Discovered a surprising stat about .edu backlinks last night

I was reading through a case study on Moz's blog and found out that only about 1 in 50 sites with .edu backlinks actually sees a ranking boost from them. That caught me off guard because I always thought getting a link from a university domain was like a golden ticket. Turns out Google has gotten wise to paid links and spammy practices from students or staff. Has anyone else run into this issue with educational links not pulling their weight anymore?

3 comments

3 Comments

patricia_mason1mo ago

Ugh, yeah that actually totally changed my mind too.

the_paul13d ago

What about state university alumni pages that legitimately link back to you?

jenny_coleman1mo ago

Hold on a second, I don't think it's QUITE that bleak. I've seen .edu links still move the needle in niche fields like local history or specialized research where the university actually has authority. The problem isn't the link itself, it's how you get it. A genuine, earned mention from a professor's research page or a department resource page still holds weight in my experience. The Moz stat might be true for mass bought links, but not for REAL educational references.