Hi Owen
Citations in Wikipedia (or any other link) shouldn't "officially" have any influence on search engine rankings as they all use the "nofollow" attribute (which effectively instructs search engine spiders to ignore the connection). Adding nofollow was stemmed from a policy change at Wikipedia to try to reduce people using the platform to help their outfit/clients spam the search results pages. However, the search engine ranking algorithms are complex and other aspects might be considered. But mostly, the benefit of having your content or references to your content on Wikipedia is at the human level!
Best regards
Peter
Peter Pavement
Director
Surface Impression Ltd
01273 958600
[log in to unmask]
www.surfaceimpression.com
@surfimpress
@peterpavement
http://www.linkedin.com/in/peterpavement
On 10 Feb 2014, at 12:25, Owen Stephens <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> On 10 Feb 2014, at 12:16, Mike Ellis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Ha, thanks Owen. Those “book” things, I remember them… :-)
>>
>> Interesting re. the level of spidering on item-level pages vs collection-level stuff. Have you looked at all on the merits of surfacing stuff on other sites - i.e. the benefits of putting objects on Wikipedia vs own site? I’m guessing this is probably a step too far..?
>>
> Yes we have looked at surfacing content on other sites and looked at the use of Wikipedia in particular - it is trickier here to be sure of the impact as our work hasn't been able to go as far as getting analytics from projects and looking at traffic source etc. We've done some looking at correlations between citation in Wikipedia and Google search rankings but I don't think this is conclusive - there seems to be a correlation but causation?
>
> However, based on focus groups, feedback from an expert group, and a number of case studies we are including a set of recommendations around "Exploiting popular web destinations" which includes getting materials into Wikimedia Commons for use in Wikipedia and hosting an edit-a-thon to encourage use of resources from a collection in Wikipedia articles. We definitely believe that these channels are good ways of improving "discoverability" (a word I hate more every time I type it, but I've yet to find a better way of putting it)
>
>> Really look forward to seeing the output - hope you’ll ping MCG when they’re live!
>
> Will do. The project is being guided at Jisc by Paola Marchionni and I know she is on here as well so I'm sure we'll be getting the message out once we are live :)
>
> Owen
>
>>
>> cheers
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>>
>> _____________________________
>>
>>
>> Mike Ellis
>>
>> Thirty8 Digital: a small but perfectly formed digital agency: http://thirty8.co.uk (http://thirty8.co.uk/)
>>
>> * My book: http://heritageweb.co.uk (http://heritageweb.co.uk/) *
>>
>>
>> On Monday, 10 February 2014 at 11:15, Owen Stephens wrote:
>>
>>> We don't have a definite date yet (and partly depends on me getting the copy to the team putting the materials on the web - I'm just going through copy for the last time now!). There will be a workshop about the work, (and if all has gone well we will have the resource available), at the Jisc Digital Festival next month http://www.jisc.ac.uk/digifest
>>>
>>> Owen
>>>
>>>
>>> Owen Stephens
>>> Owen Stephens Consulting
>>> Web: http://www.ostephens.com
>>> Email: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
>>> Telephone: 0121 288 6936
>>>
>>> On 10 Feb 2014, at 11:08, Anra Kennedy <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Owen
>>>>
>>>> When's your resource being published?
>>>>
>>>> Anra
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Owen Stephens
>>>> Sent: 10 February 2014 11:06
>>>> To: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
>>>> Subject: Re: [MCG] Cross-organisation collaborations around digital collections
>>>>
>>>> Thanks Mike - definitely agreed. The resource has a series of advice aimed at 'working well with search engines' (this is one section out of 9) which includes:
>>>>
>>>> * the use of well structured URLs for collections and items
>>>> * Appropriate use of various html elements include page title, description, image alt, and headings h1-h6
>>>> * Using robots.txt and sitemap.xml
>>>> * Using audience specific language
>>>> * Removing registration/authentication barriers where possible
>>>> * for the cutting edge using Schema.org (http://Schema.org) markup
>>>>
>>>> We point at the SEO Starter Guide from Google, and guidelines for webmasters from Google, Bing and Yandex
>>>>
>>>> I'm happy to say I've been able to reference the Culture24 materials from Lets Get Real work (thanks to all involved in that) and have even occasionally while writing looked at a book by one Mike Ellis :)
>>>>
>>>> Owen
>>>>
>>>> Owen Stephens
>>>> Owen Stephens Consulting
>>>> Web: http://www.ostephens.com
>>>> Email: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
>>>> Telephone: 0121 288 6936
>>>>
>>>> On 10 Feb 2014, at 10:59, Mike Ellis <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Morning.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd imagine SEO is absolutely key to this. Like, probably more key than almost anything else, given the % of traffic that comes to most sites from Google?
>>>>>
>>>>> So many of the current online collections vendors are still doing
>>>>> horrible things with URLs...
