Link From Wikipedia Worthwhile?

[waynekolenchuk]

Hi Mozzers,

Is it worth the trouble spending the time to get a link from Wikipedia considering they're nofollow?

[CatalystSEM]

No problem JP. Glad we could help out. Feel free to reach out to us if you have specific questions on link building. We've trained many folks and are happy to help out.

[NiallSmith]

Catalyst,

I know this wasn't my question, but thank you for that insight. That really puts a lot of my previous fears/hesitations to try and build links on Wikipedia to rest.

This is great 'feather-in-the-cap' for any SEO who has been struggling to build links via Wikipedia.

Thank you again for this great insight!

[CatalystSEM]

There's a trick to getting your Wikipedia articles or contributions posted. Wikipedia is like a credit card, if you have good credit then you can do whatever you want but if you have bad or no credit then you can't do what you want.

The other thing is that Wikipedia functions like a virtual world with actual territories over certain pieces of content. These territories or content niches are controlled by an individual or two so when a newcomer comes and starts making content contributions, its like declaring war on someone who invaded your territory.

If you want to get our contributions accepted in Wikipedia then you have to start small in that niche. Start by making simple edits to build up your influence, perhaps 1 - 3 per day by pruning dead links or updating link rot.

Then in a couple of weeks, move on to minor article submissions such as if you work for an automotive brand then you could update the stats on a new model or put a mention about a new plant species in.

By now, your user permissions would have been upgraded twice from a nonregistered user to a new then auto-confirmed user. Try to get more permissions added to your account, perhaps start reviewing bad edits and start flagging them. Try to show stewardship over a period of a few months to a several years on the content niche that you'd like to own.

After six months to one year, submit your contribution and see if it gets denied. It won't be denied now because by now you be considered an active member of the community who's contributed regularly by doing your part (click on any user in Wikipedia and you'll see their history of edits, awards, etc).

[ChrisHolgate]

If you have a way of getting a link from Wikipedia, even if it takes some effort then I would definitely take it.

Even if we assume Google completely ignores the nofollow and we take SEO out of the equation entirely then it could be worth it for the potential visitors you could get as a direct result of the link.

[NiallSmith]

I definitely agree with Catalyst here, all I'm saying is that the criteria they use for establishing 'what's a quality contribution' is extremely subjective.

I've created a number of entries that could be considered much more 'high-value' than the other links on the page only to get stuck in the sandbox.

Not to discourage you from trying to get added to Wikipedia, I'm just saying don't get discouraged if your contribution doesn't get added to the page.

Like anything else in SEO, if at first you don't succeed; try, try again!

[CatalystSEM]

It's worth it because if you manage to write a page of copy on Wikipedia and your citations point back towards your website. People who research the Wikipedia article may jump to your website via the citation and reference your article instead.

Basically write a fairly comprehensive article but leave out some key elements, all of which are found on the secondary information source that is owned by you.

The key is to think long term. Wikipedia typically ranks for competitive queries so you may not get your links in the beginning but you have a chance to build them over time.

One of my mentors taught me that it's not so much as building a single link but rather how you can build system that will build links for you while you sleep. If you seed enough systems around on the internet, one or two links here and there won't matter much but over the course of your career, you will find that you've racked up a lot of links and continue to do so.

[CMC-SD]

Wikipedia can drive a lot of traffic, so while it won't help with rankings, it may help you accomplish the goal that rankings are supposed to be accomplishing.

[NiallSmith]

Wayne,

IMO I don't think it's worth it. I mean, while it's a great link to have, the rigamarole an SEO has to go through in order to get their link added to the list of resources or cited within the document is so tenuous that it'd be more advantageous to go and try to scout links from a few other, high-yield sites.

In all honesty, you'd probably be a lot more successful doing that than trying to dig your way out of Wiki's sandbox. Nevertheless, it's worth a shot. If your submission isn't accepted there, you can always try to spin it somewhere else.