How To Create A Wikipedia Page For Your Business
Wikipedia is an editing-based online encyclopedia ranked as top 15 popular websites on Alexa. Wikipedia is an open-collaboration space maintained by volunteers and wiki-based editing. It is hosted by Wikimedia Foundation, which is a non-profit organization, mainly a funded organization.
Wikipedia is popular for its credibility democratization of knowledge, coverage, culture, and no bias. It is a famous culture covering articles about books, businesses, people, films, and academics. Wikipedia is operating in more than 325 languages and is a well-recognized name in the search engine.
It is the one platform to make a visible presence and a recognized name. If you are willing to make a Wikipedia page for your business, there are certain rules and guidelines to follow. Wikipedia has defined its policies and guidelines. Now, to make a Wikipedia page you can follow some of the mentioned guidelines.
Total page view on Wikipedia from 2020 to 2022
Source: Wikimedia
Benefits Of Creating A Wikipedia Page
Before going into the process of making a Wikipedia page for a business, have a look at some benefits on offer. Wikipedia is a prominent name on the search engine so it can be used as a great tool for marketing.
It Drives Traffic
Online traffic is the main driver in boosting a business. The more traffic you have it can affect your sales positively. Wikipedia can offer you good links for referrals, and it can provide you with huge traffic.
It Improves Viability
Visibility is important for any business to make a remarkable name in the industry. Wikipedia helps businesses to take their business on an impressive visibility status. If the business is visible there are mere chances of getting ranked higher on the search engine.
It Improves SEO Ranking
A search engine optimize or promotes a page that has credibility and visibility. A Wikipedia page plays an integral role in bringing a page up the search engine. Thus, Wikipedia also helps in boosting SEO rankings. It can build a strong name for the longest as Wikipedia does not take a trustworthy page down.
It Improves Credibility
Every business wants to have a credible name in the industry to make a reliable name. Wikipedia is a platform that does not support any fake pages or promotional pages. Thus, it is a credible space, and writing an article on Wikipedia can add credibility.
A Great Marketing Tool
Every business looks for essential marketing tools that can have effective results for their business. Wikipedia also works as an effective marketing tool. Businesses or brands use it as a digital marketing tool to attract clients.
Things To Avoid In Making A Wikipedia Page For Your Business
If your business is supposed to be on Wikipedia make sure you are doing what you are not supposed to do. If you feel you are worthy of being added to the article, ask someone else to do it. If you add about yourself in the Wikipedia article or created a Wikipedia for my business you will likely face a setback.
An article may remain on the page and get approval if it is made with humility and neutrality. Since there are a lot of factors binding the deletion of a Wikipedia page. Avoid the following things:
Advertising
Wikipedia asks to completely avoid promotion of a business. Wikipedia has many business pages but they are not for promotional purposes. To create a Wikipedia page for your company, write it carefully. Make sure the content is free from conflict of interest and there are reliable sources attached to it. Before writing a Wikipedia page for business it is important to follow the notability guidelines specifically for business.
Attack On A Person Or Organization
Wikipedia does not allow any negative content about a business or a person. if Wikipedia finds negative content on the attack pages, take it down. Any article that harasses, defames, threatens or intends to tarnish reputation is not permitted.
Personal Essays Or Original Research
Wikipedia is not a place to write original content or write your own theories or interpretations. It does not allow you to post any original content even if it can be supported by references.
Non-Notable Topics
People often do not consider the notability for a Wikipedia article. As Wikipedia is not a paper-based encyclopedia it does not support non-notable topics. The notability criteria cater to many articles, however not every topic can be included. If pages for an organization or brand do not substantiate with notability guidelines, Wikipedia takes it down by speedy deletion policy. To avoid a situation make sure you are following the notability guidelines and are citing the reliable sources with verifiability
Incorrect References
References are an integral part for verification of an article. It is needed to link with the context of the topic or article. Incomplete or no verifiable references are not welcomed on Wikipedia. It is important to make sure that references are added properly as per the guidelines. Wikipedia only endorses facts and it is needed to prove a statement, so authenticity is the key.
Non-Researched Topics
Before creating a Wikipedia, be fully versed in the topic being created. Wikipedia is a credible platform, and it requires a fully researched topic. If there is a piece of incomplete information and incomplete information on an article with loose references it can be taken immediately.
The Notability For A Business Page
To make a Wikipedia page for an organization, it is important to qualify for the notability criteria of Wikipedia. The basics of understanding notability is ‘worthy of notice”. A business needs to be significant to make their Wikipedia page.
To qualify for notability, information about the article has to be verifiable, and independent. The entire premise of notability does not depend on popularity. The acceptance of notability depends on some important factors.
Before going into depth of notability one must pass the general notability guideline (GNG) or the subject-specific notability guideline (SNG).
1. No Inherited Notability
In this matter an organization or business is not considered to be notable because a notable person or an event is affiliated with it. The business needs to be discussed in independent sources to be considered notable.
For instance, when a celebrity starts their business, their restraint cannot pass the test and inherit notability. It can happen the other way if a business is notable the owner does not inherit notability from it.
2. No Inherent Notability
No organization or business is considered notable. If an organization or business has received very little or less notability they do not inherit for notability. No matter how famous or popular a business is they need to collect sources for an independent article.
For notability it is important to look if the business has an effect on the society, culture, economics, science and history. Large organizations are likely to have notability and its effects on society. In some cases, small business also makes it to the notability and Wikipedia asks not bias any small organization
The Primary Notability Criteria For A Business Page
A business or company is subjected to notability if they have significant coverage, with multiple reliable secondary sources considered notable. In a business nature, the notability is followed by general guidelines but is stricter and emphasizes the quality of the sources. The guidelines explain issues such as Wikipedia being considered a promotional space.
