Has anyone had any success with .edu or .gov back links?

1. 58

   TerryGlposted 14 years ago

   There are many .edu and .gov sites at the moment that allow a back link through either a blog dofollow comment or forum profile dofollow link.
   
   I have about three hundred such links that are auto approved in joining the forum or making a comment. ( I know, the list is gold).
   
   My question is, has anyone had success using these types of backlinks? If so how many or how often did you use them?
   
   I am also wondering if anyone used these types of backlinks was their site punished or actually promoted in the search engines?
   
   The links I have are spam free in the comments area and for all intents and purposes fall on a sound edu and gov authority site making any activity seem natural.

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      Starfishfelixposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not an expert at SEO at all, but my understanding is that backlinks can't hurt, although they might be ignored if Google doesn't like them.  The reasoning is that you have no control over your incoming links (an unsavory competitor could link a bunch of "bad" pages to yours to ruin your business if that were the case).
      
      I've heard *.edu & *.gov are good though.

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   2. 58

      RoyalKingposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      It is good to get links from .edu and .gov sites but make sure they are all above pr4 to get quality vote from authority sites.

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      Expomoversposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Cool

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2. 67

   Peter Hogganposted 14 years ago

   IMO, I doubt if a link from an .edu or .gov is more beneficial than a link from a .com or a .org etc. What matters is relevance and other signals. For example the geo location (country) of the server hosting the page that links to yours will help boost rankings in that country slightly more than other countries.
   
   The concept that links from certain domains are more valuable based on TLD tends to come into play by those trying to sell overpriced links or domains to the gullible along with fake PageRank and so on.

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3. 58

   TerryGlposted 14 years ago

   Thanks Peter. I agree the links are overpriced and a lot of hype is built up around the tld's. I once thought they were good to have as back links but my opinion was also based on reading a lot of hype about it.
   
   Hence my question if anyone has had success. I am leaning towards these types of links are no more beneficial then .com or .org links as you say.
   
   It would be nice if someone out there actually uses a plan for these types of links and gets some sort of result and let's us know.

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4. 92

   Susana Sposted 14 years ago

   I have limited experience, but my understanding is that edu and gov sites tend to have high PR which is why they're good venues to get backlinks from. I do think though, that a .com site with PR 6 would have the same value as a .edu site with PR 6 in terms of authority.
   
   I've been purchasing a backlink packet for the last couple of months (all PR 6 or more) and a lot of the venues are .edu sites. I made an effort to use the backlinks for my hubs that aren't getting much traffic to see if the backlinks would give them a boost and from what I've seen so far they certainly have.

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      Peter Hogganposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      PageRank has nothing to do with how a web page ranks in search engines. If you are paying a premium for .edu and high PageRank links someone is stealing your money. You would have received the same benefits from PagRank 0's and 1's that were equally relevant whether they were .edu or .com.

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      1. 92

         Susana Sposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I don't mind paying $5 a month and I'm definitely seeing the benefits.

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            Will Apseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            $5 a month sounds like a bargain for quality back links. The only back links program I have seen that I know works starts at $4 for the trial and climbs to $44 a month thereafter.

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5. 61

   DCnewsposted 14 years ago

   Terry, I would like that list of blogs and forums....please??

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6. 89

   Will Apseposted 14 years ago

   Am I being cynical or is that link list that is 'gold' going to come at a price?
   
   Also Google will hit you if you use a lot of spammy back links. Right now 'a lot' means hundreds but in six months it could mean any number Google thinks of (G seems to be on a crusade). You might be praying to have your hard found spammy back links merely ignored.

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7. 60

   Csjun89posted 14 years ago

   I think it should depend on the nature and reputation of the site

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8. 92

   Susana Sposted 14 years ago

   Misha referred me to it and I've already seen good results after only two months. Have a look if you're interested: http://angelasdiscountmarket.com/backlink_builder.html
   
   EDIT - And this is Misha's hub about this program and others that he uses: http://hubpages.com/hub/Backlink-Tool-O … or-Writers

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      bassfishingguideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I saw in the forum several complaints about Angela's list.  There were more than 10 because according to the users they lost rankings once they started using Angelas's list. 
      
      How long have you been using it?

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         Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         In what forum? And 10 what?
         
         And if it was THAT easy to lose ranking with links, I would have killed and eaten alive all my competition looong ago. Urban myths.

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9. 67

   Peter Hogganposted 14 years ago

   Sounds like a good deal to me too, my point was that the benefits you are seeing are not based on the PageRank or the TLD of the sites linking to you.

