How to Use Wikipedia to Boost LLM Visibility
As LLMs reshape how buyers find information, Wikipedia pages can be your company’s ticket to being “known.”
DEAR STAGE 2: We’re rethinking our SEO strategy for LLM visibility and keep hearing that Wikipedia can influence model outputs. Should we be prioritizing Wikipedia pages, and if so, what’s the best way to go about it? ~DOES WIKIPEDIA MATTER
DEAR DOES WIKIPEDIA MATTER: With users relying more on tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude as their go-to search layer, founders and marketers alike are racing to understand how to show up in LLM outputs. One thing we’re learning? Wikipedia plays a surprisingly powerful role.
To unpack this, I spoke with Rebecca Wilson, an experienced Wikipedia editor and content marketing leader. She broke it down like this: Wikipedia is a trusted source that LLMs crawl and weight heavily, making it a powerful (and often overlooked) channel for early-stage visibility.
Here’s what you should know and a few ideas to get you started:
1. Why Wikipedia matters for LLM SEO
LLMs ingest massive amounts of publicly available data as they’re being trained. Wikipedia is a high-signal, high-trust platform: It exists in over 340 languages, accounting for more than 65 million plus articles that have a high degree of transparency, including third-party citations. That means content from Wikipedia is often prioritized when LLMs are generating summaries, answering questions, or providing citations.
If you want a model to “know” who your company is, what your GTM strategy looks like, or who your founder is—Wikipedia helps make that happen.
But here’s the kicker: You can’t just treat it like your company’s LinkedIn profile or a blog post. Wikipedia has rules. And if you try to sneak in marketing language, you’ll be flagged immediately by one of Wikipedia's 50 million editors.
2. Start with encyclopedic content (no spin)
Rebecca’s advice: “Write your Wikipedia content like a journalist. Keep it neutral, factual, and link to sources that are already publicly available. Look at pages for companies in the same space as yours and try to strike a similar tone.”
For example, if you’re creating a page for your company:
Stick to the basics: Founding year, founders’ names, what the company does.
Link out to other Wikipedia pages (e.g., for your investors, founding team’s prior companies, etc.)—these connections signal legitimacy. For example, if your company provides an AI-powered go-to-market solution and is based in San Jose, be sure to link to the existing articles on artificial intelligence, go-to-market strategy, and San Jose, California. This context not only helps LLMs understand your company, it also adds to the rich environment that makes Wikipedia so useful.
Include references from reputable publications and sources (TechCrunch, Forbes, company press releases that have been syndicated, peer-reviewed academic papers, etc).
Avoid:
“Marketing speak” (words like “innovative,” “disruptive,” etc.).
Internal jargon that isn’t explained elsewhere.
Claims that don’t have a public citation, such as “industry leader” or “the largest.”
3. Create a cluster, not just a page
One of the best strategies? Don’t just create a company page. Build an ecosystem.
Here’s a quick playbook from Rebecca:
Start with a founder page (if they have notable experience or media coverage).
Add a page for any unique methodology or framework you use (e.g., “Science of Scaling” is a great candidate for Stage 2).
If you have a podcast, event series, or open-source tool—create a page for that too.
Then link between them. The more internal Wikipedia links, the more credible your pages look. Save external links for citations, and don’t hesitate to include your company website at the end of the article as well as in the infobox at the top.
Don’t forget to add sections to existing Wikipedia pages. For example, if you have created a tool that integrates with CRM or marketing automation platforms, consider adding an “Integrations” section to the appropriate page. Be sure to add examples of other companies, not just yours.
Bonus tip: Get a few edits under your belt before creating new articles. Fix typos, add citations, or edit other topics related to your industry. It builds your “editor reputation,” which helps get your own contributions approved more quickly.
4. Stay ethical and follow the rules
Yes, Wikipedia has an approval process. Yes, your page might get flagged if it reads like marketing.
But that’s a good thing. Wikipedia is trusted because it’s moderated. That’s why LLMs treat it like gospel. Don’t try to game it—play the long game and treat it like you would PR or analyst relations. You’re building credibility.
And remember: Wikipedia editors love content that’s well-cited, neutral, and structured similarly to other pages in your category.
Getting Started
Not sure what to tackle first? Here’s a crawl-walk-run roadmap:
Crawl: Create a Wikipedia account. Fix a few typos or formatting errors in articles you care about. Doing this first can help you build your reputation on Wikipedia. You’ll learn more about the policies and establish an editing history and will build goodwill with other editors ahead of creating your own page.
Walk: Draft a founder or company article using publicly available sources. Submit through the Wikipedia Articles for Creation (AFC) process.
Run: Build out related pages (frameworks, events, tools) and create interlinks across the Wikipedia ecosystem.
If you’re looking for inspiration, check out how Claude, Perplexity, ChatGPT, HubSpot, and Salesforce are represented on Wikipedia. It’s factual, detailed, and linked to a broader network of content.
Even if a Wikipedia article never leads directly to closed-won deals, it’s an easy way to build authority with search engines, LLMs, and yes, potential customers. While you don’t have as much control over your company’s Wikipedia article as a LinkedIn profile, it does convey a higher degree of authority and trustworthiness.
Until next week!