>>>>>
>>>>> Here's a randomly-picked querystring:
>>>>>
>>>>> do=cf_all&qu=Collection:William%20AND%20Collection:Conte&size=25&dti=t
>>>>> ext&fi=%7B"term"%3A%7B"Dept"%3A"cm"%7D%7D
>>>>>
>>>>> HTML source looks like this (numbers changed as I'm not pointing at
>>>>> specific examples...)
>>>>>
>>>>> <title>Object CM.0000-0000 (Id:0000) </title>
>>>>>
>>>>> ...also lots of collections online systems seem to require iframes, or are hosted on infrastructure external to the museum site, thereby losing all Google juice.
>>>>>
>>>>> These are all horrible "just don't do it" rules: In case it's of interest: (old, but written by Google and still relevant) - the SEO starter guide:
>>>>>
>>>>> http://bit.ly/LPdMCh
>>>>>
>>>>> cheers
>>>>>
>>>>> Mike
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _____________________________
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Mike Ellis
>>>>>
>>>>> Thirty8 Digital: a small but perfectly formed digital agency: http://thirty8.co.uk (http://thirty8.co.uk/)
>>>>>
>>>>> * My book: http://heritageweb.co.uk (http://heritageweb.co.uk/) *
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Monday, 10 February 2014 at 10:48, Owen Stephens wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks Anra and Rich, I'll have a look at both of these
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Best wishes
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Owen
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Owen Stephens
>>>>>> Owen Stephens Consulting
>>>>>> Web: http://www.ostephens.com
>>>>>> Email: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
>>>>>> Telephone: 0121 288 6936
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 10 Feb 2014, at 10:44, Anra Kennedy <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Owen
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This is really interesting - I'm running an ACE-funded project at
>>>>>>> the moment with the aim of embedding the use of digital collections
>>>>>>> content into learning and teaching for KS2&3 children and their
>>>>>>> teachers. Our project, Connecting Collections, is a partnership
>>>>>>> between Culture24, Collections Trust and Culture Street and Trinity
>>>>>>> College's Arts Award, plus a range of museums. There's an overview
>>>>>>> here:http://weareculture24.org.uk/projects/connecting-collections/
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A key factor in the project's success or otherwise will of course be the discoverability of the content so it'd be good to talk!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> All the best, Anra
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Anra Kennedy
>>>>>>> Content & Partnerships Director, Culture24
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Direct line: 01273 623279
>>>>>>> Office line: 01273 623266
>>>>>>> Follow: @anrakennedy
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> About: www.WeAreCulture24.org.uk (http://www.WeAreCulture24.org.uk)
>>>>>>> Supporting the cultural sector to reach audiences online
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Enjoy: www.culture24.org.uk (http://www.culture24.org.uk) Your arts
>>>>>>> & heritage guide online
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Museums at Night: www.museumsatnight.org.uk (http://www.museumsatnight.org.uk)
>>>>>>> (http://www.museumsatnight.org.uk)
>>>>>>> Annual festival of arts, culture & heritage
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Culture24 is the official cultural data provider to the BBC
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>> From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
>>>>>>> Of Owen Stephens
>>>>>>> Sent: 09 February 2014 11:03
>>>>>>> To: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
>>>>>>> Subject: [MCG] Cross-organisation collaborations around digital
>>>>>>> collections
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'm currently writing a web resource about improving 'discoverability' of digital collections as part of a Jisc project. The resource is meant to give small pieces of 'actionable' advice looking at a wide range of aspects - SEO, UX, metadata schemas, data formats, APIs, collaboration with others etc. etc. The things being recommended are based on looking at a range of digitisation/digital collection projects have done successfully.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> For each thing recommended I try to include:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> How it can help improve discoverability A broad idea of cost
>>>>>>> Skills/knowledge required What relevant measures of success might be
>>>>>>> Real life examples Links to more information
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'm looking for some help on one of the recommendations, which is to "Collaborate with partner organisations (e.g. schools, museums, other HE institutions) to exploit your digitised content". An example of this is how the Royal Maritime Museum and the University of Cambridge have collaborated on the Board of Longitude Archive - with Cambridge hosting the archive, and the Royal Maritime Museum contributing material, expertise and building/promoting classroom resource packs which draw on the archive materials.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'd be interested in other examples of collaborations around digital collections if anyone can supply them. However, what I'm really struggling to find is any more information I can link to that might guide institutions interested in embarking on collaborations of this type. If anyone has pointers on examples, or guides to, or papers/articles on, starting and making a success of such collaborations then I'd be very interested. Generally I'm trying to link to freely available online resources for further information.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Owen
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Owen Stephens
>>>>>>> Owen Stephens Consulting
>>>>>>> Web: http://www.ostephens.com
>>>>>>> Email: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
>>>>>>> Telephone: 0121 288 6936
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ****************************************************************
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>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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