The .edu link myth – your degree in Pointless SEO Tactics

Remember when everyone thought putting keywords in white text at the bottom of your page was clever? Well, the “.edu and .gov links are SEO gold” myth is from the same era, and it’s just as ridiculous.

A History Lesson In Link Stupidity

Back in the early days of SEO, someone noticed that lots of high-ranking sites had .edu and .gov links pointing to them. Instead of realising this was because they had genuinely useful content that universities and government departments actually wanted to reference, they jumped to the conclusion that the domain extension was magical SEO fairy dust.

Cue two decades of desperate attempts to get links from any educational or government website, regardless of relevance. Because obviously, a link from a university canteen menu is pure ranking gold, right?

Why This Nonsense Needs To Stop

Here’s the thing about links from .edu and .gov domains – they’re valuable when they’re relevant and natural. You know, like every other bloody link on the internet.

A link from London Business School to your ground-breaking business research? Brilliant.

A spammy comment on a university student blog about your discount sunglasses? Complete and utter rubbish that’s going to do nothing for your rankings.

The Spam Tactics That Need To Die

If you’re still doing any of these, please stop. You’re embarrassing yourself:

Commenting on university blog posts with “Great article! Check out my website about cheap car insurance!”
Creating “scholarships” that are thinly veiled link-building schemes
Spamming .edu forum profiles with your links
Trying to get your local takeaway listed on government resource pages

What Actually Makes A Link Valuable In 2025

Want to know what really matters? Here’s the truth:

Relevance

A link should make sense in context. If someone has to squint to understand why you’re being linked to, it’s probably not a great link. Think about it – if a visitor lands on that page, should they expect to find a link to your content? If not, that’s a red flag.

Editorial Control

Was the link placed by someone who actually has authority over that content? A manually reviewed link is worth far more than something you snuck into a comments section. Having the site owner or content manager choose to link to you carries real weight – far more than any self-submitted link ever will.

Content Quality

Is the page linking to you actually useful, or is it just a list of random links? Quality matters more than domain extension. A link from a genuinely helpful article on a regular website trumps a link from a dusty, abandoned .edu resource page every time.

User Value

Would real humans click on this link? Would it help them? If not, why do you think search engines would care about it? The best links aren’t just good for SEO – they send actual, interested visitors to your site. That’s the kind of signal search engines really care about.

Building Links That Actually Matter

Instead of chasing domain extensions like they’re Pokémon cards (do people still collect Pokémon cards?), try these approaches:

Create content worth linking to
Build genuine relationships in your industry
Contribute actual value to relevant discussions
Focus on links that could send you real visitors, not just theoretical “link juice”

The Bottom Line

The domain extension of a website is about as relevant to link value as your shoe size is to your IQ. Stop obsessing over whether a link comes from a .edu, .gov, or .com domain, and start thinking about whether it makes sense for your business.

A relevant link from a respected site in your industry will always beat a random .edu link. Always. And if you’re still spamming university blog comments in 2025, maybe it’s time to retire from SEO and take up knitting instead.

Want to see more SEO Myths Debunked? Take a look at my awesome new eBook SEO Myths Debunked.

Because let’s be honest – if your SEO strategy is still based on domain extensions, you might as well be optimising for AltaVista.