LAST UPDATED – August 2026

Wikipedia Editing for Companies: 

Now that AI searches have beome so common, and Wikipedia is one of the top sources for ChatGPT, Claude and other AIs, one of the most common questions we get regarding Wikipedia is whether a company can edit its own page. The short answer is – it’s complicated, and there are important guidelines to follow.

Wikipedia’s Stance on COI – Conflict of Interest

Wikipedia’s purpose is to provide an encyclopedia of impartial knowledge. Content that is promotional, self-serving, or biased will often get flagged or removed by other editors.

Wikipedia’s official policy states:

“You are discouraged from writing articles about yourself or organizations (including their campaigns, clients, products and services) in which you hold a vested interest.”

In essence, editing the Wikipedia page about your own company is discouraged, as Wikipedia aims to ensure its content remains unbiased.

 The Risks of Undisclosed Editing

It’s crucial to understand that:

• Wikipedia editors frown upon and may penalize pages that appear to have been edited by the company without transparency.
• Your IP address is recorded and visible to others. Never attempt to edit anonymously using a company-owned IP address.
• The Wikipedia editor community actively tracks changes. Your edits can trigger alerts for engaged editors, who may swiftly revert or challenge your modifications.

Free Consultation regarding your brand’s Wikipedia challenges (and their impact on AI Models): Contact Us

The Gold Standard: Disclosed Conflict of Interest (COI) Editing

Over the past few years, a new approach to Wikipedia editing has emerged, known as “disclosed conflict of interest” editing. This method is now considered the best practice for companies seeking to improve their Wikipedia presence. Here’s how it works:

1. The company or individual creates a Wikipedia user account.
2. They disclose their connection to the subject of the article on their user page or the article’s talk page.
3. Instead of directly editing the article, they suggest changes on the talk page, providing reliable sources to support their proposals.
4. Independent Wikipedia editors review these suggestions and implement them if they meet Wikipedia’s guidelines.

This approach aligns with Wikipedia’s values of transparency and allows companies to advocate for fair representation while respecting the platform’s rules.

Why Choose Disclosed COI Editing?

• It’s compliant with Wikipedia guidelines, avoiding the risks associated with undisclosed editing.
• It allows for more aggressive advocacy on behalf of your brand, as you’ve already informed the community of your connection.
• It typically leads to better long-term outcomes and a more stable Wikipedia presence.

How We Can Help
At Five Blocks, we specialize in navigating Wikipedia’s complex landscape for our clients. Our services include:

1. Notability Analysis: Determining whether an entity has the required coverage for Wikipedia editors to accept and publish a new article.
2. Current Page Analysis: Reviewing challenges and opportunities with existing content and sources.
3. Content Planning and Drafting: Preparing content and sourcing for potential Wikipedia inclusion.
4. Community Engagement: Working with the Wikipedia editor community to review and submit proposed changes via the appropriate talk pages.
5. Vandalism Monitoring: Utilizing tools to monitor Wiki pages so that swift action can be taken when needed.
6. Foreign Language Pages: Assisting in creating Wikipedia pages in other languages, following the specific guidelines for each.

Free Consultation regarding your brand’s Wikipedia challenge: Contact Us

Important Considerations

• Wikipedia’s editing guidelines are far more intricate than they may appear. The sources, writing style, and editor interaction require significant experience to manage effectively.
• Timing is crucial. Introducing a Wikipedia page in advance of a potential crisis may be beneficial, while doing so during a crisis could backfire.
• Building a positive Wikipedia presence takes time and patience. It’s a long-term strategy that requires consistent effort and adherence to Wikipedia’s principles.

Ready to Improve Your Wikipedia Presence?

If you’re looking to create or improve your company’s Wikipedia page, we offer free consultations to discuss your options and determine the best approach for your specific situation. Our team of experts can guide you through the process of disclosed COI editing, ensuring compliance with Wikipedia’s guidelines while working towards your goals.

Free Consultation regarding your brand’s Wikipedia challenge: Contact Us

Still have questions? See our FAQ

How do I edit an error on my company’s Wikipedia page?

While anyone can edit Wikipedia, it’s best to use the disclosed COI approach.
Best is to work with an experienced firm to suggest changes on the article’s talk page, providing reliable sources to support your corrections.

How do you create a Wikipedia page?

