How to Create a Wikipedia Page for Your Company: Guide

How to Determine If My Company Can Be Featured on Wikipedia?

Being a company with X employees, having a website, and being mentioned in a local media outlet (or even 200 times in national media) is not sufficient to have a Wikipedia page. Your page would be at risk of being deleted very quickly.

At best, a notice like this might be added:

This type of notice can harm your company’s image and authority as it questions its legitimacy to be on Wikipedia. You cannot remove this type of notice for several months, and your page may be subject to deletion during this time.

Worse, your company’s website address can be placed on a “blacklist” by Wikipedia contributors. This means that no one can add a link to your company on Wikipedia.

Finally, if your page is deleted, it will be very difficult to have it reinstated in the future, even if your notability has significantly increased. Pages that have been deleted once must go through a different process to be reinstated.

This is why, above all else, you need to verify if your company meets the criteria for inclusion on Wikipedia.

Understanding Wikipedia’s Notability Criteria

Collaboratively created Wikipedia pages define the criteria for inclusion on Wikipedia. There are general criteria, as well as specific criteria for companies (here), individuals, fictional works, associations, and more.

To be featured on Wikipedia, your company or brand must, at a minimum:

1. Have been featured in the press or other media with national reach on at least two occasions.
2. These media appearances must be at least two years apart.
3. They should not be advertorials or press releases.
4. Your company should not merely be mentioned in the article or media segment; it should be the central subject (this is a subtle distinction).
5. The article or radio/TV segment should be sufficiently long and developed. For example, an article with fewer than 500 words or a segment lasting only a few seconds is not considered significant.

Therefore, the size of the company, its revenue, or its age are not direct criteria to consider when determining whether it qualifies for inclusion on Wikipedia.

Now let’s see how to find these media mentions.

Competitor’s company on Wikipedia that doesn’t seem to meet these criteria

⚠️ Have you come across a competitor’s company on Wikipedia that doesn’t seem to meet these criteria? This can be explained in various ways:

1. The page was created a long time ago, at a time when there was less “surveillance” during the publication of a new page.
2. The page hasn’t been noticed by an experienced contributor yet, but it could be deleted at any time.

The existence of such a page is not an argument to justify your presence on Wikipedia.

Conducting a Notability Audit According to These Criteria

To compile your various media mentions, I recommend using several handy Google tools:

• Google News (for searching on the websites of major national, international, and local media outlets).
• Google Books (for searching in books published by publishing houses).
• Google Scholar (for searching in scientific articles and academic reports).

Visit these websites. Enter the name of your company, your brand, your major products, or even the most well-known personality associated with your company.

You should see articles that mention you.

The article date is indicated just below. Be sure to find mentions spaced at least 2 years apart.

If there aren’t enough occurrences, also search through:

• Google’s general search engine. If there are too many occurrences from certain sites, exclude searches on those sites by typing ‘-site:domainname.com’. For example, to exclude Doctissimo: ‘-site:doctissimo.fr’; Youtube/Dailymotion; Researchgate/ORCID (for scientific publications).

Google News is one of the best tools to determine if your company can be featured on Wikipedia.

Attention! Identifying these sources is the first step of the audit and is the easiest part. The real challenge is determining if they are sufficient according to Wikipedia’s criteria!

From experience, we are not good judges when it comes to our own company to assess whether it is eligible or not.

Here’s an example:

This person who contacted me (very friendly, by the way) is certain that their company (in this case, a media outlet) has sufficient notability for Wikipedia.

However, none of the information provided by this person guarantees it: having 1 million readers per month and many press mentions are not sufficient criteria!

It’s necessary to delve much more into the quality of the references and the history of the media’s mentions on Wikipedia to get a clearer idea of notability.

Improving Your Company’s Notability According to Wikipedia Criteria

Your company doesn’t have at least 2 media mentions published 2 years apart? You know what you need to do: obtain those 2 media mentions.

Here are some suggestions:

• Contact all local media outlets (regional press, online media, radio, TV) to propose interviews or coverage of your events.
• Specify an interesting angle that could engage their audience.
• Follow and interact with journalists on social media who might be interested in your industry.
• Send targeted press releases to certain local journalists or influencers.
• Attend major physical events in your industry where journalists will be present and introduce yourself to them.
• Get better known to the media, especially locally, in hopes of being featured on Wikipedia.

How to Properly Create a Wikipedia Page for My Company?

Your company meets the notability criteria for Wikipedia?

You can then start writing the Wikipedia page for your company without fear of it being deleted once published!

Create a Wikipedia’account

I recommend writing directly on Wikipedia. This will save you time by providing direct access to Wikipedia’s specific formatting tools. To do this:

1. Create an account on Wikipedia (free and quick) or use an existing account.
2. Log in to your account.
3. Go to the top right corner and click on the icon representing a silhouette of a person 👤.
4. In the dropdown that appears, click on Draft.

