Trust, reputation, and high domain rating make a website authority in the niche. A government agency or department’s website has all those characteristics. That’s why gov backlinks can dramatically affect the ranking of your content.
Most website owners want gov links but fail to get them. That’s because government links are rare, and government webmasters are pickier due to security reasons. Gov backlinks also demand a lot of time and money.
This article will discuss how to get backlinks from gov sites, potential challenges, the strategies that can be applied, tools you might need to execute those strategies, and the difference between edu/gov backlinks.
What Are gov Backlinks?
Links coming to your website from local, state, or regional government departments or agency sites are gov backlinks.
These backlinks don’t have an additional attribute like nofollow links; therefore, they are do follow.
It’s easier for U.S. websites to get .gov backlinks because the .gov domain is only for U.S. government departments and agencies. Other countries have their own domain. For instance, the UK has .gov.Uk and Australia has gov.Au domain.
Gov backlinks are more powerful than other links because they aren’t usual. However, there are debates among experts on whether they hold extra value or not.
Many think Google doesn't treat them separately. However, since these links only come from authority websites and the domain .gov is in the TLD (top-level domain) list—other experts think otherwise. Google, however, has no say in this matter.
We’ll discuss later whether gov backlinks have any impact on ranking and how to get gov backlinks free in detail. But first, let’s learn why SEO experts think they are valuable.
Why .gov Backlinks Are Valuable
A combination of a few characteristics makes government backlinks valuable. Some of them are:
Rareness: You might have heard that "What is rare is valuable." The same is true about gov links. Gov links are rare because they only come from government sites. To make it further rare, government sites only link to those who are trustworthy and reputable authorities in their niche or industry.
Domain rating (DR): Government websites tend to have high DR. One of the reasons is “content”. Other websites often borrow their content and point a link to them. This makes their backlink profile diverse.
Plus, they don’t run SEO campaigns but still get traffic. That’s because people search for them. This makes them an authority in Google’s eyes.
Last but not least, most government websites have been on the internet for a long time. It also increases DR. These were a few reasons that increased government domain rating.
They don't trade links: Since the government websites don’t run SEO campaigns, they neither receive nor pay to give or get a backlink. This signals Google that they follow guidelines and don't spam.
Trust: Users trust government content over others. This might sound ironic because the government keeps things classified.
But when government officials burst a myth, confirm a fact, announce a news, or publish a statistic or a jobs list, people naturally, trust them over others. Because they have more resources and access than others.
The Impact of gov Links in SEO
Now, let’s talk about the impact of gov backlinks on rankings. Some thirty years ago, Matt Cuts stated that Google treats .gov and .edu links the same.
Then why do SEO experts still believe that gov links carry more weight?
The answer is simple. Google’s algorithm PageRank values links that come from reputable, authoritative, and trustworthy websites. And government websites have all of it.
This doesn’t mean that any government link will rank us up. It will only work if it’s optimized for anchor text, comes from a relevant website, and is not spammed. Otherwise, Google will ignore them.
Now, before we jump on how to score .gov backlinks for SEO, it’s crucial to know the potential challenges when acquiring them.
The Challenges of Getting .gov Backlinks
Hard to get: Many reasons make getting gov links hard. For example, government websites often have hard criteria for external linking. They also take extra time and only link to reputable, trustworthy websites.
Limited opportunities: Government backlinks are already hard to get; what makes the process more challenging is their low numbers. That’s why finding relevant websites in your industry or niche can be challenging.
Easy techniques don’t work: The government websites get links for free, so they don’t run SEO campaigns. Therefore, easy techniques such as reciprocal strategy and paying something for links don’t work. That’s why getting gov backlinks is harder than .com links.
With challenges, importance, and impact in mind, let’s learn how to get backlinks from gov sites.
9 Ways How to Get Backlinks From gov Sites
If you’ve reached here, then you are familiar with the nitty gritty of .gov backlinks. Now, let’s be familiar with methods of how to get gov backlinks.
Comment on government Pages
This is the easiest and free way to get a gov backlink. You only comment on government content and get a link. However, this method has some challenges.
Most government websites turn link comments into no follow. Meaning, the link won’t pass authority to the linked website. But if you dig deeper, you will find some government websites that keep links do follow.
Once you find the right pages, make sure that the content is relevant, and the comment is genuine so Google doesn’t consider it spam.
Interview an Official
Interviewing with a member of a government body is no doubt more challenging than getting links through commenting. But if you have a big audience that can give them positive fame, then the job can be easily done.
To set up an interview, choose local or state government agencies or departments over national or international. It will be relatively easy. Then, choose an interesting and relevant topic.
