[pmwiki-users] Questions re pmWiki and how best achieve Search Engine Optimization for highest "Page Rank"?

Henry Gurr HenryG at aiken.sc.edu
Fri Jul 21 14:23:13 CDT 2006


Dear pmWiki Users

pmWiki is a wonderfully good piece of software, for which I am eternally 
grateful. And I understand (from reading various places in 
www.pmWiki.com) that pmWiki is already structured so as to make it easy 
for search engines to crawl pmWiki WebSites. For example pmWiki already  
has a features already setup for robots, such as the code: <meta 
name='robots' content='index,follow' /> This is a fact I discovered in 
one of the Cookbook pages.

However, in looking over Google Webmaster Guidelines, I notice some 
points that I want to ask about relevant to the Search Engine 
Optimization  (SEO) as stated on:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

So in the spirit of constructive inquiry I ask the following. (Answerers 
to these questions might well be also added to www.pmWiki.com.)

1) How much thought has gone into being sure pmWiki sites help maintain 
highest possible "search engine page rank".
2) Of course webmasters should read many SEO pages and carefully to 
follow the the rules so his *own* Wiki content will achieve a hi page 
rank. But are there other parts of www.pmWiki that the webmaster should 
be careful to supply specific content or choices?
3) What other important things should pmWiki software developers be 
doing for SEO, in addition to what is already done.

Let me give an example of one item I wonder about: All of my pmWiki 
pages seem to have the* same* "title line", irrespective of the topic of 
that particular page. Here  is the "title line" I  find on all my pages:
<title>Research Info: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance | Main | 
Home Page </title>

But one SEO author says: "*Remember to use different, *but relevant 
*title tag text on each page of your site - this is *very* important.* 
Only use keywords that appear on the page and avoid repeating the same 
word more than twice. If you feel the need to repeat a word, put one 
instance near the beginning and one towards the end."

Here is and other example" Although Metatag lists of Keywords, may no 
longer be as important as they once were, should there be a special 
place in pmWiki for a Metatag lists of Keywords? This would of course 
call for special instruction as to how to do this.

Thanking you in advance for any enlightment you may provide.

Henry Gurr
http://ww2.usca.edu/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/

*********** More Information from good webpages re SEO **************

PS Here are some passages I found that seem to say what a WebMaster 
should be doing. Such  instructions cold be also added  with other 
instructions and hints for pmWiki Users.

The whole issue of successful search engine optimization can really be 
summed up in this statement:
Relevant quality site using:
Relevant anchor text AND
Relevant domain name AND
Relevant file/folder name AND
Relevant page title tags AND
Relevant content and headings 
THUS PRODUCING
better rankings.
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles3/anchor-text-optimization.htm

*So what do you do?*
There's a lot to take onboard here and consider. But you can't go far 
wrong with your SEO if you try to grow your site as organically as 
possible.
If you know what you are doing you can take short cuts. Carry on with 
link exchanges but consider each site carefully and slow down in your 
gathering of them. Vary your anchor text. Add small amounts of good 
quality content to your site regularly. Check your search engine 
listings and edit your site to include a call to action in them if 
possible. Make your site more 'sticky' to encourage visitors to stay a 
while. Encourage visitors to Bookmark your site. Oh, and register new 
domain names for at least two years.
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/6-10-2005-71368.asp


 

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