I assume that the answer to my question is yes, but I just wanted to get people's opinions. I got my first .ac.uk link today, for a UK site obviously, and I was wondering if Google considers it the same as .edu in the US... So, has anyone seen big increases in rankings after they got .ac.uk links? Pete
Actually Google doesn't care about edu or .ac.uk names according to Matt Cutts. If you get a link from a .ac.uk page it will be great because its an old and trusted site and its likely to have few outbound (paid) links.
Yep, it's debatable if an educational domain give any extra boost that you wouldn't get from a site of the same age and pagerank. Google would certainly know the purpose of the domain though as they are a registrar themselves.
Interesting points... A lot of people on these forums say that they do make a difference... I guess a university site has a high trustrank, so links from it do count for a lot, but not because they are .ac.uk domains, but because they site is old and has a lot of backlinks. Same point as mad4 Thanks for the opinions! Im quite happy with my link building anyway...
Actually, Google will look at your content to determine your value, not at your domain, whatever extension you have. The domain may help your visitor identify what your site is about, but search engines will look at your texts, backlinks and other things to consider its position in SERPS
I think it has to do with domain age , and .edus are often trusted and old domains , usually with only meaningful links . It'd be silly to treat them in the same way a directory link is treated .
I concur with all of the above Im trying to get a link from a local university in my town where most of the pages within the IT services area on their site are PR 6-8 ! So a link from a Uni has got to be good either way!