Wikipedia has strict standards for notability, citations, and conflict of interest. We recommend consulting with professionals to navigate these requirements and increase the chances of your page being accepted and maintained.

Can you edit your own Wikipedia page?

Direct editing is discouraged. Instead, work with an experienced team to ensure you are utilizing the disclosed COI method to suggest changes on the talk page and let independent editors implement them.

Who can edit a Wikipedia page?

Anyone can edit most Wikipedia pages, but it’s important to follow the platform’s guidelines, especially regarding conflict of interest.

Can I see who edited a Wikipedia page?

Yes, go to the ‘View History’ tab at the top right of the Wikipedia page. The username of the editor appears next to each change, along with the date.

Remember, working with Wikipedia requires patience, transparency, and adherence to the platform’s principles. By following these guidelines and best practices, you can work towards achieving a fair and accurate representation of your company on one of the world’s most visited websites.

Free Consultation regarding your brand’s Wikipedia challenge: Contact Us

The post Can you edit your or your company’s Wikipedia page? appeared first on Five Blocks.

Typically, results for top CEOs will include their Wikipedia page, their company’s website, top news stories, and various types of profile sites, which provide a quick snapshot of facts for users.  

(Note: Perhaps the most interesting data point for many searchers is CEO salary: we found this in a previous study we did on the People Also Ask box. 22% of all questions appearing for Fortune 100 CEOs relate to their salaries.) 

We recently surveyed Google results for Fortune 500 CEOs over three consecutive years (on the same dates) to assess the changing prominence of different kinds of profile sites in their top results. 

We found that self-managed profile sites – LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook (in addition to Crunchbase, which can be self-managed) –  have remained more or less stable in terms of their prevalence on page one for CEOs.

At the same time, third-party profile sites, like Bloomberg, Forbes, Fortune, and Business Roundtable have slightly decreased in page one presence for CEOs over the years. Bloomberg, for example, appeared in page 1 search results for nearly 90% of these CEOs through early 2019; today that’s down to 70%.

The sites that have risen in prominence are auto-generated profile sites, which pull relevant information from multiple websites and databases to create a one-page dossier on executives. These sites, namely Wallmine, Salary, MoneyInc, and MarketScreener, have significantly risen in prominence over the years. Wallmine in particular saw a meteoric rise in 2019 – from appearing for just 1% of CEOs to 65% of them within that same year. 

What is interesting about this trend toward automatically created “scraper” sites is that they don’t seem to add a whole lot of value. What are they doing that Google cannot do by itself? Google’s algorithm already tends to prioritize pages and sites that help it answer popular questions and meet the common need for quick facts. Google does this by crawling much of the internet and then displaying the best pages and data points.

When companies do the same type of summarizing, this can be useful to visitors…but only for a time. 
Some years ago we saw the same dynamic play out with Answers.com. In order to answer questions people often searched online, that site scraped various authoritative sources and created answer pages – which ranked prominently for tens of thousands of terms. Eventually, though, Google applied a more sophisticated duplicate content filter, demoted Answers.com, found other sites that added more original value, and added its own “dossier” features as discussed above. Answers.com simply wasn’t adding enough value to last long term.

So while right now there are several automatically generated profile websites appearing for many prominent individuals, some of which can actually be managed to some extent (MarketScreener offers an option for a paid profile, for example), we predict that these sites will not retain their prominence long- term.

In our estimation, for a site to remain relevant and prominent in Google search, it needs to add unique value, providing information or an experience that other sites do not…and that Google can’t manage on its own with its own knowledge graph data.  

Ideally, sites that want to go the distance should be filling a gap – providing some deeper answers to the popular questions people have, adding images or videos where those are missing to flesh out someone’s persona, or providing information in a language that is not covered. 

Google is a reflection of what people want to see, and people seem to want to see a quick and comprehensive picture. Staying valuable will require a heavier lift for content writers and researchers. The robots – the automated content aggregators – will need to find some other, more helpful, work to do.

About the author:

Miriam Hirschman., Research Manager at Five Blocks, is driven by an endless supply of curiosity and a deep background in data analysis as she digs for the interesting stories behind the numbers. Because we believe in data and tools but believe in people even more, she reviews massive volumes of search results, seeking patterns and finding order in the often chaotic world of web search. 

