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.GOV and .EDU backlinks are AWESOME!

by Brad Sommers
11 replies
  • SEO
    • |
For the last 5 weeks I have been posting on forums that are hosted on .gov and .edu sites, as well as posting comments on any blog or news system I can find on those same TLDs. Over the last 8 weeks I have been able to rank 18 of 25 niche sites on page 1 for VERY common search terms.

Obviously these rankings aren't solely from the .GOV and .EDU backlinks, however, they seemed to have taken a process which usually takes me 3-6 months to do, and help me achieve it in just over 1 month.

I play around with Google's "site:" attribute to find websites to go get my backlinks on. I won't reveal the most rewarding search query I use, but here are a few to let you hit the ground running. Simply copy and paste any of these into Google one at a time.

site:.gov "phpbb"
site:.edu "phpvv"
site:.gov "vbulletin"
site:.edu "vbulletin"
site:.gov "forums"
site:.edu "forums"
site:.gov "comment"
site:.edu "comment"
#awesome #backlinks #gov
  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Interesting...

    I tried this very method, however many failed to "stick" due to the sites being heavily moderated. Two questions..

    1. What information are you posting? Just your url?
    2. Are the sites youre posting on relevant to your theme or niche?
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  • Profile picture of the author Brad Sommers
    1. I am setting up accounts on the forums with a link to my site in my signature and the anchor text as the key phrase I'm shooting for in google. I make sure to make a few informative posts and contribute to the discussion of the forums, and once I post, the link in my signature shows up and gets counted as a backlink

    2. The .GOV and .EDU sites are not related to my sites at all, not even close. From what I've seen so far this hasn't negatively affecetd me.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Thanks for sharing Brad, I appreciate it.

    Before hand I was only targeting .gov and .edu blogs. I guess this is something that I overlooked, and will revisit.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brad Sommers
    Glad I could help
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  • Profile picture of the author flaminjo
    i have not been able to get an exact answer for this question, i had hired someone to do a .EDU & .GOV link building campaign for one of my sites. i get different opinions in this forum, Plzz some one try explaining it to me whether they (.EDU & .GOV links) are good or bad for my site?
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    • Profile picture of the author idotcom
      I have seen student's personal pages that they have tweaked with a posting and anchor text, ie life insurance, buy a car, whatever. Do these personal .edu pages carry weight?
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      • Profile picture of the author Brad Sommers
        Originally Posted by idotcom View Post

        I have seen student's personal pages that they have tweaked with a posting and anchor text, ie life insurance, buy a car, whatever. Do these personal .edu pages carry weight?
        They certainly do carry weight albeit not as much weight as a link higher up in the directory structure or one on a section with more traffic.

        Also Franco I'm going to have to disagree with you on that fact. Google does show more love on .GOV and .EDU links. AFAIK the reasoning behind it is that not just anyone can up and register a .EDU or .GOV - only very high up, well established organizations can, and google treats linkbacks accordingly.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven Carl Kelly
    There is nothing in Google's algo that gives special emphasis to .gov and .edu domains. These types of domains, however, tend to have a higher PR due to their nature. So when you benefit from .gov and .edu backlinks, you don't benefit because Google has applied something special extra just because they're .gov and .edu, you get more value because of their nature -- and you'd get the same from a .com with the same profile.
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  • Profile picture of the author LookItsMeTerryG
    Be careful with these guys, 2 reasons:

    1. If in Google's eyes, your site doesn't deserve a pr7 .edu link (you're a local plumber or ice skating fan site), you'll find your way to bottom pretty quickly.

    2. These pages are often loaded with viagra spam, do you really want your site next to those? That's awful close to the swinging blade for me...
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  • Profile picture of the author LookItsMeTerryG
    Originally Posted by F27 View Post

    very informative, can anyone register a .edu or .gov domain and creat a site for us to post on ?
    Nope. However, you could find a student and have them create a blog...
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