Wikipedia:Red link

This is an information page. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, but rather intends to describe some aspect(s) of Wikipedia's norms, customs, technicalities, or practices. It may reflect varying levels of consensus and vetting.

Shortcuts WP:RL WP:RED WP:REDLINK WP:REDLINKS

A red link, which looks like this, is a link to a page on Wikipedia that has not been created yet. Many of these pages can be found at "most wanted articles." Red links, as the name suggests, are always red. It is useful in changing article text to create a red link to show that a page will be created soon or that an article should be created for the topic because the subject is notable and verifiable. One study conducted in 2008 showed that red links helped Wikipedia grow.^[1]

1. ↑ Diomidis Spinellis and Panagiotis Louridas (2008). The collaborative organization of knowledge. In Communications of the ACM, August 2008, Vol 51, No 8, Pages 68–73. doi:10.1145/1378704.1378720. "Most new articles are created shortly after a corresponding reference to them is entered into the system."