It\u2019s very rare that we see a new player in the SEO and Digital Arena that\u2019s as much a shoe-in to be a long-term player as Wikidata is. But with all the value of the medium, it\u2019s remained a relatively virgin frontier, one that the SEO community has left it largely untested and undocumented. I feel we\u2019re missing out on a tremendous opportunity \u2014 think of it this way:<\/p>\n\n
Wikidata is born of greatness: Launched on October 30, 2012, this is the first new Wikimedia project in six years. You may have noticed Wiki content dominating the SERPS throughout the past decade; it\u2019s credible, recognized, and a powerful presence online. Wikidata SEO is going to be hugely important.<\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s had greatness thrust upon it: On December 14, 2014, Google announced the shutdown of Freebase \u2014 Wikidata\u2019s strongest competitor. As they did, Google also provided powerful support by migrating all of Freebase\u2019s data over to Wikidata, retiring the product on June 30th. That\u2019s a heck of a lot of eggs in that basket.<\/p>\n\n
Its future is bright: Rich results are increasingly becoming the norm for Google, and the Knowledge Graph is more powerful than ever and will play a huge part in SEO<\/a> strategies. Marshall Simmonds reported at SMX East 2015 that a full 24% of search results now include this visual. Along with structured data, Wikipedia, and a handful of others, Wikidata is a go-to source for building this information.<\/p>\n\n The beauty of Wikidata SEO is that there\u2019s a lot of low-hanging fruit to be had. Once you\u2019ve gotten the hang of it, you can build out a solid page on Wikidata in an hour or two. However, if you\u2019re new to working in it, there is a breaking-in period. Here are a few things you\u2019ll need to do to get started:<\/p>\n\n Bear in mind that this is<\/em> a Wikimedia property, and part of one of the largest, healthiest, and most dedicated communities online. As a member of a collaborative, anonymous, worldwide project, you\u2019re going to need to be social \u2014 and that includes playing politics a bit, embracing the medium, and even working with a few jerks along the way.<\/p>\n\n If possible, enjoy the experience<\/em>. As with\u2020all social sites, becoming part of the culture and owning your experience is the best way to fit in.<\/p>\n\n While this is easy to do, it\u2019s important to bear in mind that if you\u2019re working for a digital agency, you\u2019re probably using multiple Wikidata accounts. This is a good idea \u2014 you\u2019ll want a \u201cseasoned\u201d backup in the event that one is deleted. However, follow these three rules:<\/p>\n\n To create an item, do a search for the company you want to change, and confirm that none exists yet. Then, locate the \u201cCreate a new item\u201d on the left-hand menu to begin building. It\u2019s fairly well hidden if you\u2019re already used to editing articles with Wikipedia. Wikidata is extremely new, and more often than not, the article you work on is going to be almost empty when you begin. For this article, I\u2019ll be building out the Wikidata property for Stew Leonard\u2019s<\/a>, a local grocery store which began with a typically sparsely populated entry:<\/p>\n\n Since Wikipedia is the most trusted source, it\u2019s a data goldmine for easily populating your article. I\u2019ll start by editing the description field in the listing. This should be as short and concise: five to ten words is an ideal target.<\/p>\n\n Next, I\u2019ll add the CEO of Stew Leonard\u2019s to the listing. As shown below, a drop-down will autosuggest valid entries as I type:<\/p>\n\n Wikidata is set up so that I am unable to save a listing until it\u2019s completed in a way that the Wikibase software identifies as valid. At that point, \u201csave\u201d turns blue:<\/p>\n\n I\u2019ll also want to add a reference (not a qualifier) to each item that shows I\u2019ve imported the data from \u201cEnglish Wikipedia\u201d, to help protect this data from editorial removal. References are used to cite the source where I found the information, while qualifiers are used to to further describe or refine the value of a property given in a statement.<\/p>\n\n Let\u2019s say that next, I\u2019d like to also add the founder (Stew Leonard Sr.), but because there\u2019s no property for it in Wikidata, I can\u2019t add it (yet). You can see below that the save text is grayed out, and that Stew Sr. is not on the list.<\/p>\n\n Unfortunately, the community works on predefined lists of properties and entries. This means that if there\u2019s no property existing and you want to add one, you\u2019ll need to go to the community to discuss its creation. This is rarely worth the time and effort initially, as it\u2019s time-consuming to have the discussion, and in a case like this, you\u2019ll probably need to create a Wikipedia article to accompany it. It\u2019s also worth noting that if there\u2019s a Wikidata article on something, you can probably assume it\u2019ll be usable as a property too; this knowledge can sometimes be used creatively to make a listing work for you.