With more than 3.7 million articles and 481,212,415 edits (and counting), the 10-year old Wikipedia is no shrinking violet. The free online encyclopedia is driven by publically submitted content and a self-serving checks-and-balance system that has made it officially recognized as a credible source according to Google News.

In fact, Google, the search engine behemoth, appears to have a love affair with Wikipedia. In the competition-driven world of search engine optimization (SEO), Wikipedia articles are getting a lot of attention. You can test this by typing in just about anything in Google’s search bar (public relations, Detroit and apple cider are just three that result in a Wikipedia page as Search Result Number One). If a Wiki article is not the first on the list, you can be almost sure it will be on the first page of results.

Journalists are also turning to Wikipedia. While most are still leery of citing the site as a credible source, many admit to using it as a starting point to gather information about a company, product or CEO they’re interested in.

So how can businesses take advantage of this? Since anyone can create and edit a Wiki page, you might be tempted to start throwing up your latest press releases, articles on your new product line or a flattering bio of your CEO. But, remember what we said about checks-and-balances? For every person that submits content, there is at least one person verifying that information and making sure it follows the Wikipedia community’s guidelines. In addition, your IP address is being tracked with each submission, so it would only be a matter of time before someone connected a false, subjective or exaggerated statement about your company to you.

Don’t let that scare you. It doesn’t mean you can’t – or shouldn’t – edit or submit company information to Wikipedia. But you need to do so with discretion, transparency and accuracy.

There are three times when you should do something for your company with Wikipedia. When there’s:

1. Incorrect information – the corrected data you supply must be objective and verifiable by multiple independent sources.

2. New information – your company just expanded services, product lines or locations.

3. No information – there is no Wikipedia page for your company. In creating one, remember to be clear, concise, transparent and verifiably objective.

Click here to read What Wikipedia is Not, to give you a better idea of what type of content is appropriate to submit.