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10. 80

    Aya Katzposted 14 years ago

    Many of my useful backlinks came from .edu sites where I posted on topic.

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11. 65

    Mishaposted 14 years ago

    Thanks for a free promo guys
    
    And Terry, to answer your original question - I am getting all backlinks I can get hold of, as long as it does not require too much work to acquire them.

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12. 58

    TerryGlposted 14 years ago

    Great responses. Thanks.
    
    First off, I am not selling my list at all. That was not the purpose of the thread. The reason why is exactly the spam comments such a list will attract.
    
    I know Angela's backlink package and used it in the past.
    
    If anyone wants easy edu or gov backlinks just Google search .edu or .gov forums. There's tons of them out there and searching is free.

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13. 93

    habeeposted 14 years ago

    I'm getting traffic from a Shakespeare site I've never heard of. I'm not complaining, but I do wonder how I'm getting visitors. I went to the site, but I can't find my Macbeth article or a link to it anywhere on the site. ???

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14. 61

    victorsmithposted 14 years ago

    As my view, it helpful, because PR of .edu and .gov links are high.. and backlink from high PR page give good effect...

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15. 60

    scooter-conposted 14 years ago

    I've had some luck, but the challenging part of utilizing these backlink sources is finding a .gov or .org site that is privy with my particular niches.
    Although I am a webmaster at one political website, attaining a backlink from any decent sources is very challenging, to say the least...

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16. 57

    NicheTrafficMastrposted 13 years ago

    I used angela's backlinks for a while last year but I found the results weren't long lasting.
    
    Unless you're active within the sites you link to it is likely that they will be discounted sooner or later and maybe counted as spam.
    
    You need to be very careful with this....it's not worth getting sites banned for the sake of a few backlinks.
    
    It's much better to use some of the high PR social sites and use the blog features they provide. Either post articles or just a description of something you've written elsewhere and post links within the article.
    
    With regard to .edu and .gov links....they are currently the topic of some debate. Many SEO people including Matt Cutts state that they are no better than any other .com or .org site with the same PR.
    
    I read an article that explained the main reason for the belief about greater authority stems back to the time when the internet only consisted of education and government sites. When the general public started creating sites the .edu and .gov links where the only sites to link to. Back then they also had the most links and highest PR.
    
    The same isn't true now...there are PR 8..9..10 sites and as long as they are relevant to your site and topics, assuming you can get comments approved, those type of sites are the best to link to.

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17. 76

    thisisoliposted 13 years ago

    Google has openly stated that .edu and .gov carry no premium over .com links. 
    
    The only reason that these links may add more weight, or trust, is that they tend to have higher Trust.
    
    I do think that Page Rank still affects google rankings, google does try to play this down, probably becaues of the number of people buying/selling PR links. However it is well known that backlinks are important, and Pagerank measures those links, Google did also mention that the number calculated by PR is used directly in calculating a pages value for a keyword.  There are however hundreds of other factors, this is just one of them, and should be treated accordingly.

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       Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I think perhaps the confusion comes from the fact that a high PR often indicates a high amount of authority. If the relevance to you is appropriate and equivalent  in both instances and there is nothing else wrong, obviously a high PR link is better than a low PR link.
       
       As to all this SEO link buying garbage: they'll all get what they deserve sooner or later.  As Will Apse said above , right now Google is tightening up on this junk and I hope they get tighter and tighter.

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18. 39

    MarcBlackMediaposted 13 years ago

    I have seen no big boost from .edu .gov links.  A relevant high PR ".whatever" is the BEST choice hands down.
    
    Google also says they not pay attention to tags, which is BS cause I get thousands a visitors a day to prove that theory wrong... go figure.

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19. 0

    Juan Mariuposted 13 years ago

    The reason everyone goes on about edu and gov backlinks is because they work!
    
    They do add PR to your pages because edu and gov sites naturally gain PR as they age. Depending on how big the site is, and/or if its an authority site - its the easiest way to get high PR backlinks which will add to your sites authority and SERPS rankings.
    
    If Google sees a whole lot of backlinks coming in from sites that Google trusts - You are seen as a trustworthy site and therefore are rewarded with higher rankings.
    
    There are some edu and gov sites don't carry a high PR, but on average, they carry the highest PR in comparison with the rest of the tld's.
    
    In response to the original question - Yes, I have had success with these types of backlinks.
    
    Cheers

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    premiumwritingposted 13 years ago

    Matt Cutts has categorically stated that .edu and .gov links are not inherently different to .com links or anything else. The only difference is that these sites are more likely to be authoritative sites. But they aren't authoritative because if their domain name, they're authoritative for exactly the same reason that apply to .coms.

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