Fixing Wikipedia: A High-Authority “Dead Link” Strategy
Client: An educational non-profit focused on “environmental science.”
Challenges We Faced
The client had incredible, authoritative data but very few backlinks. They wanted to be seen as a primary source:
Excellent Content, Low Visibility
Their research papers were buried on their site.
Wikipedia Gaps
Many Wikipedia pages on environmental topics had “Citation Needed” or “Dead Link” tags where the client’s data could be a perfect fit.
Need for “Trust” Links
They needed high-authority links to boost their Grant applications and SEO.
No Wikipedia Broken Link Building Strategy
They didn’t know how to edit Wikipedia without getting banned.
No Safe Editing Process
Fear of bans stopped the team from fixing dead links and adding valid, trusted citations on Wikipedia.
Get Cited on Wikipedia
“Have authoritative research? Our Wikipedia Broken Link Building service can get you cited as a primary source on the world’s encyclopedia.”
Our Approach – How We Solved These Challenges
Wikipedia Broken Link Building
We used Google Search Operators (e.g., site:wikipedia.org “dead link” “climate change”) to find relevant Wikipedia pages with broken citations.
Recreating Dead Content
We found several broken links pointing to old university studies that were no longer online.
We matched our client’s existing research papers to these topics, ensuring they were a valid, authoritative replacement.
Strategic Editing
We carefully updated the Wikipedia citations, replacing the dead link with our client’s live, high-quality research paper.
Resource Page Broken Link Building
We then took those same research papers and pitched them to .edu and library resource pages that were also linking to the dead studies.
Results
| Metric | Before | After | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia Citations | 0 | 12 | +1,200% |
| Referral Traffic (from Wikipedia) | 0/mo | 8,500/mo | +8,500/mo |
| Domain Authority (DA) | 30 | 45 | +15 points |
Free Authority Audit
“Do you have linkable data? Book a Free Content Audit and let our broken link replacement services team find where it belongs!”
Advice for Marketers & Brand Owners
- Wikipedia is the “holy grail” of broken link building. A link from Wikipedia is “nofollow” but drives massive trust and referral traffic.
- You must be an authority. You cannot replace a dead link on Wikipedia with a sales page. It must be high-quality, non-promotional research or data.
- Use Google Search Operators to find “dead link” tags on Wikipedia pages in your niche.
Extra Factors That Made It Work
- The client’s non-profit status and high-quality data made them a perfect fit for Wikipedia.
- Getting links on Wikipedia often triggers other sites to scrape and link to you, creating a viral link-building effect.
- This strategy established the client as a primary source of truth in their field.
