I receive a dozen or so requests each day to create Wikipedia articles. Different Wikipedia writers for hire have different sets of rules to determine the clients they take on. While some will take on any job (something I did in the infancy of my career), others refuse and only take on the best of the best.
For me, I will write any article as long as the article passes Wikipedia notability guidelines.
For every dozen requests that I receive to create an article, there are only a few that are notable. All the others I have to tell that I cannot help.
But how do you tell someone who feels that they are notable that they are not? It become difficult when a person or company who is popular in real life doesn’t qualify for Wikipedia.
The answer comes down to how Wikipedia defines notability.
Wikipedia Notability Defined:
The Wikipedia article on notability states that notability “is the property of being worthy of notice, having fame, or being considered to be of a high degree of interest, significance, or distinction.”
Great definition. However, the “guidelines” for notability go way deeper than that. Wikipedia has a general notability guideline as well as subsets of guidelines for different topics such as biographies, companies, musicians, etc. So, while someone may be worthy of notice in real life, they must still meet the guidelines for Wikipedia notability.
The basic concept of Wikipedia notability is that if someone or something is worthy of notice, they must have received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the topic. So, if a real estate investor is worthy of notice for what they do (let’s say Donald Trump), then there will be numerous articles about the topic in sources such as the New York Times and other publications that are not associated with the topic.
There are many real estate investors out there, but how many of them are actually worth of notice? Wikipedia tells us the ones worthy of notice are the ones that have significant coverage in reliable sources.
So, in order to establish notability, the general guideline is that the topic must have received:
- Significant Coverage
- Reliable Sources
- Independent of the Topic
Finding The Right Notability Guideline:
Determining notability is not as easy as one may think.
In fact, here is a way to tell if you have found the correct Wikipedia content writer for your project.
Let’s say someone provides you with a quote for an article prior to determining if the topic is notable. If they do, this should be a sign to you that they have not done enough research to know if your article meets these guidelines. In that case, you should avoid using such writer.
It is clear they will write on any topic, even one that is likely to be deleted shortly after being posted. This is exactly what happens when you post an article that isn’t notable. In the end, you will be paying for nothing.
To determine Wikipedia notability, you need to look at the topic of the article. Is it a person, company, court case, gadget, medical device??? Once you know the topic of the article, look to the individual notability guideline for that topic.
Here, let’s say that the topic is about a company. You would go to the notability guidelines on companies to find out what needs to be done to show notability. The guidelines for companies can be found at this link.
You will see that the basic criteria (significant coverage, reliable sources, independent of topic) still apply to companies. However, Wikipedia adds some additional guidelines to follow. You will see that there is a list of what types of sources can be used and which ones should be avoided. This is referred to as “depth of coverage” and points out that certain sources such as meeting minutes, passing mentions, or inclusion in lists of similar organizations should be avoided.
You will also see that there are guidelines to help you with everything from publicly traded companies to franchises and chains.
Determining Notability:
Although I have written many separate articles on establishing notability, I will still give you a brief overview here. Now that you know what’s needed for notability, it is time to find out if you topic meets the notability test.
Taking the previous example, let’s say that you are still writing about a company. You know that you need significant coverage in reliable sources independent of the topic so you now need to find those sources. Your first stop should be to Google. Type in the name of the company and see what sources come up.
Once you find the results of your search, see if any of the sources that show up are reliable. Determining if a source is reliable is a job all in itself, but of course Wikipedia gives us a guideline on that as well which can be found at this link. Once you find the reliable sources (assuming there are any), check each one to make sure that there is “depth of coverage.”
Disregard press releases, passing mentions, etc. as stated in the Wikipedia notability guidelines on companies. If you have significant coverage in reliable sources, then there is a presumption (not a guarantee) that the company will meet Wikipedia notability guidelines.
Write The Article Or Hire A Professional?
When it comes down to it, writing a Wikipedia article is fairly simple. As long as you follow the guidelines provided, you should have no issues with getting your page published. The problem is that there are so many guidelines. Those who do not have experience with editing Wikipedia will often miss some and find their article in trouble.
For instance, you may completely follow notability guidelines, but the article that you write contains promotional wording. It can then wind up deleted based on a deletion guideline for promotional articles. As such, you need to determine if you should seek out Wikipedia writers for hire or go it alone.
So to sum things up, do not be offended if someone tells you that your topic is not notable. Being notable in the real world and in the Wiki world are two different things. While being notable on Wikipedia likely means that you are notable in the real world, not being notable for Wikipedia means nothing about your true notability in life.