Wikipedia’s Continued Importance in SEO
Filed Under SEO
Stephan Spencer, in his essay, The Art of SEO for Wikipedia and 16 Tips, makes the excellent point that Google has given tremendous authority and link popularity to Wikipedia. As a result, Wikipedia entries come up again and again at the top of the first page of a Google engine search. Knowing how to write a Wikipedia article – from an SEO approach – is therefore an indispensable SEO skill.
Stub or Novel?
More importantly, he makes the essential point – something which I have always known– that these Wikipedia entries are often “short on details” and mere “stubs”. This is something which we try and stress to our clients: From the standpoint of SEO, better to have a Wikipedia stub, sparse on details, which stands, and gets you ranking at the top of the search, than a Wikipedia article which says all you want it to say, and gets flagged for speedy deletion.
Are Wikipedia Links Still Valuable Even Though They’re No-Followed?
Short answer. Absolutely! Even external links that include the nofollow tag still drive traffic and make superb linkbait. Journalists and other experts read Wikipedia and so there is a big amplification effect. And some SEO experts muse that Google could choose to disregard the nofollow and still count those external links, if they determine Wikipedia’s new policy is detrimental to relevancy of the search results.
Wikipedia and Reputation Management
Wikipedia is also key for managing online reputation. A Wikipedia entry for your company or organization lends credibility to your organization, and gives searchers who see your entry while searching for you the impression that your organization is authoritative and more legitimate. As Search Engine Land writer, Stephan Spencer, remarks, “Because of the authority status of Wikipedia, it’s easy to get a newly created entry for one’s company or brand to rank on the first page of the SERPs, no matter how competitive the keyword is. So, in a way, this is reputation management. If you don’t like what is in the top 10 currently for a particular keyword related to your company, get a Wikipedia entry to occupy at least one of those slots.” (http://searchengineland.com/the-art-of-seo-for-wikipedia-16-tips-to-gain-respect-11126)
You might want to check out Spencer, and his colleague Hochman, on their 16 Tips for becoming a respected Wikipedian. And check out this interview with Hochman, a respected Wikipedia editor, with Spencer.
