‍15 EDU Link Building Tactics + Answers to All FAQs

What Are edu Websites?

edu websites are sites with an edu domain. You can recognize them by the .”edu” extension in their URLs:

Why Are edu Sites Trustworthy?

edu sites and edu backlinks are trustworthy for several reasons:

• ✅Only U.S.-based postsecondary educational institutions can register .edu domain names, which makes edu sites highly trustworthy.
• ✅ edu sites typically publish highly authoritative and quality content written by experts, which improves their E-E-A-T.
• ✅ edu sites are also picky about who they link to, which further boosts the credibility of their backlinks. 
• ✅ In terms of SEO, edu sites are also trustworthy because they typically have strong backlink profiles. They get hundreds or even thousands of high-quality backlinks. 

Analyzing edu sites with tools like Ahrefs shows that, on average, they have thousands of quality backlinks. This also increases their domain authority (DA) or domain rating (DR) scores, which consequently makes links from edu sites more trustworthy, too.

What Is An edu Link?

An edu link (or edu backlink) is a link that points from an edu site to another site. 

Here are two examples of edu links pointing to our site:

Why Are Links From edu And gov Domains Worth So Much?

edu backlinks are similar to gov backlinks in many ways.

• Neither edu nor gov domain names can be registered by just anyone. Edu domain is reserved for US-based postsecondary educational institutions, while gov domain is only available to federal, state, or local government agencies.
• Both gov and edu sites publish expert, high-quality content. 
• Both almost exclusively link to highly credible sites. 
• Both tend to have high domain authority and domain rating scores.

That’s why links from edu and gov domains are worth so much:

• ✅ They have more SEO weight than most links.
• ✅ They are not easily obtainable, which increases their value.
• ✅ Search engines trust them more than links from most sites.

How to Get Backlinks from edu Sites [Overview]

Here’s a quick overview of the edu link building process: 

1. 🚀 Find edu sites for link building
2. 🚀 Choose the right edu sites for your links
3. 🚀 Choose and employ the right link building tactic
4. 🚀 Reach out to edu sites 

We’ll walk you through each step below. 

How to Find edu Websites for Link Building

The first step of edu link building is finding sites you want to build your links on. 

There are hundreds of edu sites out there. To find them, you can use two main methods: 

1. Use Google search operators

Google search operators are special commands that help you filter and narrow down the search results on Google. By using the right operator, you can narrow down your search results to just edu sites on Google.

This operator is “site:.edu.” By using it, you’ll find sites with .edu extensions exclusively: 

2. Use educational organization directories

Alternatively, you can find edu sites by looking up different educational institutions and organizations in specialized directories. 

Here are a few directories to get you started: 

• College Directory by CollegeFairUSA
• Database of Institutions and Programs Accredited by Recognized U.S. Accrediting Organizations
• Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs

Keep in mind that not all edu sites will be a good fit for your links.

Here’s how to choose the most suitable ones:

How to Choose the Right edu Sites for Link Building

The second step is to narrow down your results to the most suitable edu sites for your links. 

We recommend using the LNR criteria — i.e., prioritizing: 

• Local / geo-relevant sites 
• Niche-relevant edu sites
• Reputable institutions

Let’s discuss this criteria in more depth.

Go Local

There is less value in getting featured on an EDU website outside your country or business reach. Think about it, what is the point of a student loan company from Nashville being featured on the website of the University of Alberta in Canada?

Admittedly, such edu links can still be incredibly beneficial SEO-wise. But why not ensure they positively impact your conversions and lead quality at the same time? 

Ensure Niche-Relevancy

It’s always best to target universities related to your niche or industry. 

For example, if you’re a SaaS company, it’s best to target Tech and Computer Science Colleges. Or, if you’re in the music or video production business, it’s best to target art schools.

Niche-relevant backlinks are important for two main reasons: 

• They help you build more authority in your niche than non-relevant backlinks. This leads to better rankings, more visibility, and more traffic.
• They help you attract higher-quality leads. 

So, choose niche-relevant edu sites whenever possible.

Prioritize Organizations with a Strong Reputation

Finally, as a rule of thumb, you should strive to acquire your backlinks from well-known educational institutions. 

This is better for your SEO but also marketing and sales goals: 

• Links from high-authority websites have a bigger impact on your rankings.
• Links from high-authorit, credible websites help boost your credibility, too.

Interested in knowing what EDU sites we can help you get backlinks from? Check our portfolio here.

✅ Now that you know how to find and choose the right edu sites for your links, let’s see how you can build them.