When the interview finishes, edit it and publish it on your website. Mostly, the interviewee will mention it on the government website and point a link to yours. If, however, they don’t, then request the interviewee first before other members.
Apply the Broken Link Strategy
Broken link building is finding outdated and 404 pages that have backlinks and informing websites that are linking to them. After that, ask them to link to your content.
To find government sites that are linking to broken pages, go to the Ahref backlink checker and find relevant websites.
Then, check what information is outdated or what content the 404 pages contain. Next, produce high-quality, updated content, inform the government webmasters about broken pages, and offer your content with a request for backlinks.
Resource Link Building
If you are a local business, there is a good opportunity to be on a local government body’s resource page. Many government websites tend to have them, and websites get links if they are featured on them. The only problem is that it’s hard to find relevant resource pages.
To find relevant them, head to Google and search:
- “gov + your niche keyword + inurl:resources”.
- To find local government websites, search: site: gov + your city or town + “resource.
When the list appears, take your time and find relevant resource pages. When you find them, submit your business with a homepage URL so that they link back to your website (if they decide to feature you)
Make a Partnership
The next method is to work with a government body. It’s rather a hard method but has many benefits. For example, free exposure and traffic, positive publicity, networking opportunities, and a high-quality backlink.
To find the partnership opportunities, search some terms on Google, such as:
- “site.gov” + “partners” + your niche keyword + “city/town/region”
And You‘ll find a list of partnership opportunities.
When offering a partnership to government officials, approach with persuasive language. It will increase the odds of success. Once a partnership initiate, you can do two things to get a backlink.
- Publish a press release to announce the partnership, and ask them to post the PR on their site and point a link to yours.
- Ask directly to write about the partnership on their website.
In the first method, you are making things easier for them. So it can be more effective.
Guest Postings
If you are amazing at guest posting, you can write it on a government website. This doesn’t mean they’ll easily let you write it. That’s because they do things, as mentioned, carefully. But if you have a unique idea, the odds become high. Your job is to find relevant government websites that accept guestpost and outreach them uniquely.
If you want to learn thoroughly about guest posting— click here.
Analyze Competitors
The idea is simple: if your competitor has gov links, find out their method and apply it.
You have to simply take the following steps for it.
- Analyze competitor's backlink profiles to find out which government sites have links to them.
- Check what types of content they wrote or what strategy they applied,
- Shortlist some relevant government websites about which you can create content.
- Create the content.
- Outreach them.
To analyze the competitors, you will need tools such as Ahref backlink checker, or you can hire SEO experts from an SEO marketplace such as Legiit.
Write Positive Things About a Government Body
This is another way to get a backlink from a local government agency or department. First, choose a government body that at least has some reputation in your area so your business remains safe from public rage.
Then, write about the government body and mention the positive things they did in your area. For example, how they help people and small businesses.
Or you can write about a trending topic or a common issue in your community and mention them positively. After writing, outreach them to get a backlink.
Interview a Politician
This is a unique and indirect way to get a backlink. You interview a politician about a relevant social problem or a trending issue to get a backlink.
Again, try to interview one who has some respect in the public eye. During the interview, mention positive points about them and genuinely discuss the subject matter. When the interview ends, post it on your website and let the politicians and government bodies that can relate to know about the posted interview.
Conclusion
When you learn how to get backlinks from gov sites, you’ll see that they are very careful to link to an external site due to security reasons. It is far more easy to get a backlink from regular websites.
This doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to get gov backlinks. It’s true, however, that gov links need more patience and resources than others. But the plus point is they bring more authority, free traffic, and exposure to you than other backlinks.
With that said, if you don’t have a big pocket or a lot of time, it’s better not to go after government backlinks. And if different types of government bodies and different methods to get links from them are overwhelming for you. You can hire freelancers from Legiit for the job.
FAQS
Is It Important to Get .gov Backlinks to Get a Good Ranking?
Getting links from government websites is not important for ranking. A website can rank with regular links. However, government links can significantly help.
What is the Difference Between .edu and .gov Backlinks?
The difference between edu/gov backlinks is that .edu backlinks come from academic institutes such as universities and colleges from all over the world. On the other hand, .gov backlinks come from government websites in the U.S.A.
What Are 5 Ways to Get Backlinks From .gov?
The five ways to get government backlinks are: (1) commenting on government content. (2) interview a government official. (3) guest posting. (4) competitor analysis (5 ) featuring on government resource pages.
Which Backlinks Are More Effective, .edu or .gov?
It depends on relevancy, domain rating, and many other factors. For example, if an educational link is more relevant to your niche, it will carry more weight, and vice versa.
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