---
title: "Add or edit entities"
slug: "add-or-edit-entities"
abstract: "Configure default and custom entities in your Sitecore Search implementation."
---
# Add or edit entities

This is part one of the [get started](https://doc.sitecore.com/search/en/users/search-user-guide/get-started.html "Get started") walkthrough series. You can optionally skip this part before moving on to [indexing your content](https://doc.sitecore.com/search/en/users/search-user-guide/get-started/configure-your-index.html "Configure your index").

An entity describes an item that is searchable. This can be a product, a content item, or a category, or it can be a custom item. Each entity has its own set of attributes, representing the corresponding item or items.

![Entities and their attributes are integral to experiences and sources to index items.](https://doc.sitecore.com/api/markdown-image/search/en/users/search-user-guide/images/getstarted-2.PNG)

Entities affect what is displayed in experiences and how data is indexed in your implementation. Sitecore Search is preconfigured with four distinct entities: *Content*, *Product*, *Category*, and *Store*. Each has attributes typical to items of its type.

The entities need to have attributes to hold all the metadata you want to display and use with Search algorithms. This might require adding attributes to existing entities or creating custom entities. For example, a search result for an *article* might include *name*, *author*, *publication,* and *publication date*, whereas those for a *shoe* might include *name*, *description*, *brand*, *SKU*, and *price*.

The *Content* entity is preconfigured with attributes typical for various types of content, like *reports*, *magazines*, *videos*, and *demos*. Similarly, the *Product* entity is preconfigured with commerce-related attributes.

You can extend the *Product* entity with attributes similar to those in the *Content* entity, so visitors can see products and content items in the same result set. You can see all the preconfigured entities by clicking **Administration** > **Domain settings** and then clicking the **Attributes** tab. In the entity drop-down menu, to filter listing, select an entity.

> [!tip]
> Sitecore Search provides [entity templates](https://doc.sitecore.com/search/en/users/search-user-guide/get-started/entity-templates.html "Entity templates") to create custom templates.

Before you can complete this part, make sure you have a list of attributes you want in your entities.

To add attributes to existing entities:

- For *Content*, *Product*, *Category*, and *Store* entities, follow the [Add an attribute](https://doc.sitecore.com/search/en/users/search-user-guide/configure-entities/add-an-attribute.html "Add an attribute") procedure.

To create a custom entity:

- Select an [entity template](https://doc.sitecore.com/search/en/users/search-user-guide/configure-entities/entity-templates.html "Entity templates") then follow the [Create an entity](https://doc.sitecore.com/search/en/users/search-user-guide/configure-entities/create-an-entity.html "Create an entity") procedure.

Now you can go on [to index your items](https://doc.sitecore.com/search/en/users/search-user-guide/get-started/configure-your-index.html "Configure your index").