Due to its strict No Follow policy on outbound links, you might not consider Wikipedia to be an ideal property for link building at first. However Wikipedia is seen as an authority site in the eyes of many users. Links found on Wikipedia articles can be given significant trust and often lead to links from other publishers writing on the topic. Some of these publishers have a significant influence in your market. Therefore building trust and respect within the Wikipedia community can bring in significant rewards for your time. This will require a time investment on your part as building trust in the community does not come over night. The following are some of my best tips for proceeding with a Wikipedia campaign:
1. Be patient as you build up your credibility. Develop an extended history of contributions, get a user profile page with Barnstar awards, and do your part to appear as a virtuous member of the fold before doing anything which may be viewed as self-serving. Having a visible track record of contribution is a must within this community. Combat spam, and contribute as often as possible. Avoid doing these things anonymously.
2. Before editing any articles, be sure to negotiate any terms of the edit with the main editor in charge of policing the article. If you’re going to edit an article, get the main editors blessings beforehand.
3. Make use of the “watch” function at Wikipedia, to keep an eye on articles of significance or importance to you. There are a few great tools out there that will actually email you to notify you of any changes that occur. Check out TrackEngine, URLyWarning, or ChangeDetect for more options.
4. The flow of link juice can be directed within Wikipedia Make good use of this!
5. Play the popularity contest and make friends within the community. As in life, friends will help stand up for you when you’re in a pinch. If an article that is significant to you were to get an “Article for Deletion” nomination, would be a good example of when friends can step up for you.
6. Do not edit anonymously from your own computers. There are tracking tools which exist for Wikipedia that can easily detect anonymous editors which may damage your reputation. WikiScanner for instance is a public domain tool, which can take anonymous wiki posts and identify the organization which has made them. Keep this in mind, and do not take the risk. People in the community take Wikipedia quite seriously.
