The Truth About the SEO Potential of .edu Domains

In recent years, search engine ranking has become a crucial part of operating a website or a blog, particularly for commercial websites. Good rankings on search engine results pages are achieved through search engine optimization (SEO). One very important aspect of SEO is backlinking – when a website attempts to have its site linked to by other high-quality websites.

.edu Websites

One of the most high-quality types of website that site owners seek to get linked to is a website whose URL ends in .edu. Such a website is known as an .edu domain. These domains are highly regulated and approved only for websites of post secondary and accredited educational institutions.

There is a huge perception that .edu domains are very high in quality, and that a backlink from such a domain will result in an increase in search engine ranking. This is both true and false. It is not automatic that an .edu backlink will boost your rankings. To better understand this, let’s take a general look at how search engine ranking works.

General Search Engine Behavior

A search engine, like Google, has the responsibility of providing the most useful and relevant search results to its users. In order to do this, the search engine has to find a way to properly rank thousands of websites. As many as 200 factors are used in determining whether a website appears on the first page or on the second (and beyond), where it will receive far less attention. Some of the most crucial factors include:

·         Keyword use

·         Website optimization

·         Domain extention (.com, .org, .edu and country-specific extensions such as .us)

·         Outbound and inbound link quality

·         Presence of multimedia content

·         Social shares

·         Content that is useful, has value, and provides insights

Search Engines and .edu Domains

The .edu websites are not given more weight by search engines simply because they have the three special letters; it is because of the content within them. Most .edu websites provide important information regarding high-level education, careers, research, and educational institutions. This type of content is what makes .edu domains very powerful in terms of search engine ranking.

If an .edu website lowered its content quality and relevancy, getting a backlink from the site would not be any different than getting linked to by a little-known blog. Google takes content very seriously – it is  a big factor in determining the ranking of any website.

So, before you start working hard to get .edu domain backlinks, understand that their quality is not always guaranteed. But if you can manage to have your site linked with a legitimate and good .edu site, it can really be good for your ranking.

Getting such a backlink is itself a big challenge since very few university or college websites will agree to post your link on their pages. This is not to mean that it is impossible. You can partner with the institution in research or make a donation and possibly get mentioned on its website. This way you stand a chance of tapping into the powerful SEO potential of quality .edu domains.

Make sure you're linking to high-quality .edu sites. Contact Website Optimization to get started.

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