Can My Small Business Have a Wikipedia Page?

Wikipedia links contain little in the way of search engine value, as they all contain the “nofollow” attribute and thus do no pass on PageRank, but having a highly respected site with a lot of traffic link to your isn’t a bad thing. But it can be more difficult than you think.

Getting Your Own Wikipedia Page

The Wikipedia FAQ is pretty clear: you can’t use Wikipedia to promote your business. Read through the detailed rules, but essentially, you shouldn’t be creating a page for your own business.

Do people do it anyway? Yes, and typically the articles are quickly deleted–and the users are often banned from Wikipedia.

Are there some Wikipedia pages for small businesses? Yes, but generally only when the organization meets with Wikipedia’s notability guidelines–when the business has a lot of secondary sources talking about them.  Press releases and stories in your local newspaper won’t cut it.

Rule of thumb: your business is ready to have a Wikipedia page when someone with no association with you whatsoever spontaneously decides to make one.

When You Have a Wikipedia Page

Having a Wikipedia page dedicated to you isn’t all flowers and sunshine though. It means that there will be an objective, frequently updated resource by and for the general community about you. In other words, they aren’t concerned about making you look good. Any criticism, controversy or scandal regarding your business is likely to be given in full detail on your page. You cannot “lock” the page to prevent changes and keep it fixed to something you want.

However, you can correct errors and vandalism on your Wikipedia page–carefully. You should definitely monitor the page and do what you can, as you are the subject matter expert, and you care the most about what people are saying about you.

Wikipedia Benefits for Those Without Pages

Okay, so your small business–like the overwhelming majority of them–does not qualify for its own page. But you can still get some benefit if you are willing to work at it. By contributing and editing in your field of expertise on Wikipedia, by being diligent and responsible in ensuring the highest-quality information for viewers while avoiding conflict of interest, it’s possible you may be able to work in the occasional link or build a reputation, as long as it is justified. Search Engine Watch has great tips on getting a link from Wikipedia.