How to Get a Wikipedia Page for Your Business or Brand
The benefits of a Wikipedia presence are visible right away. If, for instance, you search for a large corporation or a famous celebrity, a search information box will display below your search results. This denotes respectability and authenticity. So it’s no wonder that many business owners and marketers come to us asking how they can create a Wikipedia page for themselves. Wikipedia page creation is a process that interests many businesses today.
This being said, it is much tougher to earn a place within the world’s leading online encyclopedias than to create a website and/or an account for a social networking website. Wikipedia won’t be a marketing website, and you need to be careful if you don’t want content to be denied right away. We're here to enlighten you about the truth behind such an endeavor and how we may guide you through it. Clients often ask us how to get a Wikipedia page approved for their company, and Lumino Digital has the information you need.
Understand That Getting a Wiki Page Isn't Easy
The first common myth we come across is the idea that a person simply has to pay for it or fill out a form to get a Wikipedia page. That is simply untrue. Wikipedia has a very strict set of guidelines in place, the top one being the concept of "notability." Your company has to be noteworthy in the eyes of Wikipedia. We see common online searches like ‘how do I get a Wiki page if my business is new?" but the answer always centers on notability and independent coverage.
What this means is that your page must have coverage in reputable, independent sources. This is not press releases, your own website, or any paid-for advertising on other sites. This would mean coverage in a newspaper, magazines, or other industry publications. If the only coverage on a company is on the company's own publicity page, they are not yet worthy of page status. Wikipedia editors will remove a page that does not have such coverage as soon as they can.
There’s No Shortcut to Approval
Another challenge that surprises many clients is the Conflict of Interest (COI) rule. You cannot make your own Wikipedia page or your own business page. You cannot create your own pages because you cannot be impartial about your own business. If you have ever searched how to get a Wiki page for yourself, it's important to note that impartiality and notability are non-negotiable in the process.
This is because Wikipedia operates on the basis of volunteer contributors to ensure the neutrality of the information. Should you attempt to create one yourself, it will not pass the neutrality tests and will therefore be taken down. This puts you in a bind since you would like to create the page, but you cannot do the writing yourself.
Don’t Cut Corners with "Black Hat" Tactics
Perhaps you heard of advertising freelancers who offer a guaranteed page in twenty-four hours. We would very strongly advise you against this. Such suppliers very often resort to "sock puppet" accounts.
If Wikipedia detects such activity, and they will, the penalties are severe. Your page will be removed, and your domain will probably be blacklisted, so you won’t have a chance to create a real page. We believe in doing the right thing. Having a page built from manipulation just doesn’t work for us. Everyone wants to get a Wiki page, but it must be done the right way.
We Evaluate Viability Before We Write
Since the standards are so rigorous, we begin the process with an honest assessment. We analyze the current media coverage and presence in the public domain to ascertain if you already qualify under the criteria of notability.
And if you are ready, we will take it from there according to proper procedure. In these instances, we can offer guidance on how to gain sufficient press coverage so that you may qualify at a later date. Getting a Wikipedia page is a marathon and not a sprint. And we are here to guide you to the finish line at Lumino Digital!