This is where you can create your Wikipedia company page according to Wikipedia criteria by clicking on Edit or Edit Source.

Draw Inspiration from Similar High-Quality Wikipedia Pages

What does the ideal Wikipedia page look like? Wikipedia actually highlights certain pages considered “ideal” or, at the very least, of very high quality.

These pages cover a wide range of sectors: scientific, industrial, digital, natural, artistic, and more.

I recommend finding one of these ideal pages that features a company similar to yours or at least within your industry.

You can use it as a template for the structure to follow, the type of illustrative images to include, and the content of the paragraphs.

You can find a list of all featured articles here. For example:

• William Anderson (RAAF officer);
• KCPQ (television station).

Create a Compliant Plan

A Wikipedia page is typically divided into three main sections:

1. Introduction Section: This contains a summary of the article without references. It may also include an infobox summarizing key information.
2. Developed Content Section: This section is organized into various sections and subsections.
3. End-of-Page Section: This contains references, external links, bibliography, and category affiliations for the page.

The plan below provides more detailed guidance. Use it as a reference while comparing it to the structure of a featured article.

Typically, here’s how I organize the “Developed Content” section for a company page:

• History: I outline the company’s inception and its various stages of development.
• Organization and Financial Performance: I provide numerical data about the company’s financial performance, its human resources, etc.
• Activities: I describe the core activities of the company and the industry it operates in.
• Brands, Products, or Services: If they are sufficiently well-known, I detail some of the brands, products, or services designed or offered by the company.

Gather as many sources targeting your company as possible

Every fact presented on the page should be supported by a source considered reliable. For instance, you cannot provide figures about your company that are not publicly accessible somewhere.

The same applies to more general information, such as your company’s activities or operations. Each sentence or paragraph should end with a reference.

To find good sources, please refer to the section of the article that explains how to find reliable sources according to Wikipedia about your company (mainly through Google News, Google Scholar, Google Books).

Do not cite your company’s website or your brand’s website as a source. This may be interpreted as self-promotion.

Write a text

Now that you have a template, a plan, and reliable sources, you can draft your company page, section by section. Here are four tips:

1. I recommend starting with a section rather than the introduction. The introduction is easier to write once you have completed everything else because it is a summary of the most relevant elements of the article.
2. Remember that every statement, every fact, every piece of data must be supported by a source, and you should mention this source systematically (by clicking on ‘Cite’). While you can occasionally source from documents or reports from the company (provided they are publicly accessible), this should not constitute the majority of your sources. Let’s say a maximum of 5 to 10%.
3. You cannot copy and paste texts from elsewhere on the web, but rather paraphrase or synthesize.
4. Keep a neutral, factual tone as much as possible. Avoid superlatives. For example:
   • Say
     
     ✅ ‘The company operates in 120 countries worldwide’ instead of
     
     ❌ ‘The company has experienced remarkable growth, to the point where it operates in 120 countries worldwide.’
   • Say
     
     ✅ ‘According to Le Monde, the company’s research has improved our understanding of the microbiome’ instead of
     
     ❌ ‘The company’s research has led to significant advancements in our understanding of the microbiome.’
5. Get to the point. For example, do not list all the products or services offered by your company or every step in your company’s history.

Properly Format the Text

A text on Wikipedia is quite different in its formatting from a blog or journalistic article.

It is said that you should ‘Wikify’ your text, which means formatting it according to Wikipedia’s guidelines.

Here are the key things to keep in mind during this step in creating your company page on Wikipedia:

1. Only one thing should be in bold: the name of your company, in the introduction of the page.
2. To create a title or subsection heading, do not use bold or font size tools; instead, select ‘Section heading,’ then ‘Subheading 1, 2, 3,’ etc., for each subsection.
3. Avoid bullet point lists in the body of the text or the introduction.
4. Do not use all capital letters.
5. Citations should not be in italics and should be enclosed in quotation marks like this: ‘and.’
6. External links (to web pages outside Wikipedia) should only be included in the ‘External links’ section at the end of the article or in references.
7. Do not forget to add Categories and Portals at the bottom of the page, for example, ‘Business Portal,’ ‘Category: Companies based in Paris,’ etc. Use templates for this or copy-paste from other Wikipedia company pages.

Follow the specific Wikipedia writing and formatting style: wikification.

Choose Images Wisely

A page enhanced with one or more relevant images is more appealing and will likely increase its credibility.

Here are the types of images that work well for a company page:

• Company logo
• Photo of a significant physical event (conference, trade show, etc.)
• Photo of the founder (if their notability is sufficient; for example, if they have a personal Wikipedia page)
• Photo of the headquarters or a major production site
• Photo of a famous product.

