.edu versus .com

is there a difference?

[jcoffey]

I have noticed all of our competitors websites are .com - we are a .edu

Is there a difference - does one have more weight then the other?

Thank you

[goodroi]

I would prefer a .edu. Other sites seem to be alot more willing to link to .edu sites. And there are many conspiracy theories that think .edu sites get preferential treatment. But regardless of what domain you are using you still need unqiue content and alot of links and you will rank well.

[buckworks]

A long time ago GoogleGuy said those conspiracy theories were wrong, that pages on .edu domains (or the academic equivalent in other countries) get no special treatment, at least not by Google. They have to earn their Page Rank just like anyone else.

It's possible that their linking patterns tend to be closer to what Google wants to give weight to, but that's a different issue from the TLD itself.

[HughMungus]

Are you an educational institution?

[jcoffey]

yes - we are part of an education institution and opr domain name ends with .edu

[bakedjake]

The engines say no.

I say yes.

If I were a search engine, I would make an .edu site carry more weight, simply because they are not available to the general public.

[jcoffey]

thank you for your comments - I have always wondered if we were treated the same.

[rbacal]

One reason it may appear that .edu domains do better in the search engines is that it's more likely they have had their domains for a long time, and it's pretty clear to me that for what I search for, the longer a site has been around, the more the tendency to be ranked higher.

Major universities, colleges, even public schools have had their sites for a long time.

Speculation of course.

[choster]

Relative to .com, the proportion of public resources is far higher on .edu and .gov, so I would not be surprised if there were many more links, say, to law.cornell.edu than to hoitytoitylawfirm.com. As such, more obscure resources on .edus will be brought to the surface where search engines can find them, and whatever weight Google places on longstanding links to longstanding sites will also help.

As such, I would think it is safe to say Google may "overweight" .edu web pages, but not .edu domains themselves. It wouldn't make any sense to weight a .edu personal homepage over one on a .net or .com.