Almost since we have a search engine, links have been considered the currency of the Internet.
Who links to your website can say a lot about your association, relevance to specific topics and regions, credibility, etc.
When a highly authoritative and trustworthy website links to your page, you can transfer Page rank Go to your page.
What is more authoritative than the government?
People still believe that .gov links are more valuable and popular than other types of links, and there are many people who are willing to use your money to build them.
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So is the .gov link actually a ranking factor? let’s see.
Disclaimer: .gov link as a ranking factor
Government websites publish all kinds of important information linked to by other websites-statistics and reports, important health and financial information, influential announcements, etc.
You can bet that strict checks and balances will be carried out to ensure the authenticity of the information before it is posted on the government website.
A large amount of money is used for government dissemination and publishing to support the creation of high-quality content that everyone can access.
And once it is released, the content provided by the government will be widely shared by mainstream media, social media users, and various organizations.
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For these reasons, people and search engines tend to think that government websites are quite trustworthy.
So when a government agency establishes contact with you and says that they also trust you, it must be huge. It must be more important than a link from a local non-profit organization or a certain blogger.
right?
.gov links as evidence of ranking factors
Why do people believe that .gov links are so valuable?
Well, just today, I discovered these gems from the service that sells them:
- “By linking trusted and respected websites such as government and academic learning websites back to your own website, you can gain a higher level of trust.”
- “Because the authority of the .edu/.gov website is very high, these backlinks will increase the authority of your site and your Google ranking.”
- “These links deliver serious ranking juice. Links from high-authority sites such as these will boost your Domain authority. “
- “Every link will be DOFOLLOW, and the grade juice will pass.”
Well, pass me some “grade juice”.
If you are looking for a .gov link that will help confirm your Google ranking, then there is no shortage of it. But consider the source.
Objection to .gov links as evidence of ranking factors
This was dismissed a long time ago, and then it was refuted over and over again.But let’s go back to 2008 and take a look What Matt Cutts had to say About the .gov link:
“Usually, our policy is: a link is a link,is a link; no matter where the value of the link is, this is the value we give it. Some people ask about links from DMOZ, links from .edu or from .gov Link, they said: “Isn’t there some kind of improvement? Wouldn’t it be better if the link came from .edu? “The short answer is: no, no. It’s just that .edu links tend to have a higher PageRank because more people link to .edu or .gov.”
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You should ask yourself (and your SEO team, whether internal or outsourced) the first question about any link, especially Domain authority Yes, or any one.
Most importantly, “Does it make sense for this entity to link to this specific content?”
The USDA will link to the blog post of our plumbing company to discuss the advantages of different types of faucets. Does it make sense? maybe not.
Whether the link was obtained through a spam comment, a link injection hacker, or an exhausted low-level government employee took a few dollars next to it, Google is more likely to sniff it.
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If you see your team chasing those meaningless links, keep this In my mind:
You can get the link from your local hardware store earlier. At least Google will not discount the moment it is detected.
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.gov links as a ranking factor: our judgment
A link is a link. Links are a confirmed Google ranking factor.
However, the specific question we are investigating is whether .gov links are more powerful than other types of links, or are different to some extent.
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The answer to this question is: definitely not.
The value of a .gov link is only that it is a link. If you try to play a game on the system based on the TLD, the link may ultimately be worthless to you.
Google has many other more influential and meaningful signals to consider links. This is too easy to operate and has no value to the algorithm.
Instead, it focuses on producing content that authoritative and trustworthy related websites want to recognize and re-share with the audience.
Featured image: Paul Bobita
