How to Get a Wikipedia Page (And Whether You Should)

To get a Wikipedia page, you need significant coverage of you or your business in several reliable outlets with no connection to you. Once that coverage exists, the safest route is to let a volunteer editor write the page. The site strongly discourages writing about yourself or paying someone to do it.

I do not write or edit Wikipedia pages for clients, and the site’s own rules explain why.

What Wikipedia notability means

Wikipedia calls its entry test notability, and the general notability guideline sets the bar. A topic is presumed to deserve an article when it has received “significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject.” Each part matters:

• Significant coverage discusses you directly and in detail. A passing mention or a quote is not enough.
• Reliable sources have “a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy,” says the reliable sources guideline. Most blogs and social posts do not.
• Independent sources come from writers with no stake in you. Your website, press releases, and ads do not count.

The same guideline adds that notability does not always depend on fame, importance, or popularity.

How to create a Wikipedia page for a person or a company

For a person, the notability guideline for people asks for significant coverage in multiple published secondary sources. Those sources must be reliable, independent of you, and “intellectually independent of each other.”

The guideline for organizations and companies is stricter, because it was written “to prevent gaming of the rules by marketing and public relations professionals.”

Under that guideline, one significant source is almost never enough. Local media alone does not count, so you need at least one regional, statewide, national, or international source. A series by one journalist, or several articles in one newspaper, counts as one source.

It also lists coverage that does not count, and much of it is standard PR output:

• Press releases, and articles based on them, even when an outside outlet runs them.
• Paid or sponsored articles, including contributor pieces with no real editorial oversight.
• Case studies from consulting firms, business incubators, or chambers of commerce.
• Interviews and memoirs by executives, since each one counts as a primary source.
• Routine news of funding, hires, launches, or new locations.
• Anything the company or a closely connected source wrote or published.

Can you make your own Wikipedia page?

Technically, yes. On English Wikipedia, the user groups page lets an account create articles directly after 10 edits and four days since its first edit. Before that, anyone can submit a draft for review.

Writing about yourself is another matter. The conflict of interest guideline strongly discourages people with a conflict from editing affected articles directly, and asks them to submit new articles for review. The autobiography guideline tells you to avoid writing about yourself, or paying someone to do it, except to fix clear errors of fact.

It also says, “If you meet Wikipedia’s inclusion criteria, someone else will probably create an article about you eventually.” If nobody has, you may not meet the notability criteria yet, and the answer is more coverage.

Do not plan on ChatGPT drafting it, either. A guideline on large language models, adopted after a community discussion in March 2026, bans these tools for writing or rewriting article content, except for simple copyediting and translation.

How to get a Wikipedia page the honest way

Each step helps your business even if no page appears.

Step 1: Check the coverage you already have

Collect every article and profile written about you or your business. Then test each one with the worksheet below.

Step 2: Earn the coverage you are missing

If your list is short, your next job is press. I explain how to pitch reporters in how to get press coverage for your small business. Aim for in-depth stories by staff journalists at regional or national outlets.

Step 3: Let an independent editor decide

Volunteers choose topics that already have coverage in reliable, independent sources. The Requested articles page calls itself a list of ideas and warns that most requests will not be written. A page that an outside editor chose to write is far more likely to survive review.

Step 4: If you submit a draft yourself, disclose it

If you write one anyway, Articles for Creation is the required route for anyone with a conflict of interest. You disclose that conflict on the draft’s talk page. Use only independent published sources, and write as neutrally as a stranger would. Reviews can take a while. A reviewer may decline a draft that needs work, or reject one that will likely never qualify. Drafts nobody edits for more than six months are routinely deleted.

What are the risks of a Wikipedia page creation service?

The paid-contribution disclosure policy comes from the Wikimedia Foundation’s Terms of Use. Anyone paid to edit must disclose their employer, client, and affiliation, and editors who fail to disclose are prohibited from editing. The conflict of interest guideline adds that the client gets no confidentiality. The policy also treats anyone paid for publicity about a subject as a paid editor, and that includes your publicist.

The scam warning describes people who pose as volunteers, administrators, or PR firms. They offer to publish an article, rush a review, prevent a deletion, or protect a page. Help from real volunteers is always free, and the page is blunt: “No one can guarantee that an article will be accepted or protected.” If you get one of these offers, the page asks you to forward the whole conversation to paid-en-wp@wikipedia.org. The autobiography guideline adds that paid editors cannot protect an article from deletion.

Should you have a Wikipedia page at all?

Once a page exists, it is not yours. The ownership policy says the subject of an article does not own it and has no right to dictate what it says. The autobiography guideline warns that your text “will be edited mercilessly to make it neutral,” and many people who wrote their own article were dismayed by the result. If a reliable outlet later reports something unflattering, editors can cite it.

Many founders want a page to change what AI assistants say about them. If that is your reason, where ChatGPT gets its information shows which sources those answers lean on, and how to appear in ChatGPT answers covers the practical steps. For most founders, a clear about page, consistent profiles, and outside press do more of that work.

What about Wikidata?

The Wikidata introduction describes the project as a free, collaborative, multilingual, secondary knowledge base that supports Wikipedia. Under its notability policy, an item qualifies if it links to a Wikipedia page. It also qualifies if it describes a clearly identifiable entity “using serious and publicly available references,” among other criteria. That bar is easier to clear, although volunteers still edit every item and the paid disclosure rule still applies.

A Wikipedia readiness worksheet

Fill in one block for every story that might count:

• Outlet and date: [Publication], [date].
• Link: [URL].
• Depth: Covers me or my business in detail, more than a quote or a mention? [Yes or no].
• Independence: Written by a journalist, with no payment, sponsorship, or press release behind it? [Yes or no].
• Reliability: Outlet has editors and a record of fact-checking? [Yes or no].
• Reach: Regional, statewide, national, or international audience? [Yes or no].
• Separate source: Different outlet and journalist from my other qualifying stories? [Yes or no].

Count only the blocks with a yes on every line. Wikipedia sets no fixed number, and the company guideline says “multiple” depends on the type of organization. If you have one or two qualifying stories, put your time into press for now. If you have several from different outlets, an outside editor could reasonably write about you.

Frequently asked questions

Can you make your own Wikipedia page?

You can, although Wikipedia strongly discourages writing about yourself. If you do it anyway, submit the draft through Articles for Creation and disclose your conflict of interest on its talk page.

How do I create a Wikipedia page for my business?

Check that your business has significant coverage in several reliable, independent outlets. At least one should be regional or national. If it does, let a volunteer editor write the page. You can also submit a disclosed draft through Articles for Creation.

What are the notability requirements for a new Wikipedia article?

A topic is presumed notable when it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject. Companies face stricter rules that exclude press releases, sponsored content, routine news, and local-only coverage.

Can I hire someone to write a neutral and compliant Wikipedia article?

Paid editing is allowed only with full disclosure of the employer, client, and affiliation. Paid drafts should still use Articles for Creation. No one can guarantee that an article will be accepted or protected.

What are the benefits of having a Wikipedia page for my business?

A page gives readers a neutral summary of your business. That can add credibility when it is accurate. You cannot control what it says, though. For most founders, the press that would qualify them does more for their reputation.