ℹ️ Images appearing on your company page should first be uploaded to Wikimedia. Enter keywords related to your company in the Wikimedia search engine to identify them.

Consider Adding Internal Links to Wikipedia

You should include some internal links from your Wikipedia company page to other Wikipedia pages when a word is relevant.

For example, if you are a company in the agri-food sector offering only non-animal origin products, you may likely link to Wikipedia pages such as:

• “Food industry,”
• “Meat substitute,”
• “Vegetarian.”

because you will probably mention these three concepts in the article.

⚠️ You are not required to include an internal link for every occurrence of the word in the article, as it may make the page too cumbersome.

Declare Your Conflict of Interest

You must be transparent and describe your connection to the company if you are adding the page yourself.

You can do this in one of the following three places:

1. on your user page,
2. on the discussion page of the articles where you are involved,
3. in the summary of the relevant modifications.

Here are some examples of the statements you should include:

• I contribute to Wikipedia as an employee of the company XXX;
• I work for XXX;
• My client is XXX, and I manage their communication.

What could happen if you don’t? You may receive a banner like this on your page for life:

You must explicitly mention the name of the company with which you have an affiliation.

How to publish your company page on Wikipedia?

In theory, you can certainly create a new page on Wikipedia even if you’ve never contributed to the encyclopedia before.

Unless you want to publish on Wikipedia in English, in which case, you need to have made at least 500 prior contributions to the encyclopedia by editing existing pages (that’s a lot)!

In any case, you will need to spend some time understanding the substance and structure of a Wikipedia article to avoid having your article deleted.

If this is your first publication on Wikipedia, it is more likely to be subject to scrutiny by both bots and humans compared to someone who has been contributing to the encyclopedia for a long time.

Moreover, if you only publish about your company or yourself, it may raise suspicions about your motivation to contribute to the encyclopedia: is it truly to enhance collective knowledge or solely to serve your own interests?

The latter option is not inherently wrong or punishable, as long as:

1. The created page adheres to the expected standards.
2. Most importantly, your company’s notability is sufficient to warrant inclusion on Wikipedia.

That’s why some individuals prefer to enlist the services of providers, freelancers (like me), or agencies to create their Wikipedia company page. However, it still requires that your company’s notability meets Wikipedia’s criteria.

Adding your company to Wikipedia without creating a new page?

Is the notability of your company currently insufficient to warrant the creation of a dedicated article?

This is a situation that often arises, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be mentioned on Wikipedia!

How? Here are several options that may apply to your company:

1. Look for a generic page related to your industry. For example, if you are a wine trader, explore articles in the “Wine trading” or “Wine industry” categories. Determine if it’s appropriate to either:
   • Add an external link to your company’s website in the “External links” section.
   • Insert one or more sentences mentioning your company within the content of the page.
2. Check if your company is already mentioned in an existing Wikipedia article. To do this:
   • go to Wikipedia and type your company’s name in the search bar at the top.
     
   • You may see your company’s name highlighted in bold in the excerpts of certain pages, if applicable.
   • Simply go to the relevant article and add relevant and sourced information about your company or create an external link to your website.

Of course, only do this if you provide:

• Genuine added value to the reader of the page who is not specifically seeking information about your company.
• Adherence to Wikipedia’s usual rules (1 statement = 1 source, wikified text, etc.).

It is possible to link from Wikipedia to your company’s website or mention your company on a page without necessarily creating a specific Wikipedia page for your company.

Keep in mind that while it is not formally prohibited, Wikipedia does not encourage the creation of pages about oneself or one’s own company (it is even discouraged), nor does it endorse the use of professional service providers for a fee.

While I fully understand these noble intentions, I see a significant gap between them and actual practices. This applies to all sectors: business, academic, political, governmental, historical, and more.

Being honest and transparent about your financial or ideological interests is the alternative I prefer.

What are the service providers for creating a Wikipedia company page?

Do you lack the internal resources to create your company’s Wikipedia page?

Or are you looking to maximize the chances of creating a high-quality, compliant, and impactful page?

You can hire a service provider specializing in Wikipedia page creation or editing.

Here are the different types of service providers that I am aware of:

1. Freelancers who are Wikipedia specialists and have also been voluntary contributors to the Wikipedia project for a long time (like myself).
2. Communication agencies (they often or sometimes subcontract to freelancers like me).

Deleted or rejected Wikipedia page: What are the alternatives?

When I conduct audits for companies looking to appear on Wikipedia, in 60% of cases, their notability is insufficient to hope to be featured on the encyclopedia.

I then suggest PR-related advice to improve their chances of appearing on Wikipedia in the future.

Depending on their objectives, I also propose immediate inclusion on Wikipedia-like sites.

Here are the questions to ask before deciding to use these sites: What are your top priorities, and what initially motivated you to want to be on Wikipedia?

