Wikipedia Provides Content Google Can’t Live Without. And it Really Matters to Your Business! Overseen by the Wikimedia foundation, Wikipedia has created an incredible online resource, underpinned by the belief that knowledge should be free, accessible and useful. The website is accessible in every language, in every county and on any device. Wikipedia has developed its encyclopaedic knowledge thanks to thousands of volunteers who contribute content, update pages, develop new materials and edit existing information. Google and Wikipedia have a long-established relationship, and Google has recently provided a considerable financial contribution to support the development of Wikipedia, which has included the integration of Google translate into Wikipedia enabling the translation of content into a further 15 languages – an important development for the two organisations belief in the global democratization of knowledge. Wikipedia Back Links Wikipedia directly affects the ranking score of every webpage. As the 5th most used website in the world Wikipedia is essential for on-page and off-page search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. Combine this powerful market position with information about your business and your search rankings will see an almost immediate boost! Creating backlinks in Wikipedia reassures google bots that your website is authentic, relevant and reliable! Because it took little time for marketers to catch-on and to start to spam links on Wikipedia, the organisation changed its links to ‘no-follow’ (which prevents them acting as back links) but Google’s algorithm still gives some credibility to these links. Wikipedia: The Truth About Search Engine Optimisation But it’s not just about these back links. With so much information produced by thousands of users, Wikipedia will invariably tick all the boxes for most keyword search terms. Especially when every page is written around a key search term. The algorithms are spot-on for delivering high ranking search results because links and citations are all from high quality sources. This is also why ‘Okay Google’ searches so often return information and answers using Wikipedia content. Capitalising on This Opportunity Wikipedia is effectively a direct competitor for every SEO strategist and every SEO project. So, if Wikipedia is competing for the rankings and traffic which generates your business, it’s essential to make sure that any Wikipedia pages talking about your brand or company are accurate and up to date. Incorrect and out of date information will reflect badly on your business. Editing Your Wikipedia Page? Wikipedia doesn’t approve of individuals editing content about their own businesses, so it works hard to prevent these conflicts of interest. Ways to avoid being ‘caught’ doing this include: 1. Focussing on adding relevant content (not marketing copy) and correcting errors 2. Editing the page form home or elsewhere. It’s easy for Wikipedia to identify company owned IP addresses – and your IP address shows up every time you edit a page 3. Considering if the page a high-interest feature which will be edited by others who might suspect the page is being edited by someone with an interest in that content 4. Seeking professional advice Using Wikipedia for Off-Page SEO • Even though Wikipedia links are no-follow they can still be used to get referral traffic using broken and citation links • Linking to topic pages with related content and keywords • Work with an experienced Wikipedia SEO professional to develop a well-structured Wikipedia page about your business or brand Manipulating Wikipedia for Off-Page SEO • Use Wikipedia as part of a keyword analysis to plan and develop an SEO strategy • Take the opportunity to develop insight in to the level of interest in a particular topic on Wikipedia • Create new and relevant content through dead links, citations needed and stub pages • Plan new content around reference pages