80% Of SEOs Said They Can Beat Wikipedia In Google

We asked our readers a few weeks ago if they can beat Wikipedia in the Google results? The answer is yes, most SEOs believe they can beat Wikipedia's listings in the Google results.

81% of SEOs feel they can beat the Wikipedia number one listings, if they need to. 74% said they can do it with some work, while 7% said it would be easy to do so. Let me share the break down of results:

Question: Can You Beat a #1 Wikipedia Google Listing?
:: Yes, But With Work said 117 respondents or 74%
:: No, Too Hard said 23 respondents or 14%
:: Yes, Easily said 11 respondents or 7%
:: No, Not Possible said 5 respondents or 3%
:: Other answer... said 3 respondents or 2%

That is a total of 159 responses to the poll.

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

This story was pre-written and scheduled to go live on May 29th.

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posted rustybrick in Search Engine Optimization at May 29, 2009 7:22 AM Comments (8)

Comments

Its your duty to now tell us who the 5 companies are that said it wasn't possible to beat wikipedia..... that way we all know who never to use for SEO. No doubt they will be the same people who use PPC to advertise for SEO work - http://www.danielwheeler.co.uk/index.php/why-do-seo-companies-try-and-get-business-from-ppc/

Posted by Daniel Wheeler at May 29, 2009 07:52

I don't think Barry can name and same unfortunately, due to data protection issues.

Daniel, I share your frustration.

Posted by Rob Abdul at May 29, 2009 09:35

I also must confess that it is nearly impossible to beat wikipedia at google...

Posted by No Name at May 29, 2009 10:30

Really? then try outrank wikipedia for 'religion' or 'english'. I think it all depends on what keywords to target and if they stick to white hat techniques.

Posted by James at May 29, 2009 11:54

If it's possible, then try outrank wikipedia for 'religion' or 'english'. I think it all depends on what keywords to target and if they stick to white hat techniques.

My website, MyWikiBiz.com, is occasionally able to outrank Wikipedia on relatively obscure article titles. But, as James pointed out above, try it on "religion" or "english", and good luck with that. I'm thinking 80% of SEOs are deluding themselves. Why doesn't SEO Roundtable take the next step -- select a batch of asteroids that rank #1 in Google from Wikipedia (e.g., 588 Achilles), put 'em in a hat, and let the SEOs each take ownership of an asteroid and do battle to get "their" asteroid page to #1 on Google. They could each pitch in $50, and winner takes all.

Posted by Gregory Kohs at May 30, 2009 10:58

Ofcourse it all depends on the keywords.
But except for doing all you can for your own website, you can also downgrade the specific wikipedia-page that's listing above you.

Posted by Bartjan at June 2, 2009 09:22

I've done it before and I'll do it again. The question is not whether it is possible but rather if the time and effort required to dethrone a Wikipedia result will be worth it for any given keyword.

Posted by No Name at June 7, 2009 17:35

80% Of SEOs Said They Can Beat Wikipedia In Google

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