There are different link building techniques and myths that SEO people use and believe in. One of these is the assumption that educational websites, particularly websites that have .edu domains, are weighted more by Google. A good example of an educational website with a .edu domain extention is http://www.gibbsmelville.edu/programs.asp. Though this is believed by many, there are no solid proofs to support this belief. As far as I know, even Google representative Matt Cutts did not confirm that educational websites have greater weight or are better votes for optimizing your website on their search engine.

Getting links should be relevant as possible. An educational blog getting a link from another educational blog means getting a quality link. On the other hand, a real estate or a sports website getting a link from an educational site is not relevant enough and thus gives links with less weight. Relevance should be your main concern in getting quality links. This will let your website increase its rankings on targeted keywords. This will of course also depend on the anchor texts that you use on getting your links.

Though there is no solid proof about links on .edu websites, I would still try some case studies in the near future. Besides, you’ll never know when Google is telling you the truth or just tells you what you need to believe in.