7 replies to this topic

[MichaelM]

Does it seem that Google is giving Wiki's pages special credit, just because they Wikipedia?

I mean, there are few topics you can Google for now, without seeing Wikipedia prominent in the results.

So is it likely Google would do that for a site, which it really trusted? Or is Wiki just getting ridiculously popular so that it has sites linking to just about every page?

[qwerty]

So is it likely Google would do that for a site, which it really trusted? Or is Wiki just getting ridiculously popular so that it has sites linking to just about every page?

Those are partly the same thing. Google judges that it's trusted in part by looking at its backlinks. And yes, I'd say that's why it comes up for so many searches.

[jehochman]

I invite you to compare Alexa traffic ratings for Wikipedia and the BBC.

I can't find a MainStream Media website that outranks Wikipedia. Can you?

[qwerty]

I don't trust Alexa data at all, especially when you compare a mainsteam media site with one that's far more geek-oriented.

However, I don't think there's any question about it. Wikipedia is viewed by Google as an authority site.

[jehochman]

While Alexa data is certainly skewed, it still shows that Wikipedia is very popular among Geeks, much more than MSM. Keep in mind that Google may have some of the same sampling methods (and errors) as Alexa, and may draw the same conclusions.

[qwerty]

Good point, but I'd wager (especially since it would be a bet no one would be able to win) that any toolbar data Google might use in making this determination would carry less weight than the fact that Wikipedia has probably millions of backlinks from a huge variety of domains, and that the home page probably gets far less than half of those links. Yahoo reports that en.wikipedia.org/ alone has 1.5 million backlinks, and the whole domain has 30.1 million. That's 5.1% to the home page.

Add to that the number of pages on the domain (just short of 16 million according to Yahoo) and the fact that new content is constantly being added, and there's just no way for Google to ignore it.

[Martin C]

Well shouldn't you be asking if the Wikipedia entries that are being returned are relevant to the query?

I would have to say that in my experience in most cases they are, and I would go on to say that if I am looking for general information on something and a Wiki entry doesn't get returned I will often type in Wikipedia at the end of the search phrase to force it.

Yes I know that the information in Wikipedia is not always accurate, but to my mind it is a source that often gives enough good and reliable information for a general enquiry.

Therefore if a search engine is doing its thing right I would expect Wikipedia entries to feature highly for general search enquiries.

[OldWelshGuy]

well said Martin. Wiki delivers relatively accurate information and, more importantly, links to semantically linked information.