Wikipedia:Base title advantage

As described in other essays such as WP:PPT, WP:DABTEST, WP:PT/U and User:Andrewa/The Problem With Page Views, page view statistics are often used to inform judgements around WP:PRIMARYTOPIC assessments for both usage and significance.

When assessing the possible disambiguation of an article which occupies the base title or base name, i.e. the undisambiguated article title, claims are often made that the article's page view statistics benefit from that position when compared to other candidates for primary topic. This can be assessed in hindsight, using examples of articles which have been moved away from occupying the base title.

This effect may be more pronounced for titles with a significant number of "what is it" searches, i.e. searches where readers are unsure of the topic they are looking for.

Prior article occupying base name	Current status of base name	Date of disambiguation	Other candidates for primary topic	Average daily page views of prior article occupying base name
				Before disambiguation	Month following disambiguation	Subsequently	Link
Vinyl group	Disambiguated (Vinyl)	27 June 2017 [1] and 14 August 2016 [2]	Polyvinyl chloride, Vinyl polymer, Vinyl siding, Gramophone record	500–1,000	200–400	100–200	[3]
Prism (optics)	Disambiguated (Prism)	7 September 2022 [4]	Prism (geometry)	400–700	180–220		[5]
Oculus (architecture)	Disambiguated (Oculus)	8 September 2022 [6]	Oculus (film), Oculus (brand), Oculus (PATH)	150–200	50–100		[7]
Julian (given name) (originally Julian (name))	Disambiguated (Julian)	2 February 2018 [8]	Julian (emperor)	150–200	100–150	120–180	[9]
Tripoli, Libya	Disambiguated (Tripoli)	10 October 2022 [10]	Tripoli, Lebanon, Tripoli, Greece	700–900	700–900		[11]