Yes, it definitely does. Which actually is a problem for Wikipedia 
because it encourages people/companies to try to get entries into WP for 
SEO purposes and so that the sidebox will show up. I spend a lot of time 
on the "articles for deletion" pages of WP trying to get these 
promotional pages out of the encyclopedia. A big success is when I see 
them disappear from search results. (BTW, the various ways that 
self-published authors of written crap game the system is truly 
astonishing. A+ for effort, and their skill in PR is way beyond their 
literary skills.)

kc

On 5/6/15 8:33 AM, Bigwood, David wrote:
> I have heard that at least part of the sidebox is constructed using data from Wikipedia, especially the structured info in the infobox there.
>
> Dave
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Karen Coyle
> Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2015 9:21 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Library Hours
>
> Tom, Google will not tell you. The entirety of how Google search works is a trade secret. We don't know the algorithm for ranking, and we don't know what information they glean from web pages -- and they are unlikely to tell. It is a constant on the schema.org discussion list that developers want to know what Google/Bing/Yahoo/Yandex will do with specific information in the web pages, and it is a constant that the reps there reply: we cannot tell you that. The only way to find out is to code and observe.
>
> kc

-- 
Karen Coyle
[log in to unmask] http://kcoyle.net
m: +1-510-435-8234
skype: kcoylenet/+1-510-984-3600