It is fairly well known that a backlink from a .edu and .gov url can have huge potential SEO value. However there are a lot of misconceptions as to why they are valuable and exactly how valuable they are. .Edu and .gov backlinks are valuable for a number of reasons, including but not limited to the limited availability, exclusivity and the fact that they’ve been around for so long. Some of the oldest domains around are .edu’s, hence their relevance value to the search engines. Also, .edu’s have become recognized as a source for good, relevant content. Relevance is exactly what search engines are looking to provide their users.
Now its not as easy as just getting a link from any old .edu, because there are many other factors including the popularity of that page and its relevance. If it’s a buried page that rarely gets traffic, has no incoming links, no PR and no obvious relationship to the context of your site, it won’t do any better for you than a backlink from another TLD. It is important to understand that the search engines don’t just look at one site alone, rather they look at the overall footprint and relationship of these sites among others. If that .edu has regular traffic, a ton of backlinks from reputable sites and is content related to your site, than its value skyrockets.
