There are two things businesses should realize when they’re looking to leverage Wikipedia to drive website traffic:
1. Wikipedia pages are NOT MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES. Let me repeat that: your Wikipedia page is NOT A MARKETING OPPORTUNITY. Wikipedia is an internet source that tries to stay as neutral as possible in the information it conveys.
2. “Wikipedia is not a place for original thought, but a place where you can consolidate what has already been published elsewhere.” – Jonathan Hochmann, SEO Consultant and Wikipedia editor

Don’t get me wrong, Wikipedia should be a part of your online strategy. Having a Wikipedia entry for your company adds credibility when it pops up in search rankings.

Site visitors from Wikipedia have a lower bounce rate and tend to stay on your website longer than average. Wikipedia pages are usually highly ranked in a Google search, which can be used to a company’s advantage.

However, Wikipedia can’t be leveraged using traditional marketing principles. There are some non-guaranteed methods to influence Wikipedia pages to gain site visitors, but there is no bulletproof way to optimize a Wikipedia page to drive website traffic.

What A Wikipedia Corporate Page Can Do For Your Business

• Provide objective, fact-based, and concise information about your company. Your Wikipedia page can answer the basic “who, what, why, how, when, where” questions about your company. “Who we are”, “What we do”, “Why we do it”, “How we do it”, “When we started doing it”, and “Where we do it”.
• Wikipedia can improve search ranking potential because Wikipedia will often be the 1st result for your company name. You can use this to drive SEO for your website, or displace competitors’ websites and websites that publish unflattering opinions about your own.

What Wikipedia Can’t Do For Your Business
• Wikipedia is not a place for sales pitches, marketing language, or performance claims. If you make a claim that can’t be substantiated with an independent 3rd party reference, it will probably be deleted.
• Wikipedia is not a forum to publish original research from your company. Remember, it’s not a venue for original content, but a place to consolidate and summarize content published elsewhere.
• Wikipedia is not a channel for mudslinging your competitors. If you include negative content about a competitor on your company entry, or if you edit a competitor’s entry with negative content, it will be flagged and deleted.

Listen Part 2 in this series “Wikipedia → How to Get Your Company Listed in Wikipedia”

About the Author: Rosemary Brisco
Rosemary works with companies to turn their website into a sales generating tool by ensuring that the site achieves high visibility in the search engines.