• To obtain backlinks to improve your website’s SEO?
• To enhance the visibility of your brand/service?
• To boost the credibility of your brand/service?
• To have a presentation of your company appear on a site other than your own when someone searches your company name on Google?
• To control the information present on your Wikipedia page?
• Personal satisfaction and accomplishment?

Depending on the importance assigned to these objectives, appearing on a Wikipedia-like site may or may not be relevant.

Here are the sites that can host company pages that have been rejected or deleted from Wikipedia, with less stringent criteria:

• Wikitia
• EverybodyWiki
• WikiMondePlus
• Wikilibéral, and other specific wikis.

And my somewhat more detailed opinion:

Site	Recommended	Review	DA
Wikitia	Never	The site is not collaborative; you have no control over what is said about you (even less than Wikipedia). You must pay for page creation (several thousand dollars) and for each potential update, with no guarantee that your changes will be accepted.	58
EverybodyWiki	Sometimes	Anyone can create a page on anything, without eligibility criteria.	51
WikiMondePlus	Not recommended because eligibility criteria are as stringent as Wikipedia.	Articles on WikiMondePlus are automatically indexed in WikiMonde, along with other Wikipedia articles (but not on Wikipedia itself). However, please note that WikiMonde has tightened its eligibility criteria and aligned them with Wikipedia standards!	49
WikiLibéral and other specific wikis	Sometimes	There are many other sites operating on a collaborative principle similar to Wikipedia but on more specific topics. Often created and developed by associations. WikiLibéral is one example among many: you will need to find the most relevant one in your case. For instance, WikiLibéral was created to address common misconceptions about liberalism.	Variable
IQ.Wiki (formerly everipedia.org)	Sometimes	Focused on actors and actresses in the crypto / WEB3 / blockchain world.	49

You must carefully weigh the pros and cons in your specific case of whether to appear on one of these sites and choose the most relevant option. This is part of my service when conducting Wikipedia audits.

They are considering the idea of creating a Wikitia page.

In their case, after auditing their digital presence and objectives, the recommendation is no for Wikitia but yes for EverybodyWiki.

Summary: 4 Mistakes When Creating a Company Page on Wikipedia

You’ve reached the end of this article designed to assist you in creating your Wikipedia page.

Below, I summarize the most common mistakes I’ve observed when a company attempts to create its Wikipedia page internally.

Overestimating Notability

This is by far the most common misjudgment.

It’s, I believe, difficult to be perfectly objective when assessing the notability of your own company, especially if you are unfamiliar with how Wikipedia operates and its specific notability criteria!

👉 Remember this: If your company is not the central subject of at least two articles published in the press or on TV/radio broadcasts, with a minimum of a two-year gap between them, your company has very little chance of having its own Wikipedia page published and sustained.

But there are alternatives to featuring your company on Wikipedia even without creating a dedicated page.

Failing to Comply with the Rule: 1 Statement = 1 Source

Sometimes, you come across articles consisting of large blocks of text without any sources.

Such articles are very likely to either be deleted or adorned with a top-of-page banner stating, “This article does not cite its sources sufficiently.”

To avoid this, every assertion (often, every sentence) must be supported by a quality source, cited at the end of the article.

Forgetting to Create Internal Links to Other Encyclopedia Pages

A Wikipedia page should be linked to other similar Wikipedia pages so that readers can explore the subject more thoroughly or find additional information on potentially complex concepts.

When you mention a concept, a person, or a company that:

• Already has a specific Wikipedia page.
• Is directly related to your company’s subject,

You must create a link from the word in your article to this other Wikipedia page.

If the word appears multiple times on the page, there’s no need to create a link every time, as it may become cumbersome.

Maintain a Neutral Tone

We often tend to use superlatives when writing informative text, especially when the subject matter is close to our hearts.

When writing about our own company, we may unconsciously present things in a less objective manner than an impartial observer would.

However, the goal of a Wikipedia page is to describe things as closely as possible to how they are, without value judgments, and without favoring one viewpoint over another. This can be frustrating at times!

If you’re writing your own page, it’s ideal to have it reviewed by someone with fewer emotional or economic ties to your company.

Ask them to remove any overly subjective expressions and ensure the content is sufficiently factual.

If you don’t take enough precautions in this regard, you may end up with banners like these at the top of your page:

Remember these common pitfalls to enhance the chances of your company’s Wikipedia page being accepted and maintained successfully.

Conclusion: Creating Your Wikipedia Company Page

This is everything I wanted to share with those of you who want to create a Wikipedia page for your company.

I hope this article has provided you with practical and actionable advice for your business.

Do you have any comments or questions? Your comments are welcome 🙂 !

Some companies I’ve worked with on Wikipedia include NAOS, TK Elevator, Mersen.