EDU Links are still desired and valuable
September 4th, 2008 by Adam
.Edu links and .Gov links have long been accepted as authority valuable links. Search engines count them as higher votes. Everyone knows this. But lately that theory has come into question.
After all, Matt Cutts said so. He said officially in 2005 that Google’s algorithm does not value the .edu tld any more than any other extension. As recently as May 2008, there were confirmations that Google did not place any more importance on the .edu domain.
But still it is a fact: they work. SEO companies want them. The build edu links themselves. They buy edu links when they can. They are ignoring Google. Not that Google is lying, but they are not going to spell out their algorithm for us either. And if the edu links work, then I still want ‘em.
4 Reasons why an EDU link is more valuable:
- Old grandaddy domains. Established. Not going anywhere. That equals value in Google’s eyes.
- EDUs are not public domains, not anyone can get a link there. Thus edu links are harder to obtain.
- EDUs tend to have loads of inbound links and very high page rank of 7 or 8 or 9.
- Content rich domains are weighted. And edu’s have their share of content.
So the EDU link persists, and becomes harder and harder to obtain. classified ads, college paper sitewide links, bribing a professor… they can be done still but the value is suffering due to the overuse, and more importantly, the lack of relevancy of the link. Remember that the traditional link weights will still count even on an EDU.
The Link Building 101 rules still apply, though not with as much credence, as the edu link will overshadow some of these. However, you still want ideally a link in content, that is the current effective link building tip that is garnering results. Avoid sidebar or footer links, or sitewide links, typically sold cheap on college rags (cheap for a reason!)
So if you read a know-it-all forum poster blah-blahing about Matt Cutts claim that EDU links are not valued, do read the the rest of the thread. You will inevitably read exactly what I am saying: that the EDU link is certainly valuable for many reasons, is an authoritative link that should be sought after and prized.
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