Does it help to link out to .EDU and .GOV websites when doing SEO?

[StevenSaliba]

I would like to know what you guys think about that. I know for a fact (according to PPC Classroom) that when you link out to .edu sites on your landing pages, Google will charge you less money when doing PPC.

[DavidTheMavin]

It won't hurt in SEO, assuming your site is related to theirs, but I highly doubt you'll have less CPC on the PPC front. If you have any proof let me know, but the way they determine what you'll pay is based primarily on clickthrough rates, time on site and bouncerates etc:

About Quality Score
A Quality Score is calculated every time your keyword matches a search query -- that is, every time your keyword has the potential to trigger an ad. Quality Score is used in several different ways, including:

• influencing your keywords' actual cost-per-clicks (CPCs)
• estimating the first page bids that you see in your account
• determining if a keyword is eligible to enter the ad auction that occurs when a user enters a search query
• affecting how high your ad will be ranked

In general, the higher your Quality Score, the lower your costs and the better your ad position.
Quality Score helps ensure that only the most relevant ads appear to users on Google and the Google Network. The AdWords system works best for everybody -- advertisers, users, publishers, and Google too -- when the ads we display match our users' needs as closely as possible. Relevant ads tend to earn more clicks, appear in a higher position, and bring you the most success.
Quality Score Formulas
The formula behind Quality Score varies depending on whether it's affecting ads on Google and the search network or ads on the content network. Click the links below for details.
I. Quality Score for Google and the search network
While we continue to refine our Quality Score formulas for Google and the search network, the core components remain more or less the same:

• The historical clickthrough rate (CTR) of the keyword and the matched ad on Google; note that CTR on the Google Network only ever impacts Quality Score on the Google Network -- not on Google
• Your account history, which is measured by the CTR of all the ads and keywords in your account
• The historical CTR of the display URLs in the ad group
• The quality of your landing page
• The relevance of the keyword to the ads in its ad group
• The relevance of the keyword and the matched ad to the search query
• Your account's performance in the geographical region where the ad will be shown
• Other relevance factors

Note that there are slight variations to the Quality Score formula when it affects ad position and first page bid:

• For calculating a keyword-targeted ad's position, landing page quality is not a factor. Also, when calculating ad position on a search network placement, Quality Score considers the CTR on that particular placement in addition to CTR on Google.
• For calculating first page bid, Quality Score doesn't consider the matched ad or search query, since this estimate appears as a metric in your account and doesn't vary per search query.

[DavidTheMavin]

Although I can see how they'd like that because it shows that you're providing more then just a sales pitch eg information/resources.

[StevenSaliba]

I don't know why, but the video in PPC classroom said that Google loves landing pages that link to .edu websites.

[DavidTheMavin]

Originally Posted by StevenSaliba

I don't know why, but the video in PPC classroom said that Google loves landing pages that link to .edu websites.

That wouldn't really surprise me. I'd need to see some proof which wouldn't be hard to calculate with two separate but exactly the same campaigns pointing to two different landing pages, one with .edu links and one without, then just look at the average cpc.

[dburk]

Hi Steven,

Outbound links help to define the relevance of your page. This is basic knowledge to an SEO professional.

It helps the quality score of your page when you link to other highly relevant pages. It doesn't really make a difference if it's .edu or not. Google sees .edu in exactly the same way as any other TLD.

The outbound links on your page help Google to determine what your page is about. By linking to relevant content you are defining the relevance of your page to a particular keyword.

Let's say that you have a page that lists a bunch of dog training courses with links to the sites that are selling those courses. This tells Google that your page is relevant to someone looking for dog training courses. It's really that simple.

[dntech]

I know that Google holds .gov and .edu in more authority for backlinks to your site but am honestly not sure about linking to them from your site. It definitely couldn't do any harm to have a few and may well pay good results.

[dburk]

Originally Posted by dntech

I know that Google holds .gov and .edu in more authority for backlinks to your site but am honestly not sure about linking to them from your site. It definitely couldn't do any harm to have a few and may well pay good results.

Hi dntech,

Google is TLD neutral when it comes to authority. Google assigns authority to .gov and .edu pages exactly the same way it does for all other pages. While websites on those domains often earn lots of authority, they have earned it in the exact same way that any other TLD earns authority.

[flashgordon]

From my experience, pages that link to .edu or wikipedia or some other authority site rank higher then ones that just include affiliate links or links to lower PR sites. It gives your page "cred" in the eyes of the bots as they read your page as having to do more then just sell a product.

[ShabirAli]

Yea, it will help you for sure.

[primeelite]

It is edu and gov links that link to you, not you linking to them from your page. A landing page with high PR makes the CPC less. I saw even a significant drop in the CPC having a PR1 landing page instead of PR0 or no rank. When using Adwords on my PR4 page I saw the CPC go down by around 40%. So yes try to get edu and gov links just like you would any other authoritive website.