<\/p>\n\n If the company has an image on their Wikipedia page, be sure to include that on the Wikidata listing \u2013 logos are prime real estate in the knowledge graph. Format the entry using the property \u201clogo image\u201d and the filename only. For Stew Leonard\u2019s, I\u2019m using Stewleonards.png to populate my entry.<\/p>\n\n If you don\u2019t have a logo yet, you can upload one to Wikimedia Commons<\/a>, and reference it immediately. However, to prevent the image form being deleted a few weeks later, you\u2019ll have to get approval to release the image under a Wikimedia Commons License. If you decide to do that, the copyright holder, specifically, will need to send an e-mail releasing the image to that license. You won\u2019t be able to write as someone representing them, but you can <\/em>use this handy community-approved e-mail template to fill in the blanks,so all they have to do is send the e-mail along to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org. It works for me every time:<\/p>\n\n I hereby affirm that [I, (name here), am] the creator and\/or sole owner of the exclusive copyright of both the work depicted and the media.<\/em><\/p>\n\n I agree to publish the above-mentioned content under the free license: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International.<\/em><\/p>\n\n I acknowledge that by doing so I grant anyone the right to use the work in a commercial product or otherwise, and to modify it according to their needs, provided that they abide by the terms of the license and any other applicable laws.<\/em><\/p>\n\n I am aware that this agreement is not limited to Wikipedia or related sites.<\/em><\/p>\n\n I am aware that I always retain copyright of my work, and retain the right to be attributed in accordance with the license chosen. Modifications others make to the work will not be claimed to have been made by me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n I acknowledge that I cannot withdraw this agreement, and that the content may or may not be kept permanently on a Wikimedia project.<\/em><\/p>\n\n Wikidata is just one of many structured data projects; there are also countless other databases that exist, and can be cited as sources in your Wikidata entry. Additionally, every category of item (for example, companies, musicians, or politicians) seems to have its own unique set of databases built around them, and this can provide a lot of inspiration as you flesh our your entry. I also keep a list of high-quality Wikidata articles I like to reference when I\u2019m building new ones to use for inspiration.<\/p>\n\n Let\u2019s walk through this: For Stew Leonard\u2019s, I\u2019m using Albertsons, Walmart, and Apple as my benchmarks:<\/p>\n\n From Walmart\u2019s item, I checked for a VIAF<\/a> (Virtual International Authority File), and found that while Stew Leonard Jr AND Sr was listed, the company itself was not \u2014 not helpful. Like Wal-Mart, however, Stew Leonard\u2019s does have a Freebase identifier \u2014 and since that\u2019s a Google property, I like to list it even though Freebase will eventually be shut down. From the URL \u201chttps:\/\/www.freebase.com\/m\/071r2l\u201d, I use \/m\/071r2l as my identifier in Wikidata. In cases where I reference an non-Wiki database source, I also add a reference that includes a URL to the original.<\/p>\n\n From Albertsons\u2019 item, I discover a great way to build out my current headquarters location data. While mine currently only lists the city where the headquarters is listed, the community has added four excellent qualifiers (not references) in this listing that really make the data rich. Using data from Google Maps, I can upgrade my listing accordingly.<\/p>\n\n This should be a great resource for Google, as right now, the city is the only thing that displays when I search for \u201cStew Leonard\u2019s Headquarters\u201d, while Albertons shows a much richer listing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\nLearn How To Fit In With The Culture<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
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Wikidata for SEO: Create A Strong Account<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
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Create Your First Item<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
Step 1: Import As Much As You Can From Wikipedia<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n
Step 2: Learn From Similar Listings<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n