110 replies to this topic

[tyggis]

Hi and happy easter.

Are there any evidence that having inbound .edu and .gov links are "better" links and counts more than other links ?

[Jill]

No.

[incrediblehelp]

No evidence, but I will take all I can get!

[pageoneresults]

If someone gave me the choice of having a .com, .edu or .gov inbound link and all things were equal, I'd take the .edu and .gov over the .com anyday. From my understanding, they do have a different value in the overall scheme of things. They are trusted TLDs and not everyone can get one like the .com, .net, .org TLDs. A link from a .edu or .gov site is going to have more weight than one from a .com site in general. Now, if the .com is an authority site, then things get a little tricky in determining which would be better. But don't worry about it. If you can get legitimate .edu and .gov links, definitely get them.

[qwerty]

They are trusted TLDs and not everyone can get one like the .com, .net, .org TLDs.

That much is true, but I haven't seen a correlation between TLD and the "value" of a link, which is awfully hard to quantify in the first place, if not impossible.

Keep in mind that university sites are usually very large, and I don't see any reason to think that a deep deep page is going to carry any special powers. Sure, I'd love to have a link from MIT's home page, and I'll take one from anywhere on the domain, but I won't trade my first born for one.

A friend of mine is a prof at Virginia Tech. Her area of the school's site is only one directory below the root of her department's subdomain (www.english.vt.edu/~HerName/) (odd that she's in the English Department, since she teaches Rhetoric and Technical Writing, but whatever), but the content there isn't all academic. She's got pictures from her wedding and information for potential clients (she does freelance tech writing and editing) along with the standard CV and information on her courses. So how valuable is a link from there?

[pageoneresults]

That much is true, but I haven't seen a correlation between TLD and the "value" of a link, which is awfully hard to quantify in the first place, if not impossible.

By nature, the .gov TLD is an authority domain "always". So is the .edu TLD but it is of a lesser value in the overall scheme of things as there is more abuse in the .edu TLD spectrum.

Keep in mind that university sites are usually very large, and I don't see any reason to think that a deep deep page is going to carry any special powers.

It would be just like any other page. There will be a variety of determining factors. If the page on the .edu site is about a research project and they've linked to your .com site to a page that offers a more detailed explanation of a portion of that research, then that link is of high value. No matter how deep it is. If the page is getting indexed, that is all that needs to happen. Not only that, but those are typically higher quality referrals. The human type.

If someone in a .gov or .edu TLD has linked to your .com, .net, .org TLD, those are usually "natural links". Those two TLDs have not been "poisoned" yet. But, let's forget about the whole link value equation from a search engine perspective.

I've been the recipient of .gov and .edu links. Heck, I've found links within pdf documents on .edu sites. And, it was really cool to see those pdf documents showing up in top ten SERPs for highly targeted phrases. Not only that, but the average consumer is going to have more trust in those links from those .gov and .edu TLDs. You couldn't ask for a higher value link. Remember, I'm considering all things being equal. A popular .com is probably going to have a bit more value than a .edu that doesn't have the same... let's say, ummm, PageRank™.

But, how long is that .com going to be around? Can we agree that the .gov and .edu domains are going to be less likely to expire? That those TLDs are "very trusted" and have a higher value in the overall picture?

Sure, I'd love to have a link from MIT's home page, and I'll take one from anywhere on the domain, but I won't trade my first born for one.

Neither would I! And I sure hope I didn't make the impression that I would.

So how valuable is a link from there?

It's all relative. See answer above.

Again, if someone gave me the choice of having a .com, .edu or .gov inbound link and all things were equal, I'd take the .edu and .gov over the .com anyday. But, I surely wouldn't give up my first born.

Edited by pageoneresults, 14 April 2006 - 09:49 PM.

[pageoneresults]

Here's a little more from the authorities on TLDs. Emphasis mine.

A Sponsor is an organization to which is delegated some defined ongoing policy-formulation authority regarding the manner in which a particular sponsored TLD is operated. The sponsored TLD has a Charter, which defines the purpose for which the sponsored TLD has been created and will be operated. The Sponsor is responsible for developing policies on the delegated topics so that the TLD is operated for the benefit of a defined group of stakeholders, known as the Sponsored TLD Community, that are most directly interested in the operation of the TLD. The Sponsor also is responsible for selecting the registry operator and to varying degrees for establishing the roles played by registrars and their relationship with the registry operator. The Sponsor must exercise its delegated authority according to fairness standards and in a manner that is representative of the Sponsored TLD Community.

There are many more restrictions in the .gov and .edu TLD space that make them natural authorites. So, they do have more value at a base level as opposed to those TLDs that don't have restrictions.

[Jill]

My answer is still "no" to the original question.

Definitely not persuaded by anything said above. Links are links and all are judged based on the links linking to those links and so on and so forth. No reason to care what the TLD is as the linking pattern should be plenty to go on.