The post Just the Facts: The rise of auto-generated profile sites, and what that means about the direction of search appeared first on Five Blocks.

This iconic advice (given by a “commencement speaker” in Baz Luhrmann’s song from the late 90’s) has become code for the following wisdom: 

Life is complicated in unexpected ways, but there are some simple, basic things you can do to avoid an unnecessary crisis. At least that.  

This summer, you’ll wear sunscreen to protect your health and your youth – but what (or who) is protecting your digital reputation? 

As you Instagram your way through the islands, blog a path through the whiskey bars of Europe, or get tagged by your friends at so-and-so’s pool party, what movement will be taking place on that great portal to your reputation we call Google? Who would you like to be seen as? Who would you like to be seen with? These things are far more in your control than you might think.

Since your reputation is at least as valuable to you as the luggage you insure before your flight, we’d like to state a few (perhaps obvious) tips before your vacation becomes a liability:

• Twitter:  If you tweet frequently, your Twitter feed (and, if you are a superstar, the tweets themselves) are likely to rank on Google page one, especially if your tweets are your original content. Make sure the things you tweet are not just fit for your followers on that medium, but for everyone who may be searching for you on Google.

• Images: You may want to change your Facebook profile picture to the new one of you with the great tan and six pack (and also beer), imagining that only your friends will see it. Keep in mind, though, that your profile pictures will tend to rank in a Google search of your name, or your company’s. Which of your “assets” should your investors and board members see?
• Video: Google often provides searchers with a “video carousel” placed within organic search results, if a relevant video is available. Make sure the videos which will appear when searching your name (usually based on the title in YouTube or on your blog) remain professional and relevant.

•  Your blog: It’s great if you have one, since ownership (sites where you control or at least influence the content) is one way to strengthen digital reputation. Sites like these will often rank prominently in searches for your name. Are you posting responsible, relevant written and video material on the road? Are you being true to the brand you’ve created for yourself? Remember that reputation doesn’t take a vacation, and often sticks around even longer than the sand everywhere.

•  Wikipedia: Do you have a Wikipedia page? If so, you know that this page will appear at the top in search results for your name. And you probably have better things to do on your vacation than track whether any of that platform’s 200,000 editors have made any updates without your knowledge. Luckily, the Five Blocks WikiAlerts tool sends real time alerts to your email whenever there’s a  change, so you can know before the Chairman does.

• Google Alerts:  Along these lines, we assume you will have already set up a Google Alert for your name and your company’s; if you haven’t yet — this would be the perfect time. That way, you can get to the business of vacationing and just check your inbox periodically to see if you may have an issue.

  Forewarned is forearmed. Make sure that when you get away from your desk this summer your reputation stays right where you left it. Have fun!

The post Executives: How to SPF (Search Protection Factor) Your Summer appeared first on Five Blocks.

Recently, Google appears to have made a significant change to its search results page that eliminated several in-depth articles for many clients. We’ve taken a deeper dive into this development to see what it could mean for brands and high-profile individuals, and the PR professionals who work with them.

As you know, when searching for a brand or an individual, the Google search results page presents a variety of relevant content pieces and types of media to satisfy the query. Often this means a company’s own webpage will appear at the top, followed by third-party content such as Wikipedia and news sources. There may also be social media results (if an individual or brand actively maintains these platforms), along with image results or video content.

Several years ago, Google introduced a section within top search results they called “in-depth articles”. These results looked very similar to other search results, but came from longform media outlets like Variety, Rolling Stone, or The New York Times Magazine.  Often, they were a seminal article about the brand in question – articles that may have been placed by their PR teams.

Including these articles on the top results page seems to have been Google’s way of ensuring that a greater variety (and deeper) content would appear in this prime spot. Their inclusion, and the actual articles that appeared within that section, were governed by a different set of algorithms than most search results.

Recently, this section disappeared from all search pages for brands and executives. This happened without any announcement or acknowledgment on the part of Google.  It is important to note that in-depth articles for many brands and individuals contained negative content. At the same time, it was the place where particularly engaging longform journalism made its way onto the prime real estate of Google page 1 for a brand.

The ramifications of Google’s elimination of this section are yet to be seen, and their motivation can only be assumed to be “less intervention” following high profile criticism of potential bias in their  algorithms.

