separate fields or you will need to make it an entity.

   • You want users to be able to navigate their data model easily. Simple is usually better.

2. Anything listed on Google Maps needs to be a Built-in Entity with an Address. Therefore, if there is not a specialized Built-in Type for your Entity that needs to be listed, use “Location” type. Not sure if you can list the entity type on Google Maps? Ask our Listings experts by contacting Yext Support! Our Built-in Entity Types that can be synced to Listings (e.g., Google Maps) are:

   • Locations
   • Healthcare Professionals
   • Healthcare Facilities
   • ATMs
   • Restaurants
   • Hotels