15 edu Link Building Tactics

The easiest way to get edu backlinks is to work with a reputable link building agency (like us). It’s the fastest and, contrary to popular opinion, often the cheapest edu link building method. 

(Just consider how much time and money you could spend on finding edu sites, sending pitches, following up, etc., or paying someone to do it for you.)

If you’re interested in hiring a link building agency, contact us today. 

However, if you still want to build edu backlinks yourself, here are # tactics to try:

1. Offer a Scholarship

Scholarship link building is one of the most effective ways of acquiring a backlink from an EDUcational institution. 

It involves creating scholarships for students, getting the institution to list them on their site, and linking back to your site. 

Since scholarships benefit students, institutions will almost always gladly list them on their websites and refer to you as the donor, granting you an EDU link for very little time and money.

Here is a list of companies of scholarships on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln site.

2. Offer Special Deals to Students or Staff

This approach involves reaching out to the target EDU institution and letting them know that their staff or students are eligible for a special discount, deal, or gift.

Institutions will likely display these deals on their websites and link to your site for more details or contact information. 

Here are a few examples from the University of South Florida.

3. Interview Staff or Faculty

This approach involves interviewing a faculty or staff member and publishing the interview on your site.

Most likely, the university will be happy to promote their employee or student by talking about the interview on their website. And that’s where the backlinks will come from.

Here is an example.

Relevance is key here. For best results, interview people that are relevant to your business.

4. Getting Featured On Resource Pages

Most educational institutions have resource pages they refer students to. Typically, these pages host links to valuable resources and describe what they are.

Here is an example from the Northeast College Community.

Based on your area of expertise, you can create quality content that can be used as a resource on the university website. You contact the university and ask them to list your resources. They’ll usually be happy to do so as long as the content adds value to their students.

5. Broken Link Building

Broken link building involves finding broken or dead links on edu sites and replacing them with your own. Broken or dead links are links that lead to 404 pages:

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The most difficult part of this strategy is finding relevant broken links on edu sites. 

To speed up this process, you can use tools that specialize in analyzing sites for broken links — such as: 

• Ahrefs’ Broken Link Checker
• Dead link checker
• Online Broken Link Checker

Just enter the target site’s URL and the tool will analyze it for broken links:

Next, you’ll need to find existing links on your site that act as a viable replacement.

This is easier said than done. You need to ensure that your link actually fits the existing anchor text and overall context of the page it’s on.

If you don’t have a suitable link to offer, consider creating a new, more relevant piece of content. 

6. Give a Shoutout to edu Bloggers

edu bloggers spend a lot of time crafting high-quality resources, but their efforts often go unnoticed. 

Giving them a shoutout in your content can earn you their attention and edu backlinks:

• Find edu sites with active blogs

Use the query string site:.edu “blog” to accelerate the process.

• Find the authors of the articles. 

Blog pages often have bios with more information about the authors.

• Mention the authors and their content on your site. 

The shoutout can be short and sweet. Consider using or adjusting this template:

“I’ve found this article on [topic] written by [author] especially insightful…”

• Let the author know. 

Finally, reach out to the author and notify them of the mention on your site. You can explicitly ask for a backlink. 

You should be able to find their contact information on the website or find their social media profiles. Alternatively, you can use email finder tools like Hunter.io to find their email addresses. 

7. Leverage Alumni Pages and Associations

Many edu sites have dedicated alumni sections. 

These typically discuss their alumni’s achievements or report on other relevant news, such as alumni events. 

• The easiest way to leverage these pages for edu link building is to contact the school or college you’ve attended yourself. 

Share some newsworthy information they could report on, such as: 

• Your recent achievements
• Awards or recognition you received
• Studies or research you’ve published
• Projects you’re working on 

• Alternatively, you can try getting edu backlinks from schools and colleges you haven’t attended. 

In that case, first find edu sites that have dedicated alumni pages:

Next, choose a link building tactic to employ. This may include: 

• Interviewing the institution’s alumni
• Sponsoring an alumni event
• Conducting alumni surveys

Once you do so, contact your target edu site and notify them of your contributions. 

8. Pitch Link-Worthy Content

Creating content that is useful to students and staff has a high chance of being featured (or linked to) on edu sites. 

Some examples of link-worthy content include:

• Industry reports
• Survey findings
• Online tools (like calculators and quizzes)
• High-quality guides (like blog posts on navigating the student life)

For example, the New York Times publishes weekly quizzes students can take to assess how up-to-date they are with current events. 