In notability, individual sources are tested and evaluated separately. Each of the sources must meet the following criteria to establish qualitative content for an article:
- Significant coverage
- Completely independent of the article’s subject
- Must meet the standards of a reliable source
- Primary and tertiary sources are not considered valid. All the sources must be a secondary source.
Significant Coverage
A business should have in-depth coverage, a trivial information or a popular incident is not considered significant coverage. A deep significant coverage gives a chance to evaluate, analyze, and discuss a company or an organization. It helps in extending their name well and opens new opportunities, mentions, and acknowledgment.
Numerical Facts
In Wikipedia, article quality has importance over quantity. For a Wikipedia article, it does not matter how many employees are working or what is the stats of their sales revenue. Similarly, the stats view, likes, and a number of subscriptions do not matter. Wikipedia emphasizes leadership qualities, and how the organization is leading their teams and looking for making changes in their respective industries.
Significant Of The Company
A source that only describes specific information is not considered significant to receive coverage. In this case, an autobiography of the CEO can be of help but not for the company.
Audience
A source’s audience must be considered. It is because of coverage of strong and reliable national or international media. The significance of national or international is not enough; the audience needs to be from statewide, provincial, and regional.
Illegal Conduct
Many organizations and businesses have significant coverage for their illegal conduct. Such businesses are not welcomed on the Wikipedia platform as the source of their significance is negative.
Integral Steps Into Making A Wikipedia Page
Now, the question arises how to create a Wikipedia page for your business? The answer is one must be very well aware of all the steps required to make a Wikipedia page. Wikipedia page creation has a series of steps to qualify for an article page. The steps are the winning factor into making a Wikipedia page.
Look into some of the crucial steps for creating a Wikipedia page for your business.
1. Create An Account
This is among the basic steps of creating a Wikipedia page. Start by logging into the Wikipedia page and sign up. You can simply sign up by entering a username and a password. For a Wikipedia title page, all the pages are created by the red-link method. The red link denotes the non-existing page and blue denotes an existing page.
A. Searching
For creating a page for Wikipedia, you enter the text in the search bar. The entered text result will tell you if the title does not exist, may tell you to create a page or will provide a red link to the title. It normally appears in the following form:
B. Preview A Red Link
- Click on the accessible page
- Create a title of your choice and surround it in double brackets
- Clock on the show preview
- Click on the red-link
C. Saving Of Red Link
Once you have selected and verified for the red-link. It will turn into blue and you can access the page at any time.
2. Write A Draft
Since you have finalized the article title now practice writing the article multiple times. Before moving ahead look at the writing policies on the article wizard. Write thoughtful and informative content that sits with the policies and guidelines.
Wikipedia has a manual style that teaches the writers how to write a Wikipedia page for your business. Be impartial in your article and make sure you are writing a well-mannered article. Remember It is not a platform to promote your business or talk about its success or accolades.
Once you have practiced writing the article and have drafted the page, you can check it on Wikipedia Sandbox and discuss it on the talk pages. The Sandbox helps in having an idea of how the article looks.
3. Gather The Sources
Gathering sources for a Wikipedia article is a vital part. All the sources should be secondary sources and from reliable platforms. Wikipedia has sensitive criteria for sources. The sources must be gathered from credible news channels, literary articles, journals or government public records.
As per the rules of Wikipedia, it does not accept any primary sources or self-written articles. Wikipedia is an authentic platform thus you can only add verifiable sources.
4. Add Citations And Format
On Wikipedia, a citation has two parts inline and references. A quote or text from an outside source is to be cited with an inline citation. It can be a footnote or a short citation. The second part of the citations is the references. The inline citation is necessary to verify the challengeable sources. The references are a detailed list of sources that are also used by the readers to verify the information. Make sure to add all the references, and sources and cite them. Wikipedia has 5 types of citation:
- A full citation
- An inline citation
- Short citation
- In-text citation
- General references
5. Follow The Core Content Policies
Among the crucial steps of citation and notability. Following the content policies of Wikipedia are the winning factor in qualifying for Wikipedia articles. Make sure to follow them to have a unique and error-free article.
A. Neutral Point Of View
All the articles must be written from a neutral point of view. Wikipedia does not endorse any hate or bias. Choose a soft and neutral tone, to avoid any conflict or danger of deletion.
- Verifiability
All the gathered sources must be taken from verifiable sources. While adding the sources, add citations and references to verify their original source.
C. No Original Search
Wikipedia does not approve original articles to be added to the article. If you are a promotional or self-written article it will be rejected right away.
6. Send For A Review
After completing the article send it for a review and wait for some days. The Wiki editors take some days to reply. The editors may reply to make some changes or the article can be rejected right away. It is better to make the changes in the Wikipedia article to be able to verify the platform
Since Wikipedia is an open-source platform, keep up with the changes and confirm the article is not spoiled.
FAQ’s
If you want to create a Wikipedia page for your business you can read through the policies and guidelines of Wikipedia. For creating a Wikipedia page for my business, you need to gather reliable sources and references. The reliable sources must be from authentic platforms such as news channels and scholarly articles.
A brand can create its Wikipedia page by qualifying the notability criteria. A notability criterion means to be worthy of notice. So, if a brand has passed through the notability guidelines and is significant, it can create a Wikipedia page.
In Wikipedia you have to write articles neutrally. Wikipedia is a credible site that does not support any bias or hate. So, make sure you are writing an article from a completely neutral angle.
independent sources are the third-party sources. It helps editors or writers to make a completely fair and portioned article. The independent sources save an article from self-promotion or self-benefit.
Wikipedia has set their three content policies for an article. To create a Wikipedia page, one must follow it. The article has to be written from a neutral point of view, it has to be verifiable and from no original research.