I like the idea to make this linkable from Special:WebTools... that makes it more accessible for admins. As for seo, we've heard the main benefit is increasing click-thru rate on a wiki's links on a search result page (rather than raising a wiki's position in the results) ... but we'll know more soon as we get our own measurements on this.
Thanks, John Q. Brian Grove wrote: > This is awesome -- I wonder how we "productize" it. > > Here's a couple thoughts. > > Maybe once we learn SEO tips we suggest an optimized set of keywords to > include. We also link to this MediaWiki:Description in the WebTools report. > > We take an active/inactive role in getting this changed: > > 1) Inactive Wikis with many pages: we go ahead and change the > description based upon SEO best practices. > 2) Active wikis with many pages: suggest changes to this file with SEO > best practices. > 3) New Wikis: make this a first suggestion > > All wikis -- add the ability to change this file. Have link within the > WebTools SEO report. http://hotrod.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Webtools > > I'm assuming this is highly SEO valuable. I'm also assuming adding more > keywords+readable does more good than harm in helping the rank plus > search users to choose your wiki vs. other results in search. > > BG > > Danny Horn wrote: > >> I should explain the MediaWiki:Description feature -- it's a cool new >> thing, but it's a lot better if people customize it. >> >> When main pages show up in Google results, they sometimes have odd >> text showing as the description. Keywords for the topic of the wiki >> sometimes appear in boxes and templates on the main page, rather than >> plain text, so what Google shows can be somewhat random. >> >> MediaWiki:Description is a way for wikis to customize what Google uses >> as the description for the main page. Right now, it's set to a bland >> default: "{{SITENAME}} is a database that anyone can edit." >> >> Admins can edit that page to expand the description, up to 150 >> characters. It would be great if the description included search terms >> that you'd expect people to use when they're looking for your site. >> >> Here's a few examples: >> >> * Doctor Who Wiki is a database that anyone can edit, covering Doctor >> Who episodes, characters and monsters, including the Daleks and Cybermen. >> >> * Muppet Wiki is a database about Jim Henson's work that anyone can >> edit, including episode and character guides to The Muppet Show and >> Sesame Street. >> >> * Dofus Wiki is a database that anyone can edit, with articles on >> quests, guilds, and everything Dofus! >> >> So folks can go ahead and edit that on your wikis, and make it >> interesting or useful or whatever you'd like. >> >> Unfortunately, I can't help with the question about non-ASCII >> characters... Maybe someone else can? >> >> >> -- Danny >> >> >> On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 6:28 AM, Jesús Martínez >> <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote: >> >> I found a new feature: The contents of [[MediaWiki:Description]] will >> be placed inside the content of the <meta name="description" ... > tag >> of the main page of a Wiki. That description should be shown on search >> engines, but only when the main page appears in the results. >> >> But, it doesn't support non-ASCII characters so non-english wikis >> would probably have strange characters on it. >> >> As an example, "é" turns into é�¾, and "ñ" into á�¾ >> >> Encoding such characters as entities -- like é or ñ -- >> does not work because they are double-encoded: é turns into >> &eacute; >> >> A fix for that would be greatly appreciated! >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikia-l mailing list >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >> http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wikia-l >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikia-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wikia-l >> >> > _______________________________________________ > Wikia-l mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wikia-l > _______________________________________________ Wikia-l mailing list [email protected] http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wikia-l
