From Zero to Wikipedia: How We Built an Entity Footprint for a B2B Brand in 6 Months

Entity authority is the single longest-lead AEO lever. There are no shortcuts and no hacks — you build it brick by brick across the sources LLMs use to disambiguate brands. This is the 6-month playbook we used to take a mid-market B2B SaaS brand from invisible to a recognized entity with a live Wikipedia article.

How do you build an entity footprint from scratch?

In order: (1) standardize a canonical brand description and visual identity across all properties; (2) ship Organization + Person schema with sameAs on your site; (3) create or claim Crunchbase, LinkedIn Company, and Google Knowledge Panel; (4) create a Wikidata entry; (5) earn 5–10 third-party citations from authoritative outlets; (6) once notability is genuinely established, draft and submit a Wikipedia article. Total timeline: 6–12 months for a mid-market brand.

Month 1: Foundation

Audit current entity footprint across 12 sources (Google, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, Wikidata, Wikipedia, G2, Capterra, AngelList, Bloomberg, Owler, ZoomInfo, Apollo). Standardize the brand description: a single 1-sentence, 1-paragraph, and 3-paragraph version used everywhere. Standardize logo, colors, founding year, founder names. Inconsistencies here will haunt you for months.

Month 2: On-site schema and external profile creation

Ship Organization schema on every page with sameAs to all owned profiles. Ship Person schema for founders/execs with sameAs. Create or update Crunchbase, LinkedIn Company, AngelList, and key vertical directory profiles. Claim the Google Business Profile if applicable. Submit for Google Knowledge Panel verification.

Month 3: Wikidata entry

Wikidata is the single most underrated entity move in B2B. Create the entity with: official name, founding date, headquarters location, founders (linked to their Wikidata entries if they exist), official website, industry classification, and key external identifiers (Crunchbase ID, LinkedIn ID, X/Twitter handle). A clean Wikidata entry meaningfully improves how LLMs and Knowledge Graph treat the brand.

Month 4: Third-party citations

Earn 5–10 citations from authoritative sources LLMs trust. Industry trade publications, named-author guest bylines, podcast appearances with show notes that link back, Reddit threads where the brand is genuinely recommended (never astroturfed), and inclusion in 'best of' roundups. Volume matters less than quality — one TechCrunch mention beats fifty thin link-building placements.

Month 5: Knowledge Panel and identity reinforcement

By month 5, the Knowledge Panel typically materializes if foundation work is solid. Use the panel claim flow to suggest corrections and add missing properties. Reinforce identity by ensuring every author at the brand has a complete LinkedIn, Person schema, and at least 3 third-party bylines.

Month 6: Wikipedia (if and only if notable)

Wikipedia notability requires significant coverage in independent reliable sources — typically multiple in-depth articles in major trade or business press. If you've earned that during months 1–5, draft a neutral, well-cited Wikipedia article and submit through Articles for Creation. Do not pay for Wikipedia editing — it backfires. Do not publish unless notability is genuine — premature articles get deleted and the deletion itself becomes a discoverable trust signal against you.

Real timeline from a recent client

Month 0: 0 citations across the entity stack. Month 2: Crunchbase, LinkedIn, Wikidata live. Month 3: Knowledge Panel appeared. Month 4: 7 third-party citations earned. Month 6: Wikipedia article submitted, accepted on first review. Month 8: ChatGPT citation share in their category jumped from 1.2% to 6.4% — most of the lift came after Wikipedia went live.

Common mistakes that kill the program

Inconsistent brand descriptions (LLMs flag conflicts and trust drops). Trying to shortcut Wikipedia before notability is real. Treating entity work as 'PR' instead of as structural SEO infrastructure. Hiring an SEO agency that doesn't know Wikidata exists.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to be a public company for this to work?

No. The playbook works for private B2B brands at $5M+ ARR with at least some media coverage. Below that, focus on Wikidata + Crunchbase + Knowledge Panel and skip Wikipedia.

How much does this cost?

Most of the cost is internal time and PR effort to earn the third-party citations. Hard costs are minimal — Wikidata, LinkedIn, Crunchbase are free. PR retainer or earned-media work is the biggest line item.

Can I write my own Wikipedia article?

Technically yes, with strong COI disclosure. Better to have an independent editor draft it from public sources.

Does entity work matter for solo consultants?

Yes — even more. Author entity stacking (LinkedIn, Wikidata-as-Person, sameAs, third-party bylines) is how you become a citable expert in your niche.

How does this connect to the CITE framework?

This is the deep dive on the Trust step of CITE. Index without Trust caps your citation ceiling; this playbook is how you raise that ceiling.