+ RSSThe Truth about EDU Links
.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.
Google claims outright that their algorithm is not skewed to add any additional value to an .edu domain. Matt Cutts has been quoted claiming this, even has a blog page from 2005 blatantly stating that the EDU is just not given any weight over a .com.
Then why still the demand? Simple: They work. Regardless of what Google says. Of course they cannot admit this, they guard their algorithm. Not that they are blatantly lying, it's just that the EDUs work not so much because of the 3 letters "e" "d" "u" on the end, but what that typically represents.
Why do the EDU links still work?
1. EDU domains are ten plus years old. And established sites carry more weight.
2. Because not anyone can just start an EDU domain, they are hard to come by.
3. Inbound links are extensive, the page rank of the domains is typically 7 or above, and traffic is plentiful.
4. Content, content, content: Google likes the content on EDUs: lots of it, research, educational, non-advertising, adding value to the web.
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.
Why is that? The edu value can be discounted somewhat by several factors: irrelevant sidebar links, links not in content, sitewide links (for example, links often sold in college papers-- why do you think they are so cheap?) A link in content on an EDU or GOV site however, with or without page rank on that page, is quite a value.
When I get hit with an email linking to a forum ragging on the EDU link, inevitably I read the rest of the thread and there are countless supporters explaining the WHY and HOW of the edu link. Read and think for yourself, get edu links, and watch firsthand.