A whole host of interesting questions arise from Google’s move: What is the corporate (and civic) responsibility of those who hold the world’s data in their hands? Are there cases for intervention? Who decides what those are?

It is interesting to note that alongside this mysterious  disappearance, a recent Five Blocks study of CEO search results found there are far fewer news sites (sites such as CNN, CNBC, and others) on the first couple of pages of searches for a CEO compared to a year ago. In addition, those pages feature many more  profile sites, where one would find more dry facts (often created by the brand), and less news.

This marked difference in the presence of news within the organic results over the course of the past year, alongside the recent removal of the in-depth article section, means that page 1 of search for brands and individuals will contain far more“owned” content – i.e.: information they control.

For some brands this would appear to be a positive turn of events, but for many this trend means they will not automatically have great media pieces (which they often earned by being genuinely great) appear prominently in searches. It means they will need to work harder to deliberately ensure that the best third-party media does in fact place highly within their profile. Savvy communications teams will find ways to enhance their brands’ online presence within these brave new parameters.

— Sam Michelson, with Sara K. Eisen

The post How Deep is Google’s Love?: Where the In-Depth Articles have Gone (and What it Means for You) appeared first on Five Blocks.

“We’re not even close to the beginning of the beginning to how information will be wielded as a weapon of war and business,” Opinsky said…

Read more

The post Five Blocks President Howard Opinsky speaks with PR Week on Bezos’ response to AMI appeared first on Five Blocks.

Five Blocks is excited to share the news that we have been awarded a Gold dotComm Award from AMCP in the SEO category.

We’re humbled and privileged to have worked with Dr. Joyce Banda, former president of the country of Malawi, to help her defend herself against defamatory information spread by corrupt political opponents.

A very special thank you to our dedicated team members for their excellent work, and of course to AMCP for selecting us from among thousands of prospective winners.

Gold Award- Digital Marketing & Communication Campaigns

Our Gold Award is a humbling affirmation of the efforts we put in to support prominent individuals and leading companies by allowing them to take control of their digital messaging and protect their reputations. The web environment is dynamic and continuously evolving, and our success in this area has been a direct result of the hard work and creativity of our team.

AMCP and the dotComm Award

We are especially honored to have earned recognition from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals, one of the oldest and most respected evaluating organizations in the industry. In determining winners for the dotcom award, AMCP seeks “excellence in web creativity and digital communication.” The dotComm Award is a reflection of our creativity and our ability to pivot in the dynamic online ecosystem.

The post Five Blocks awarded Gold dotComm Award appeared first on Five Blocks.

Reactions so far are split on whether this is a good thing, with some already mourning the loss of creativity forced by the 140-character constraint. However, there is a major hidden benefit to Twitter’s new world of wordy: the way it affects your search results page.

Since August 2015, when someone Googles a term associated with a Twitter account, the search results have included a dedicated space for actual tweets from that account. That’s a win for companies, brands, and people who care about their online presence. It means their voice is right there on the search results page, in a section whose contents they completely control.

With Twitter’s newly doubled character count, we wondered if Google would come along for the ride. Would the Twitter box on the search page double in size? Or would it just cut off the tweet after 140 characters?

The answer? For Twitter boxes featuring the wordier 280-character tweets, the actual box has grown to accommodate the greater length.

This is an incredible branding gift from Twitter and Google, offering even more space in the search results for a brand (or company, or individual) to control and to tell their own story. This is the kind of space brands pay money to have on the search page.

Brands should welcome this gift with open keyboards. They have learned how to be creative in 140 characters; now it’s time to embrace the new challenge to be engaging, yet still pithy, in 280.

What’s more, companies can reap the benefits of a longer Twitter box on the search page without being needlessly wordy all the time. The box works as a carousel, allowing the searcher to scroll horizontally through a few recent tweets, beyond just the first three showing. We discovered that if any of the tweets in the box – even the ones not initially visible – are longer, it lengthens the whole box.

In this new era of Twitter 280, brands have the opportunity to offer deeper thoughts, or even just thoughts that are longer winded. That’s their choice. But now it pays to be wordy – without even having to pay.

The post It Pays to Be Wordy…And It’s Free! appeared first on Five Blocks.

At Five Blocks we help brands and executives manage their online reputation.

We pay especially close attention to Google’s “Search Suggest” – the autocompletes – like the one for Ken Frazier’s wife..

