How to Get Your Company in Wikidata: Step-by-Step Guide

Wikidata is the most underused tool in entity infrastructure. It is free. It is authoritative. Google's Knowledge Graph and AI systems reference it extensively. And most companies have never heard of it.

This guide walks through the complete process of creating a Wikidata entry for your company. Not theory. Not strategy. Step-by-step instructions with the specific properties you need to set and the sources you need to cite.

I have created Wikidata entries for my own companies and helped clients do the same. The process is straightforward but has specific requirements that, if ignored, result in your entry being deleted. Follow this guide and that will not happen.

What Wikidata is and why it matters

Wikidata is a free, open knowledge base maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation (the same organization behind Wikipedia). It stores structured data about entities: people, companies, places, concepts. Unlike Wikipedia, which stores prose articles, Wikidata stores machine-readable facts as property-value pairs.

Why this matters for your company: Google's Knowledge Graph ingests Wikidata. AI systems like ChatGPT and Gemini reference Wikidata when answering questions about entities. When your company exists in Wikidata with proper properties and references, you become part of the structured knowledge base that machines use to understand the world.

As I explored in What Is a Knowledge Graph and the Wikidata and AI visibility essay, this is not about vanity. It is about being machine-readable, verifiable, and citable.

Wikidata property map for a business

Before creating your entry, understand the structure. A Wikidata item for a company consists of labels, descriptions, aliases, statements (properties with values), and references (sources for each statement).

The essential property map for a business entity in Wikidata. Every property needs at least one reference.

Step 1: Create a Wikidata account

Go to wikidata.org and create an account. Use your real name or a recognizable username. Anonymous edits are allowed but flagged for closer scrutiny. An account with a clear identity reduces friction.

Important: do not use your company name as your username. This signals a promotional account and may trigger suspicion from Wikidata editors. Use a personal name.

Step 2: Verify your company does not already exist

Search Wikidata for your company name. Check in both English and Indonesian (or whatever languages your company operates in). Also search for common abbreviations, brand names, and the legal entity name.

If an entry already exists, skip to Step 6 (improving an existing entry). Creating a duplicate is against Wikidata policy and will result in one of the entries being deleted.

Step 3: Create the item

Click "Create a new Item" from the left sidebar. Fill in:

Label (English): The official company name. Example: "PT Witanabe Integrasi Indonesia"

Label (Indonesian): Same or localized name. Example: "PT Witanabe Integrasi Indonesia"

Description (English): A concise, factual description. Example: "Indonesian industrial engineering and pump systems company based in Bogor"

Description (Indonesian): Indonesian version. Example: "Perusahaan teknik industri dan sistem pompa di Bogor, Indonesia"

Aliases: Alternative names people might use. Trade names, abbreviations, brand names. Example: "Witanabe", "WII"

Step 4: Add core properties

Each property (called a "statement" in Wikidata) consists of a property code, a value, and ideally a reference. Here are the essential properties for a company:

Step 5: Add references to every statement

This is the step most people skip, and it is the step that determines whether your entry survives. Every statement needs at least one reference. A reference is a source that verifies the fact.

Good references include:

• Government business registration: "stated in: [government registry name], reference URL: [link to registry entry]"
• News articles: "stated in: [publication name], title: [article title], publication date: [date], reference URL: [link]"
• Official website: "reference URL: [company website about page]" (acceptable for basic facts but weaker than third-party sources)
• Industry directories: "stated in: [directory name], reference URL: [link to listing]"

References from third-party sources are stronger than self-published references. A founding date cited from a news article is more robust than the same date cited from your own website. Mix both types when possible.

Step 6: Add identifier properties

These connect your Wikidata item to your other online presences, creating the same kind of cross-referencing that sameAs schema does on your website.

Step 7: Link back from your website

Once your Wikidata item exists (it will have an ID like Q123456789), add it to your website's JSON-LD sameAs array:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "PT Witanabe Integrasi Indonesia",
  "url": "https://witanabe.com",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123456789",
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/witanabe/",
    "https://www.instagram.com/witanabe/"
  ]
}

This bidirectional link is critical. Your website says "we are this Wikidata entity." Wikidata says "this entity has this official website." Google can confirm the match from both directions. As covered in the Wikidata business guide, this closed loop is what transforms isolated data points into verified entity infrastructure.

Common mistakes that get entries deleted

Wikidata entries for companies are frequently nominated for deletion. Here is how to avoid that:

No references. An entry with zero references looks like spam. Add at least one reference per core statement. Entries with government registry references are almost never deleted.

Promotional language. Your Wikidata description should be factual: "Indonesian pump systems company based in Bogor." Not: "Indonesia's leading and most innovative pump solutions provider." Promotional language signals that the entry was created for marketing, which is against Wikidata policy.

Duplicate entries. Always search before creating. If your company already has an entry, improve it instead of creating a new one.

No clear identity. If your company cannot be clearly distinguished from other entities with similar names, add disambiguating properties (location, industry, founding date) and use precise descriptions.

Conflict of interest without disclosure. If you are creating or editing your own company's entry, add a note on your Wikidata user talk page disclosing the affiliation. This is good practice and reduces editor suspicion.

Maintenance

Creating the entry is not the end. Wikidata entries should be updated when facts change: new products, new locations, leadership changes. Check your entry quarterly to ensure accuracy.

Also monitor for edits by other users. Wikidata is collaboratively edited, and other editors may add, modify, or remove properties. Most edits are improvements. Occasionally, an editor may nominate your entry for deletion. If this happens, respond on the talk page with evidence and references. Polite, evidence-based responses almost always result in the entry being kept.

If you are building comprehensive entity infrastructure for your business, the entity infrastructure practice includes Wikidata setup as a core component. For self-directed learners, the course library walks through each step with examples from real implementations.