Their main Student News Quiz page alone has almost 300 backlinks, including links from edu sites.

Whichever method you choose, follow this 3-step process:

• create the content, 
• publish it, 
• pitch it to relevant edu sites. 

Alternatively, consider creating content in collaboration with educational institutions. 

We’ll talk more about how you can leverage partnerships for edu link building purposes below.

9. Create a Jobs or Careers Page

Many educational institutions have dedicated pages that advertise job opportunities for students and alumni.

Admittedly, many exclusively publish job opportunities within their organizations, so this tactic may require some digging.

Still, you should be able to find many edu sites that frequently advertise other jobs. 

These sites are perfect candidates for advertising your open positions and linking back to you.

Leverage this opportunity by creating a careers or jobs page. Tailor the job opportunities to current students, recent student graduates, or alumni. 

You can also consider offering internships. 

All that’s left to do is notify your target organizations of your job opportunities. Ask that they link back to you for more details and contact information. 

10. Hold a Guest Lecture

You’re likely an expert in a particular field—whether it’s real estate, finance, or something else. This expertise can be useful, especially to students. 

You can ask to hold guest lectures in exchange for a feature on edu websites and, of course, a backlink:

• Find educational organizations with frequent guest lectures. 

You can once again use the search operator “site:.edu” and add a relevant keyword, such as “guest lectures.”

• Choose a suitable topic. 

Find topics that are relevant to the students as well as your expertise. 

Keyword research can help you pinpoint the topics students will likely be interested in. 

• Pitch your lecture to your chosen organization.

11. Organize Events for Students

Another edu link building method includes organizing student events, such as: 

• Career fairs
• Workshops
• Seminars
• Competitions
• Charity events

Educational organizations are likely to want to help you advertise these events by featuring them on their websites. 

12. Sponsor Student Organizations

To build edu backlinks, you can also consider sponsoring or otherwise supporting student organizations and clubs. 

For example, you can consider: 

• Making financial donations
• Lending space to student organizations
• Actively participating in their events, etc. 

13. Sponsor Academic Competitions

Alternatively, you can sponsor academic competitions, especially in fields that are relevant to you. 

For example, if you are a financial advisor, you may want to sponsor competitions in: 

• Financial literacy
• Budgeting and savings strategies
• Stock market prediction
• Personal finance essay writing 
• Data analysis and forecasting 

Again, try to find a middle ground between your expertise and the courses available at your target institutions. 

Besides sponsoring existing competitions, consider hosting your own if you have the resources. 

This strategy could result not only in backlinks but also in a ton of exposure — both on edu sites and other local PR/news sites.

14. Collaborate with Universities

There are many ways in which you can collaborate with universities (or other academic institutions) to earn edu backlinks.

Here are just some ideas: 

• Run a joint study 
• Organize joint events or competitions 
• Write collaborative articles

This is usually a win-win strategy since both you and your partners can get more exposure and recognition. 

For example, both parties can feature each other on their websites.

15. Write Guest Posts

Finally, guest posting can be an effective edu link building tactic, too. 

In fact, it’s usually one of the best tactics you can employ. Guest posts don’t just lead to backlinks, but also allow you to tell your brand story and generate lasting value for your business.

The challenge here, however, is finding edu sites that accept guest posts.

You can try doing so by adding keywords like “guest posts” to the “site:.edu” query string:

Alternatively, try “write for us:”

However, finding great guest posting opportunities on edu sites is rare. 

Most edu sites that openly solicit guest posts have lower domain authority scores and less credibility. 

If you want to publish your guest posts on more high-authority edu sites, contact us. Our writers will also write guest posts for you to ensure they meet educational organizations’ high standards. 

If you’d still rather write your guest posts yourself, follow these guidelines:

• Tailor your content to your target audience, be it students, faculty, or other academic professionals.
• Focus on providing value with informative, research-based content and avoid being overly promotional. 
• Use academic or credible sources to back up your claims.
• Adhere to the university’s specific editorial guidelines, like formatting and content rules.
• Maintain a high standard of writing appropriate for an academic environment. Use a formal, professional tone.
• Write about topics that are timely and relevant to the academic community.
• Ensure your content is error-free and polished for an academic audience.

Reaching out to edu Sites

By now, you have already taken three important steps:

• ✅ You’ve created a list of edu sites. 
• ✅ You’ve narrowed down your options to the most suitable edu sites based on the LNR criteria. 
• ✅ You’ve decided which edu link building approach you’ll use.

