It is possible to beat Wikipedia?

I have a good keyword in #2 for months, just behind wikipedia. Do any of you have experience in this? Should I try to beat it or it's better focus in other keywords?

Thanks.

If your onsite and offsite SEO is good surely you can.

You must also know that many of this authority sites that ranks almost everywhere do not have sufficient back links for most of the places they are ranking. They got there based on trust, if you can establish some trust/page rank and solid back links then you don't have problem.

In my opinion it depends on the niche. If you want to sell something, then #2 is good, since I don't think wikipedia sells anything by affiliate links, etc. if people want to buy something, they will go straight to your site, ignoring wikipedia. If your site is an informational kind of site, then it might worth it to try beat wikipedia, it depends on how profitable your keyword is... You can compare the monthly searches for that keyword with your monthly organic traffic. If your traffic is much lower, then maybe wiki really hyjacks your traffic. If not, then I'd be satisfied with my second place.

I have seen many website beat Wikipedia, and if they can do it. You can do it!

It's definitely possible. As john said, most of these super authority sites rank based on their trust alone. They usually do not have a lot of links to the page itself. It may take a little while and some effort, but it's definitely possible to outrank wikipedia.

Hey,

right now I have a site that is competing with wikipedia and I have beaten it a few times but it has not stabalized yet. I would have my site above it for a few days and then we would switch places, however if you actually tried it would be easy to stay on top.

Wikipedia does not get the highest position because it is a trusted site. Just analyze it. There is something that makes it go on the top...example:
No ads
Lengthy content (though unreliable)
Low bounce rate

find a way to put your link on wikipedia....then it wouldn't matter if they if they are outranking you....

Bottom-line question is: what's #1 worth? Like someone said, people are not going to click on Wikipedia if they're after a solution to buy, so you may not get a whole lot more BUYING traffic (the only kind that matters) after investing in taking over the #1 spot. And traffic that buys is what's important. You're wise not sharing your site/keyword/niche here on a forum full of piranhas, but you have to evaluate the buying value and make that decision.

One way to find out how you're really doing is invest in a short Adwords campaign to see what the true search count is and how many of those you're already getting. Adwords is really the only true way to find out how many people searched for a term. The Google Keyword Analyzer Tool is hugely inaccurate!!! Some say inflated x3. An Adwords campaign will tell you precisely how many searches are finding your site. Compare the clicks you're already getting at #2 with how many search results Adwords says your ad appeared on Page 1 and compare. If you're getting the lion share (85%+), I wouldn't invest in getting to #1, but I don't know the value of your keyword(s). That's why it's up to you. Hope that gives you something to think about. Good luck, and congratulations on the #2 spot.

And by the way, don't bid to get #1 and #2 in Adwords. Bid on the cheaper, #3 spot. All you want is search data: how many times did your Adwords ad show up on a search results page for those keywords that are already bringing people to your site organically.