Has Anyone Ever Dethroned Wikipedia?

[Planet13]

Hi there, Everyone:

Has anybody ever taken over the #1 spot in the SERPs for a one or two-word keyword that Wikipedia had previously ranked #1?

If so, what did it take? Lots of related new content? Lots of inbound links? Editing of the wikipedia page? An offer they couldn't refuse?

Thanks in advance.

[aristotle]

I have a few pages on one site that are still hanging on to the top spot, but the corresponding wikipedia pages are moving up and will probably eventually displace them. My pages are older, and in several cases almost everything on the wiki pages was copied from my site. This a scholarly niche that doesn't have any commercial products so there isn't much competition or traffic.

[Hoople]

Someone once suggested carefully unlinking the wiki page from the higher PR sections in that Wiki has given them some relief.

It depends on how vigilant the locals watching that page are too. I would create a 'one use' ID for this and lay low for a time doing typo fixing and little more. Then try to move it down.

[goodroi]

I have had success by developing sites that are industry resources that are so helpful the leading manufacturers link to it. Its easy to outrank wikipedia when most of the big players in the industry are linking to you.

Get creative and think what are users looking for. Then offer it on your site. Wikipedia has a brief information, so I uploaded an article section with over 100 articles. Wikipedia talks about the big companies in an industry, so I created a directory with consumer reviews for all the companies in the industry. Wikipedia links to a few external sources so I setup Google alerts to find and post the most current links to stories, coupons and sales.

My pursuit to be more valuable than wikipedia has lead to others seeking me out and linking to me without even asking. At least once a week I am approached by the press because they see my sites as authority sites. That is how I've been able to outrank wikipedia.

[Planet13]

Thank You, goodroi;

While it is easy to see the value of your site, that sounds like something of a massive undertaking. For example, How in the world do you get consumers to rate in your directory instead of the numerous other rating sites out there?

Or are the types of companies that you list not normally rated on other general consumer sites?

also, one section of our site is a FREE directory for businesses related to my niche. I try to make it a bit more "business friendly" because I would like to give business owners to sort of "counteract" the reviews found on y*lp posted by someone having a bad day...

But getting businesses to list there is like pulling teeth... even though it is free. And I mean, they don't even need to do a reciprocal link or anything like that.

Am I barking up the wrong tree?

[goodroi]

I have editors who seek out companies and proactively create company profiles about them. My editors seek out all relevant information (price range, options offered, service area, specials offers, pdfs of brochures, etc.) I strive to have my company profiles contain more useful information than any other relevant review sites in the same industry.

The end result is my sites are specialized and have the most complete information compared to any other competing review site. This results in higher traffic which inevitable leads to reviews. It doesn't happen overnight but it does happen.

[limoshawn]

i have been able to take over the #1 spot for a term that i actively pursued but it was only briefly, now wikip and i trade off almost daily. we used a exact match keyword domain, built tons of links and added hundreds of on topic pages. it's not an impossible feat but darn close! their page is the worst kind of bad so having them in the number 1 spot doesn't hurt us too bad, it's a pride thing at this point! good luck!

[Planet13]

Thanks limoshawn, and thanks again, goodroi;

You know, it's funny; the wikipedia pages that I would hope to one day replace have lots of information on them, and could be brilliant, but they are edited so poorly.