Getting backlinks from Wikipedia can be an excellent way of driving more targeted traffic to your website.
What you will find below is a five-step guide on how to get backlinks from Wikipedia that have the best chance of being permanent on the platform.
The point is that anyone can edit a wiki page to make it better right away, but there are specific steps you need to follow to make sure your link building is deemed valuable to Wikipedia users and isn't flagged as spam.
If you follow the process outlined below to create backlinks the right way, you will improve your off-page search engine optimization (SEO) success rate using the Wikipedia website.
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What Is a Wikipedia Backlink?
A Wikipedia backlink is any link to a website that appears in the notes section or external links area of a Wikipedia page. Wikipedia backlinks are citations from the website to this web resource. A Wikipedia backlink can also refer to a web page or a PDF file.
Utilizing Wikipedia for link building is just one of the backlink strategies mentioned in my other guide on how to get high quality backlinks. Check it out after reading this page.
How to Get Backlinks From Wikipedia
1. Create a Wikipedia account
The first step in learning how to get backlinks from Wikipedia is to create a new account. Although you don't have to be registered to contribute to Wikipedia pages, having an account will make it easier to generate backlinks to your website.
You will also enjoy these additional benefits as a registered user:
- Set up your own user page to practice editing and publishing in your own sandbox.
- Communicate with other editors through your own discussion page.
- Facilitate communication between you and other editors.
Once you have had your Wikipedia account for 4 days and have made at least 10 edits, you will be allowed to:
- Get permissions.
- Edit semi-protected pages.
- Begin new articles, rename pages, and upload images.
And once your account is 30 days old and you've made at least 500 edits, you'll be allowed to edit extended protected pages to improve Wikipedia's overall content ecosystem.
2. Define your keyword dataset
The next step in learning how to build backlinks in Wikipedia is to define your keyword dataset to target. As with any search engine optimization technique, keyword research is the foundation of any SEO strategy.
The goal here is to gather a list of general keywords that relate to the topic you want to target for backlinks on Wikipedia. Thematically relevant backlinks are the best for SEO.
However, not every topic has a dedicated Wikipedia page, so you should come up with a list of 25-50 general keywords that you can study on the platform to determine which terms have their own Wikipedia listing.
You can use a keyword research tool for this discovery process, such as Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, KWFinder, or Keysearch, or do it manually on the Wikipedia website.
3. Find Wikipedia backlink opportunities
With your keyword set in hand, you can now start looking for good Wikipedia link building opportunities.
Basically, there are two types of wiki backlinks you can get: dead links and new links.
Dead link opportunities
A dead link on Wikipedia is a link that is no longer active but is still hyperlinked on the wiki page. Such link rot occurs when the linked resource disappears or is moved without an HTML redirect in place.
A broken link is a good opportunity to get a backlink from Wikipedia because you can provide updated content that can replace that link.
There are three ways to discover dead links on Wikipedia:
- Perform a manual search of the Wikipedia list of dead link categories.
- Use an advanced search operator in Google to find Wikipedia pages that match your list of keywords by typing into the search engine this query string:
site:wikipedia.org [your keyword] + "dead link".
- Use the free WikiGrabber tool which does all the work for you.
New link possibilities
A new link on Wikipedia is exactly what it sounds like: creating a unique link on a wiki page to a new resource.
Anyone can add new links to relevant sections of Wikipedia pages; however, registered users with a good account history are often the ones who manage to make their backlinks stick and become permanent, more than guest users.
Simply search the areas of the wiki pages you are targeting for relevant keywords that could use a new citation. Perhaps there is a statement, fact, or assertion that has no resource to validate its accuracy. If this is the case, this might be a good place for you to try inserting a Wikipedia backlink.
4. Create a resource for this Wikipedia topic
The next step in how to create backlinks from Wikipedia is to create high-quality content on your website that can be linked from wiki pages with dead links or new opportunities you have found for citations.
There are two ways to create high-quality content for linking to Wikipedia:
- For dead links, you can use Wayback Machine to find a saved copy of the content that has disappeared, then replicate it on your own website.
- For dead links and new links, you can create a piece of high-quality content that can replace the dead link or serve as a good resource for a new citation.
Just remember that you need to put a lot of time and energy into the content you create for Wikipedia link building. Poor quality content will not pass the manual review of a Wikipedia editor. It must demonstrate a high level of expertise, authority, reliability, and be highly related to the topic of the wiki page to become a permanent backlink for your website.
5. Insert a backlink on the Wikipedia page
The last step in the process of getting Wikipedia backlinks is to insert the link on the Wikipedia page. You can substitute a dead link or add a new link.
It is best to follow the Wikipedia Source Citation Guide to use the correct markup language called wikitext. Here is also a Wikitext Cheatsheet to speed up the page editing process.
To improve your chances of your backlink being permanent on Wikipedia, you must cite your website in the correct format. Otherwise, the link won't stick or another Wikipedia editor will remove it because it doesn't follow the proper markup language.
A final word of warning here:
Do not overuse the Wikipedia platform by trying to insert keyword-rich anchor text for your backlinks, adding new links at scale, or submitting false information. Engaging in any of these behaviors will reduce your chances of getting a permanent backlink to Wikipedia and/or having your registered account banned.
6. Bonus tip for easy Wikipedia link building
One last backlink strategy you can use to get Wikipedia backlinks without directly editing the page on Wikipedia is to use a 301 redirect for websites that no longer exist.
This will require some manual research to find out if the linking domain has expired or not. But if the domain has expired, you can hopefully purchase or re-register it via a site like Godaddy or Namecheap.
Once you have the domain, you can then follow step 4 of this guide to recreating the old content that was linked or develop new content. Once this step is complete, you will need to set up individual 301 redirects for the broken links you found on Wikipedia so that the backlinks are redirected to the new content on your website.
Websites you can use to find expired domains are as follows:
- Expiredomains.net
- Domcop.com
- Spamzilla.io
Are Backlinks From Wikipedia Good?
A Wikipedia backlink is worthwhile because it improves the reliability and authority of your website and its content. Wikipedia backlinks are also valuable because they increase the number of citations from other website owners who found your link on Wikipedia, which can lead to more relevant traffic.
Although Wikipedia backlinks are no-follow links, they still provide SEO value to the website content. It is one of the oldest and most trusted websites on the Internet, and not just any site can get backlinks from Wikipedia.
Therefore, Wikipedia is a powerful resource for off-page SEO optimization and should be incorporated into any link building strategy.
How To Get Backlinks From Wikipedia Summary
As you've discovered, the process of how to build backlinks in Wikipedia only requires a few steps. At the core of this SEO strategy is to find dead links on the platform that you can replace with links to your own high-quality content and to identify new opportunities to mention your website as a high-quality source of information.
FAQs About Wikipedia Backlinks
Are Wikipedia backlinks good for SEO?
Yes! One important thing Google looks for is links from large, trusted websites like Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a relevant resource that is highly trusted because of its strict stance on spam or using its website for commercial purposes, which makes it a good resource for SEO.
How many backlinks per day is safe?
On average, 5 to 30 backlinks per day are safe for a new website. However, even 500 links per day are safe if they are built naturally through organic exposure such as a piece of content that goes viral, a post on a trending topic, or the celebration of a special event for your business.
