Now, what I'm about to talk about here isn't for everyone. Remember that because you will have just as much chance of getting removed as added. And the tactic isn't for all sites. You should have something unique you can offer otherwise the link is just another link and probably will get removed. So what's am I talking about?

I'm talking about Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is the freely available and freely editable online encyclopedia. Anyone can modify most entries and make additions or revisions if they can show the value in such a change.

This is why I say this isn't for everyone. In reality there are very few sites which could benefit from such a tactic unless you can find just the right entry to add the link to.

For example, I have a couple of blogs which I write for. They are based around my personal interests and I found some very good Wikipedia entries where I was able to add links to my blogs as external resources. That is because my blogs provide supplementary information to that which is available on Wikipedia in the form of news and industry information.

Let me give you another example:

One of the services we offer is usability testing using eye tracking software. We also use the technology to perform research, which we then publish in the research section of our parent site.

So I thought I'd do some checking to see if there was a place I could link to from within Wikipedia.

I performed some searches, starting with SEO and SEM type phrases and found that they are pretty strict about letting search marketing firms link from any Wikipedia pages.

This is when I thought of the research and eye tracking angle. So I did a search for 'eye tracking' on Wikipedia and sure enough there is an eye tracking section.

Of you go to the above page you will see that they provide some good information on eye tracking, and they also provide an area at the bottom of the page for 'external links.' So of course, I linked to our research on the page and gave a brief description of what the link is about.

Now, you will notice that this page has a PageRank of 5. I know you're not supposed to rely on the Google toolbar, especially when building links, but it is a good indicator. And what it tells me is that in a few months (provided they don't remove my link) this will add a lot to the site's link popularity.

Not only because it's a PageRank 5 link, but also because it's from Wikipedia, a trusted source of information on the web. And also the link is from the eye tracking section of the Wikipedia site, pointing to our research section which also uses eye tracking. The two sites are related therefore the link should count positively towards Enquiro's link popularity.

I can't stress enough that this is not a free-for-all link farm. The links MUST be relevant and useful otherwise there is a good change that a Wikipedia editor will remove it.

But if you feel that your site does have something unique and useful to offer, why not invest some time poking around the Wikipedia. You might be surprised what you'll find. Not only that but you can get one (or many?) exceptional links with a lot less work than trying to find them elsewhere.


Rob Sullivan
Head Organic Search Strategist
Enquiro Full Service Search Engine Marketing

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