Google suggests the phrases that are most likely to resonate with searchers – based on past experience.

In this way, Google Search Suggestions are a window into what people think about you and/or your brand.

Kenneth Frazier, The CEO of Merck,  isn’t alone in a recent study we conducted, over 40% of Fortune 100 CEOs’ names are associated with family-related terms in Google Search Suggest.

Meaning when searchers type in the name of the CEO, they see something like ‘family,’ ‘wife,’ or ‘son’ as one of the auto-completes suggested by Google.

This suggests that when searching CEOs many stakeholders want to know more about them and their families.

With our Fortune 500 clients we will often recommend monitoring each of the suggested quires and ensuring that the brand manages content will satisfy the searchers while making sure to respect the individual’s privacy.

It also may be interesting for companies to analyze the timing associated with the appearance of these search suggestions. Do searchers look at a CEO’s family at a time when they feel confident about the CEO? Is it in crisis? It’s even possible that the appearance of these and other suggestions may be associated with changes in sentiment toward the individual by company and are therefore related to rises or falls in share prices.

If your brand or key executives may need assistance managing your digital reputation – please contact us at services @ FiveBlocks.com.

The post Why did Google tell you to look up Kenneth Frazier’s Wife? appeared first on Five Blocks.

At Five Blocks, we track the reputation of thousands of brands and executives and our system alerts us to major changes impacting a large segment of Fortune 500 CEOs. Forbes pages featuring a gallery of relevant images, suddenly disappeared for many of the executives, practically overnight.

All the Forbes image pages seemed to have disappeared.

On June 16^th and 19^th 2016

On July 5^th 2016

All the Forbes image pages seemed to have disappeared.

Initially, we assumed this was an algorithmic change in Google, but when we followed the tracks, it was clear that a human error by a Forbes staff member had resulted in a ripple effect, affecting the search results of many individuals.

What Happened?

Pages on Forbes.com, like many other sites, include code known as a canonical tag. The purpose of this tag is to send a signal to Google that the page you are on is the original content. Oftentimes the same content exists on multiple pages.  Thus it is useful to direct Google to the original version.

On or just before June 25^th, the URL that the tag began pointing to was the first individual on the list.

In one instance all the individuals on this list had a canonical tag pointing to Ray Dalio:

In another instance, the canonical tag began pointing to Larry Page (of all people!):

Luckily the mistake looks easy to correct and is not likely to have a long-term impact. This example serves as a reminder of the pivotal role that specific prominent publications play in the digital reputations of many executives.

Many factors impact digital reputation. Google’s algorithm certainly plays a central role, but so does launching and maintaining owned sites and content, interacting in social media, and engaging with the press to get the coverage your brand needs. At the same time, it is worth remembering that like many things in our lives, digital reputation is vulnerable to both human and technological error. Tracking your online reputation on an ongoing basis can help you take quick action when a concerning situation does arise.

And who knows, sometimes, writing a blog post and tweeting it out could be what fixes the problem.

Forbes could not be reached at the time of this publication for comment.

The post How One Small Technical Error by Forbes Changed the Reputation of Fortune 500 CEOs… Overnight appeared first on Five Blocks.

This is how you do it:

1. Use your preferred logo as the logo for your brand’s official Google+ profile (use verified name and link to your main website).
2. If there is a Wikipedia page for your brand, make sure the logo image is your preferred version.
3. Use Schema.org’s organization markup to indicate to Google the preferred logo. Google has said they will honor that (presumably in the absence of a Google+ logo).

FedEx and Fun with Knowledge Graph Logos

Fedex decided to change their logo to a holiday logo version. On or before Dec 11th, they changed the FedEx logo on their Google+ page to the holiday version.

Shortly thereafter, their knowledge graph logo changed as well.

Before:

After:

Meanwhile – FedEx has changed their logo in Google+ back to the standard logo:

But the Google knowledge graph still has the holiday logo on it.

In SEO, they often say “If you don’t like your results, wait five minutes.”

In this case, I would recommend that FedEx also uses Schema.org’s organization markup on their homepage to indicate to Google the preferred logo.

They can also go back into Google+ and change the logo to a new file in the hopes that Google will detect the change and update the knowledge graph image.

The post How to Change Your Logo in Google Knowledge Graph appeared first on Five Blocks.