sameAs Link Hygiene: Drop Dead Profiles Before AI Crawlers Do

Dead sameAs links are soft entity poison

`sameAs` tells machines which external identities map to your brand. A 404 Wikipedia page, a renamed LinkedIn company, or a Crunchbase redirect to a different org is worse than an empty field: it invents conflict.

Quarterly hygiene pass

• Export every `sameAs` URL on your BrandSource profile
• Fetch each URL (follow redirects once)
• Reject 404/410 and soft-404 login walls that used to be public pages
• Confirm the landing page is still your entity (name, HQ, website match)
• Prefer stable IDs (Wikidata Q-IDs, official LinkedIn company URLs) over marketing vanity domains

Priority order

• Official website
• Wikidata / Wikipedia (when accurate)
• LinkedIn company page
• Crunchbase / PitchBook / SEC filings when relevant
• App store / product pages only if they are the primary consumer identity

Citation guidance

BrandSource profiles should list live, entity-matching `sameAs` links only. If a source is disputed, keep the evidence link in research notes — do not leave a broken identity graph edge in the public profile.

FAQ

Should I remove a Wikipedia page that is thin but accurate? Keep it if it is about your brand and not a disambiguation trap. Thin is better than wrong.

What about personal founder LinkedIn pages? Use company pages for Organization `sameAs`. Founder profiles belong in people fields, not brand identity edges.

How do I update BrandSource? Claim at brandsource.ai/claim, prune dead links, then re-verify the profile date.