All that’s left to do is reach out to your chosen edu sites and work with them on adding your links. 

Find the Right Person to Contact

Finding the right person to contact can be easier said than done:

• The person you contact should have the authority to grant you a backlink. 
• At the same time, they shouldn’t be so high up that they won't bother responding to your request or view it as beneath their level of importance.

So, for example, university presidents or college directors wouldn’t be the right people to contact for this. 

If you don’t find the contact information on the website, you can use an email finder software like Hunter.io. You can also use it to verify the email addresses you’ve already found on the websites.

Next, you can move on to writing your outreach email.

Here are some tactics we use to make sure we write quality emails that compel the prospect to open and read them:

Leveraging Personalization

Personalization allows you to show prospects that you’ve taken the time to research them, consider their interests, and ensure that you’re making a valuable offer.

It allows you to strike a chord with the prospect and get them to accept the offer.

Here’s something you shouldn’t do:

• This email is not personalized
• The email format is not attractive
• And it’s not well-researched.

You can personalize your emails by:

• Including your recipient’s name in the email 
• Referencing their content or achievements, or otherwise explaining why you’ve decided to specifically reach out to them 
• Explaining how your offer benefits them; we’ll discuss this in more detail below.

Crafting a Magnetic Offer

The strategy here is to make the offer about the prospect. 

Think about it; the prospect doesn’t care if you get a backlink or not. All they care about is what you bring to the table — i.e., how your link helps their students or staff. 

That’s the point to focus on. 

Strive to create email copy that speaks to the value you bring to their table and how it helps your recipient. 

Sending Follow-Up Emails

In our experience, most people don’t respond to the very first email regarding conversions. Preparing follow-up emails gives us extra chances to get a reply and potentially get the backlinks.

We recommend following up with your prospects in 5 days, then a week, and a week after that if they don’t reply. 

However, we don’t recommend sending more than 3 follow-up emails. If you don’t get a reply by then, consider the recipient uninterested and move on.

Getting Your Link Live And Ensuring Quality

Ensure you get a natural link placement.

It may occur that an EDU site gives you a backlink, but the anchor text is wrong. 

So, always check the pages of your target to make sure there are no omissions or errors. You can also preempt potential issues by sending the recipient the anchor phrase you want to use in advance. 

Your anchor phrases should:

• Describe what the target page is about
• Preferably use your target keywords 
• Feel natural in the context

Then, every now and then, check that the links are still live and that they are not removed.

Use Our Trustworthy .gov and .edu Link Building Service

Get high-quality .gov and .edu backlinks on demand — no matter how many you need. We’ll build them for you in just up to 10 days by crafting relevant-to-you guest posts and naturally inserting your chosen links.

Contact us today and get access to the full list of .edu (and .gov) sites in our network before you commit.

FAQs

What does edu tell you about a website? 

Edu tells you that a website belongs to an educational institution or, more precisely, a postsecondary educational institution in the US.  

What does edu stand for in a URL?

Edu stands for “education” in a URL. It signifies that the organization using that URL is an educational institution.

How can I buy a website on the edu domain? 

To buy a website on the edu domain, you first need to meet the basic eligibility criteria: 

• The website must belong to a post-secondary educational institution, so you need to be representing such an institution or organization.
• Your institution or organization must be based in the US.
• It must also be accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency. These agencies are chosen and recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. You can find the full list of agencies here.

In some cases, edu domain names are also given to non-profit entities. If you have any doubts about your eligibility, you can contact EDUCAUSE by sending an email to edu@educause.edu. 

However, if already know that you meet the eligibility criteria, you can apply for an edu domain via EDUCAUSE — the sole registrar for the .edu domain names.

First, click “Apply for a New Domain Name” to check the availability of your desired domain name: 

If the domain name is available, you’ll be able to see and pay for the registration fee from there. 

Should I trust an edu domain? 

In general, yes — you should trust an edu domain. 

Edu domain names are registered by US-based postsecondary educational institutions that meet stringent eligibility criteria. 

That means they are owned by known and verified entities and typically publish highly reputable content. 

Is edu a government website?

No, edu websites are not government websites per se. They belong to educational institutions and organizations in the US. Government websites have .gov domain names.

Do edu backlinks still work after Google’s March 2024 Update?

Yes, edu backlinks still work even after Google’s March 2024 update. The backlinks we’ve built for clients on edu domains and subdomains continue to rank as well or better than before the update.

To ensure your edu backlinks continue positively impacting your site, work with a reliable link provider.