.GOV and .EDU Backlink - Which one is stronger?

harrygreen90

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Dec 17, 2013
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If you have a chance to have a backlink of your site on a .edu or a .gov site. Which one you will choose? why? Which backlink is stronger? Why?
 

SEOPub

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Neither. The domain extension has NOTHING to do with the strength of a link on a page.

The whole EDU/GOV thing is a big myth.
 

skullofskill

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Nov 16, 2016
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Having backlinks with an .edu, or .gov, website can help you if the information on your website is relevant to the information on the .edu, or .gov, website. And even then, if the link happens to be visible to the .edu/.gov visitors, then the value of your links will be from how the authoritative .edu/.gov visitors perceive the authoritative website that your link is on.

It takes extra paperwork for .gov and .edu domains. If you're not a legitimate institution for education, you will probably not be able to get a .edu from any domain registrar.

Now on the other side, if the value of your link becomes decided by the authoritative website's visitors seeing your link, then you will then have to hope that the visitor has no beef with the authoritative .edu/.gov website(s), or that you appear to be nothing similar if there happens to be tension between the authoritative .gov/.edu website(s) and the visitor.

Both edu, and gov institutions are generally places people avoid unless the visitor is slightly upset somehow, or they are avoiding something.

I'm not sure if I would even care so much to have backlinks on either domain due to a large amount of anger that the .edu/.gov institutions can cause. Luckily I have never had much trouble with either of them, but I think we can all agree that .edu, and .gov times are serious time moments.

Now as far as SEO, Google will not see the .edu/.gov any more different than they would of a .com/.net. It's all about the perception of individuals, and not of algorithms, Per se.

I hope that helps.
 

FreebieBoy34

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As far as I know ".edu" can only be used IF your site is a School, University, or any other educational institutions which are legally operating both physically and digitally. The ".gov" on the other hand, are only reserved for Government affiliated or associated websites...

Apart from that, these links don't affect your chances of getting better rankings. I don't where you have heard of such lies...
 

longmont

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To be honest, it doesn't really matter. Probably around 2005 or so I actually obtained a .mil backlink. No hacks, blackhat stuff, it was a tiny discussion forum that was being used by engineers and programmers, %100 legit. I don't know the current policies that the military is bound by, but I do know that everything I had always seen and heard showed that you need to access internal and external sites from an official domain extension registered and cleared for use by the United States government. The military often times REQUIRES a CAC card to be plugged into the keyboard before the computer works at all.

In my opinion strength really has no meaning these days.

Trust might be a better thing to think about.

  • .edu TLD is limited to specific higher educational institutions such as, but not limited to, trade schools and universities. In the U.S., its use was restricted in 2001 to post-secondary institutions accredited by an agency on the list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies. This domain is therefore almost exclusively used by American colleges and universities. Some institutions, such as the Exploratorium, that do not meet the current registration criteria have grandfathered domain names.
  • The .gov TLD is limited to United States governmental entities and agencies as well as qualifying state, county and local municipal government agencies.
  • The .mil TLD is limited to use by the United States military.

These are all very trusted domains.

Why? It is almost impossible to be linked from and I am not sure if any domains at all could be trusted as well as the United States can be. DARPA is a military-related entity. http://techland.time.com/2012/07/25/how-government-did-and-didnt-invent-the-internet/

As Manjoo points out, Crovitz’s argument — which rests largely on his contention that the Internet was really created at Xerox’s legendary PARC lab — is bizarrely, definitively false.
 

dheerajaggarwal

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Dec 13, 2016
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These both domains are only relates to the information you are providing in your site eg .gov relates to the Government affiliated or associated websites whereas .edu relates to the educational website. Both have no impact on SEO point of view.
 

Nina John

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Dec 14, 2016
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I Think that both are of same type there is no higher traffic on gov than edu.
search engine prefer both domains.
thank me if you are satisfied.
 
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