Wikipedia is one of the most popular sites on the internet. It appears at the top of the search engines for almost any search term you can imagine.
The site is also an authority in the eyes of Google and other major search engines because its content is verified by human editors.
Interestingly, everyone can create an account on Wikipedia and contribute content to this authority site. This presents an opportunity to get backlinks from this valuable resource.
The amount of traffic you can get from Wikipedia is not only tremendous but also highly targeted. Creating an account is free and straight forward.
Do Wikipedia backlinks contribute to site authority?
This is a particularly concerning question. The answer to this question varies.
Since Wikipedia links are no-follow, they do not pass the link juice to the outbound link. Most people agree that links from Wikipedia do not improve site authority.
None of that is my concern, though. I am concerned about getting links that will send users to my site. I have done it before and I can say that Wikipedia can send traffic to your site.
Knowing too well that the authority Wikipedia wields and the traffic it has will not dwindle any time soon, I am confident that backlinks from Wikipedia are still effective.
I am going to share with you the exact method I use to get approved links from Wikipedia. It is important to do it right so that the editors don’t flag your links and/or remove them.
If you are not careful, the moderators will ban your account. Practice caution and be helpful.
Why create Wikipedia links if they do not improve site authority, anyway?
As I have stated before, I care more for the traffic. Plus, link building should have a well-balanced mixture of do-follow and no-follow backlinks. Simple as that.
I still believe in the quality of traffic I get from Wikipedia. Those who land on my page from Wikipedia get value because I provide them with more information than what they get on Wikipedia. This traffic is highly likely to convert. It does convert.
Additionally, building backlinks with Wikipedia has opened for me an avenue to get backlinks from other high authority sites.
The other sites that are looking for additional information from Wikipedia will also use your site as a resource. This leads to natural link generation cycle that will be highly beneficial to your site.
I will share with you how this works in a little while.
How do you start building links with Wikipedia?
Even though building links on Wikipedia is easy, you must be very careful with it. You should develop a strategy that will not raise any alarm and ruin your efforts before you start reaping benefits.
There are several link building opportunities in Wikipedia but I will share with you only the ones I use. The Wikipedia link building opportunities I use include:
- Creating and editing wikis
- Dead links
- Broken links
Please take note of this very important fact. You need to wet your feet in Wikipedia for some time before you start effecting major changes.
Start small by making minor edits and grow into more serious stuff like editing sections and adding missing information. Your goal should be to make Wikipedia a better resource. Be consistent and you will move up fast.
Let us now look at how each of these methods work.
1. Backlinking opportunities from creating and editing Wikis
Editing wikis is easy. Creating wikis is another game altogether. This method will give you more established backlinks that will generate more traffic to your site.
The editors prefer that you be an authority in your niche to create a Wiki. If you have a first-hand information about a certain subject, say a local event or scenery, you stand a better chance of creating an authority Wiki.
The secret is to write accurate information and provide supporting links from verifiable sources. Here is where you can add links to your page. You create a high quality resource page and link to it from Wikipedia.
To edit a Wiki, search a subject of interest in your niche and look at the resource that comes up. Read through it and see what information you can add there. There when you do, you can add your resource page as a reference.
Another way to get unique links from Wikipedia is by improving pages. I believe you have seen those Wikipedia pages that show messages like “citation needed”, “improve this resource”, etc. Go to the page and create a better resource with links to all the relevant resources. The editors will be happy to approve your edits if they truly add value.
2. Find link building opportunities from dead Wikipedia links
Given the size and level of activity of Wikipedia, it is impossible to keep all the links updated all the time. Dead links are those links that lead to pages that are not active anymore. Maybe the site has been discontinued (expired domains).
Dead links lower the quality of a Wiki and the editors will be thankful if you can identify and update the dead link.
When you find a dead link, plug the url of the dead page in the Way Back Machine and look up the archived resource.
You can create a better resource than what is available in the archives then go back to Wikipedia and update the link to your resource.
3. Link building opportunities from broken Wikipedia links
Broken links lead to error pages. This could be attributed to a change in the permalink of the original resource without redirects to the new resource.
If the link is broken on Wikipedia, all pages pointing to it are also landing on the error page. Here is the opportunity for you to create a resource and link to it not only from Wikipedia but also from other ages that link to the broken page.
Once you get the broken link, plug it in a link analyzer, like Ahrefs for instance, and check its backlink profile.
Then use any of these email hunting techniques to find the contact details of the editors of the respective sites and propose to them to point their broken links to your resource. Majority of the site owners will certainly do because you will be saving them a lot of work and improving their pages at the same time.
How to use advanced Google search to find broken Wikipedia links
You can use Google advanced search to find broken links on Wikipedia and any other site you want.
Just type the command below:
site:sitedomain “Keyword phrase” “dead link”
For instance, if we are looking for a broken link on Wikipedia on the subject of bacteria, we would use the search term below
site:wikipedia.org “bacteria” “dead link”
The image below shows what I get. I have activated my broken link checker tool. It is called Check My Links.
Once the SERPs come up, click on the relevant result to load the page. After loading the page, click ctrl+f and type in dead link or citation needed and find them from the page.
Once you do, you can follow one of the three methods I highlighted earlier to build your link from Wikipedia. You can also do backlink analysis of the broken page and contact the editors of the pages pointing to it. Let them know they have a broken link and suggest your page for them.
How to Use WikiGrabber to Find Broken Wikipedia Links
WikiGrabber is a very powerful tool for finding broken links on Wikipedia.
Once you are on WikiGrabber, type in your keyword and run it. It will yield relevant pages with broken links that you can use for link building.
Once the results have loaded, you can click and follow the one that interests you. On opening the page, hit ctrl+f and type dead link or citation needed. It will highlight for you all the links with issues.
Use the Way Back Machine to see what the resources looked like when the pages linked to them and create a better resource for the page. Once you’ve done that, go back to Wikipedia and edit the dead/broken link to your resource.
You can also use a link analyzer tool like Semrush or Ahrefs to find all the pages pointing to the dead resource. Pitch the editors and let them know that they have a dead link in their pages. Suggest your resource as a better alternative.
Recap of How to Create Wikipedia Backlinks
Let’s now recapitulate everything we’ve said about building Wikipedia links to your site:
- Create a Wikipedia account. It is free and fast.
- Be a good Wikipedia citizen. Hang around for some time to see how things work around. Contribute to some house cleaning, editing a few things here and there. Do not spam the site with links to low quality resources. You will be banned and binned.
- When you add links, do not concentrate on adding just your own. Add more external links than you add yours. I recommend 10% links to personal resources and 90% links to other resources.
- Search for link building opportunities using the methods we’ve highlighted. When you get broken or dead links, create high quality resources to fill the gap then go to Wikipedia and edit the dead links.
- Use a link analysis tool to get more backlinking opportunities from pages that are pointing to the broken/dead link. When you get the pages, contact the editors and let them know they have a dead link in their page. Suggest your resource as an alternative.
- If you have an expertise in a subject that has not been covered on Wikipedia, create a Wiki for it. I have found success creating Wikis for local beautiful scenes. I also participate in creating and editing Kiswahili Wikis.
So, there you have it. The blueprint I use to create Wikipedia backlinks and also get high quality links from other sites that use broken Wikipedia resources.
You can try them out as well. I believe you will see great results in the coming days.
Very informative content, a valuable resource article! Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome, Steve. The tips have helped me in my journey. It’s only appropriate that I share with others.