Whenever this question is asked by a client, an SEO expert will most likely answer a BIG yes. Although not all SEO professionals will agree that Wikipedia can be used in SEO, there are a lot of experts who do agree and think that integrating Wikipedia in their SEO plans for their clients is effective, when done in the right way of course.
So, How Can One Qualify for a Wikipedia Page? If one is going to research about how to create a Wikipedia page, he will find out that Wikipedia has created a very high standard that every topic or entity has to meet in order for it to gain a Wiki page. The main qualification that needs to be met in order for a topic or an entity to be approved of a Wikipedia page is its “notability”.
This simply means that a topic has already been covered significantly by various trustworthy sources making that topic worthy of a page. In addition to that, another Wikipedia qualification is that the page should not be created by any party who has a conflict of interest such as an individual who wants a page about himself or any representative of a company who is tasked to write about his company.
This is because the main goal of Wikipedia is to produce high quality information that is neutral in tone and in no way biased or sounding like a discreet advertisement.
It’s Okay if You Do Not Qualify for a Wikipedia Page as of the Moment Since not all entities can right away qualify for a page, the best way to penetrate Wikipedia is to edit existing pages that are related to the client’s nature of business.
When editing existing pages, just make sure that only new and verifiable factual information related to the topic at hand is being provided because including unnecessary information that may be deemed by Wikipedia editors as inappropriate and promotional in form will most likely be deleted once discovered.
So Where Does SEO Come In? It is all about the links. After contributing significant amount of new information to already existing Wikipedia pages, there are two routes that an SEO expert can choose from to boost his client’s Wikipedia presence.
One is to participate in the Talk page of the community where his client’s area of expertise belongs. He can post his client’s link in the forum and let other Wikipedians decide if the link is worth adding on the reference section of the Wikipedia page or not.
The other route is that the SEO expert will do the referencing on his own in the hopes of getting organic hits from Wikipedia readers while bearing in mind not to abuse reference linking to avoid getting tagged as spams. Successfully including a link on the reference section of a Wikipedia page is an effective tool to drive interested readers to learn more about the client (or his products/services for that matter).
In closing, using Wikipedia can either make or break a client’s reputation since Wikipedia was created mainly and solely for information dissemination purpose and not for marketing or promotion. That is why it is important to understand first how Wikipedia works in order to fully use its capability as an effective SEO tool.
Do you have further questions about SEO?
The Northern Office – Innovative Marketing is an innovative marketing company that provides SEO services to all interested clients and not only that! TNO also offers free consultation and assistance when it comes to Content Marketing, Creation and Distribution for SME’s. You can email us your inquiries such as your extra questions about SEO at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or give us a call at (045) 499-1082 and we will definitely get back to you ASAP.