If you are searching for something on the internet – regardless of what it is – you can almost guarantee that first page of returned search results will feature a link to Wikipedia. The free online encyclopaedia has become one of the leading sources of information on the internet and now has over 23 million freely useable articles, in 285 languages, written by 36 million registered users.
The best local SEO services will use these tips and tricks
Since being launched in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger ‘Wiki’ has become the world’s sixth largest website and is visited by 12% of all internet users each month. In fact, in searching for those stats with the key phrase “how many people use Wikipedia every day,” three of the top four links returned by Google were Wikipedia pages.
Approximately 96.6% of Wikipedia’s pages rank on the first page of Google – a stat that will not really surprise Google users. A Wiki page not appearing on the first page would probably come as more of a shock. The question is: how does Wikipedia do it?
There are people that think Wikipedia is given weight by Google and it is easy to see why with such prominent rankings. However, I personally feel that more credit needs to be given to Wikipedia as a website and there are many things that can be learned by SEO practitioners from the stellar performance of the world’s favourite encyclopaedia.
Local SEO services need to be Informative
With Google’s algorithms valuing quality content more than ever before, web pages that are well written and informative are going to feature highly in the rankings and there is no better site at producing quality content that Wikipedia. Articles on the site are always comprehensive and provide users with the answers that they are looking for. Good articles become a point of resource for people and linked and quoted to regularly.
Wikipedia articles are not perfect by any means and with a little effort it is easy to emulate or even surpass that quality.
Structure is vital for local SEO services
If you visit a Wikipedia article, you will notice just how easy it is to follow; this is due to the organisation. Good structure is seen as a sign of quality content by Google and is an important factor in a high ranking. Wikipedia breaks up content with logical sub-headings that are easier for people to understand and more attractive to the reader.
Fresh content
Wikipedia is constantly updated with new articles added and old ones updated and edited with new information. Google loves fresh content and will favour it over articles and blog posts that are stale. It can be a good idea to follow suit by adding to, improving and editing your own content as often as possible.
Linking
The quality of the Wikipedia content allows it to achieve thousands of backlinks; it is also full of internal links and uses highly reputable sources as references in articles. If you are able to produce something that the readers like, you will naturally encourage a flow of traffic through inbound links.
With over 200 ranking indicators in Google’s search algorithms, there are obviously plenty or more ways in which Wikipedia is able to maintain its dominant position in the search rankings. Looking at how the encyclopaedia performs with articles related to your niche will teach you a hell of a lot about how your own site can be improved.