.edu Back Link Misconceptions

10 replies
  • SEO
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I tend to read varying opinions on the matter. Some say .edu back links are weighted more heavily than others. While others state the .edu is not weighted heavily, merely the .edu tends to be an authority site.

I would love clarification on the subject thanks
#back #link #misconceptions
  • Profile picture of the author Ben Acharyaa
    Edu links dont carry any additional boost in the serp. atleast not now!! usually a edu domain is very old and has tons of valuable information in it. tends to attract a lot of authority sites linking to it. hence it establishes itself as an authority site and builds the trust google is looking for. isnt that the same with .com sites as well? you post good content, you attract authority sites link to you and you establish youself as an authority.

    a link from nytimes is no less than a link from a pr9 uni site, if there's any. and BTW a comment on a edu blog that has pr n/a is as worthless as any other crap backlinks. its not the tld that makes the difference, its what inside the tld that makes the difference.
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    • Profile picture of the author theacewriter
      Originally Posted by Ben Acharyaa View Post

      Edu links dont carry any additional boost in the serp. atleast not now!! usually a edu domain is very old and has tons of valuable information in it. tends to attract a lot of authority sites linking to it. hence it establishes itself as an authority site and builds the trust google is looking for. isnt that the same with .com sites as well? you post good content, you attract authority sites link to you and you establish youself as an authority.

      a link from nytimes is no less than a link from a pr9 uni site, if there's any. and BTW a comment on a edu blog that has pr n/a is as worthless as any other crap backlinks. its not the tld that makes the difference, its what inside the tld that makes the difference.
      I agree. Link weight has lot to do with domain and page authority, rather than TLD.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dayes
    They are the same as any other link.

    Clueless people trying to sell you them may say otherwise.
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  • Profile picture of the author SherlynCook
    No it is nowhere written that .edu carries more weightage in SERPs.

    With my personal experience, I have observed that there are high ranking sites with .edu and .gov’ in their site's backlink profile. In fact, one website had literally links of .edu’s in its backlink profile.
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  • Bluehabit,

    At about 59 seconds in this video, Matt Cutts explains that links from all TLDs are pretty much the same.

    How do you rate links from sites like Twitter and Facebook? - YouTube

    Best,

    Shawn
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    Outsource to the experts...

    We customize your Blog, eBook, Press Release and Sale Copy content with your message.

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  • Profile picture of the author Tiiberiuss
    It is more valuable because Google sees them as authority websites.

    Just like Wikipedia. Also valuable link. Not to mention government sites.

    However, if your link is coming from a comment section on a PR0 page with 300 OBL (mostly because of fiverr gigs) this link won't do you much good.
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    • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
      Originally Posted by Tiiberiuss View Post

      It is more valuable because Google sees them as authority websites.
      I'd love to see the proof of that fact. Where are you getting your source fact from?

      In all of my testing this year I have not found any reason to suspect that .edu domains get any special treatment.

      In fact, I would guess that Google have seen enough people selling these links to have an understanding of how people are abusing them and if you keep putting bunches of them in your link profile and they're just links on pages with masses of comments - you'll end up getting slapped for it.
      Signature

      nothing to see here.

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    • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
      Originally Posted by Tiiberiuss View Post

      It is more valuable because Google sees them as authority websites.

      Just like Wikipedia. Also valuable link. Not to mention government sites.

      However, if your link is coming from a comment section on a PR0 page with 300 OBL (mostly because of fiverr gigs) this link won't do you much good.
      I've never really thought that .edu or even .org links had much of a benefit over links from other TLDs. There was SO MUCH hype over them a few years back though. And that has definitely died down a little.
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  • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
    Originally Posted by Tiiberiuss View Post

    It is more valuable because Google sees them as authority websites.

    Just like Wikipedia. Also valuable link. Not to mention government sites.

    However, if your link is coming from a comment section on a PR0 page with 300 OBL (mostly because of fiverr gigs) this link won't do you much good.
    I've never really thought that .edu or even .org links had much of a benefit over links from other TLDs. There was SO MUCH hype over them a few years back though. And that has definitely died down a little.
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  • Profile picture of the author Abrar Tariq
    edu links are also same, however if you are getting from a university website which ranks in top 100 in world, than their website will also defiantly be an authoritative website, and if you manage to get link from them, than that's another story. However generally there is no difference.
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