[qwerty]

There's no doubt in my mind that domains on .gov and .edu domains can be expected to stick around longer than the average .com, but that's not necessarily true for all documents on those domains. If I convinced my friend to link to me (which I suppose would probably get her in trouble), that link is gone as soon as Cal Tech lures her away from VT. So there's no sense of permanence there.

The same is true about pretty much any page on an academic institution's site. What if the entire marketing department of a business school compiles a page of resources for their students? I'd love to get a link from there. But is that link going to last forever? If the profs are being careful to keep that page up to date, they may decide at some point that my site's not all that valuable, or that other sites are more valuable, and move my link someplace else, or even remove it.

I got links from a couple of business school professors for one of my clients, and I'm happy to have them, but I don't know these people, and I don't know all the schools. I have no way of knowing just how authoritative these pages are. A prof at the U of Pennsylvania linked to one of their blog posts, but he didn't get that the post was intended to be humorous, so he called it "naive". The U of P is a great school -- they didn't let me in -- and I assume this guy is a big shot, but it's not a great link, as far as I'm concerned.

[pageoneresults]

Definitely not persuaded by anything said above. Links are links and all are judged based on the links linking to those links and so on and so forth. No reason to care what the TLD is as the linking pattern should be plenty to go on.

Well, I guess I can't argue with that. I'll let the original poster make a decision based on the information presented. And yes, a .gov or .edu TLD is going to "naturally" have more value.

[pageoneresults]

Let me share a bit of experience with you on .edu TLDs. I manage a .edu and have for a few years. I know for a fact that the .gov and .edu domains are natural authorities out of the gate. Why? Because they have very strict guidelines to first secure the domain, and then maintain it.

Did you know that as of 2001 October, you must be an accredited institution to recieve a .edu TLD?

Did you know that as of 2003 July .edu TLDs cannot be transferred?

There's much more behind the TLD value than what you appear to understand. You may just think of a .gov or .edu as "just some other link". But, out of the box, they have more value than their .com, .net, .org counterparts.

There is only one Registrar for the .edu TLD. They were just awarded their second 5 year contract to manage the TLD. They have been slowly changing their guidelines to be much more restrictive than they have in the past, especially prior to 2001. The .edu TLD is an authority TLD by natural process.

CODE

http://www.educause.edu/
http://www.educause.edu/edudomain/policy.asp
http://www.educause.edu/edudomain/faq.asp

P.S. Take a look at the link brokers inventories. You'll find very few .edu, .gov sites who are whoring links. Those TLDs are protected from the poison that takes place in the .com, .net, .org and other TLD spaces.

[qwerty]

Did you know that as of 2001 October, you must be an accredited institution to recieve a .edu TLD?

Did you know that as of 2003 July .edu TLDs cannot be transferred?

Apart from the dates, yes, I knew that. But I'm sorry, none of this is real-world proof. In my experience, a link from a .edu domain has not stuck out and shown itself to carry more weight than one from a .com. And this:

I know for a fact that the .gov and .edu domains are natural authorities out of the gate. Why? Because they have very strict guidelines to first secure the domain, and then maintain it.

Having strict guidelines does not make a site authoritative; having authoritative content does. I have no doubt that a university would lose the right to own a .edu domain if they used it to publish nothing but adverts for HerbaLife. Certainly there has to be information about the school and its curriculum. Again, that does not make it, by its very nature, an authoritative site, nor does it make each and every page on that site authoritative.

I would need to see a representative of a search engine say that the algo is engineered to give more weight to pages from .edu and .gov domains, or at least a test that would somehow attempt to demonstrate such a thing. Otherwise, these are TLDs that are harder to get and harder to keep, but that's not in my opinion proof that they're "natural authorities".

But like I said, I will gladly take all the .edu links anyone would like to give me. No problem at all

[pageoneresults]

Whew, I give up. If I continue with this topic you'll want to try and convince me otherwise. To the original poster, please make an informed decision.

[jehochman]

Is it plausable that search engines may give more weight to certain links based on the TLD? I don't know. If TLD information can be used to provide better search results, why wouldn't the SE's use that information?

Has anybody from a search engine stated on the record that link TLD does or does not make a difference? Short of capturing somebody like Sergei Brinn and denying him computer access until he reveals the secret algorithm, I don't see how we can decide the hypothesis one way or the other. How would we construct an experiment to test the hypothesis? There are too many uncontrollable variables.

Don't all SEO theories boil down to speculation? We can collect statistics and say things "probably" work a certain way, but that's not proof. It's just anecdotal evidence.

Besides, if we restrict our discussion only to known facts, this forum is going to be a lot less interesting.

[pageoneresults]

Has anybody from a search engine stated on the record that link TLD does or does not make a difference?

Jonathan, I don't think that would happen. Nor would I think they are really going to state on the record what factors will determine the impact of one's marketing efforts. Sure, they will give you hints, but it's mostly on the things not to do. And, the hints they give you about "what to do" are all based on the basic guidelines for writing html.

[General Forum flame removed]

Edited by Jill, 21 April 2006 - 09:42 PM.