Link-building strategies may vary depending on the characteristics of the project, but most optimizers try to maximize the diversity of a link profile and make links look natural to avoid penalties.

If search algorithms consider the link trustworthy, there should be no problem with ranking in organic search results. Results of link building entirely depend on the approach to posting. The future of the website also depends on the link-building strategy applied. 

1. What are GOV sites?

Top-level domain .GOV appeared in 1985. It is used to host sites of government agencies in the US (Internal Revenue Service, Pension Fund, etc.). After active distribution in the US, the zone became available in other countries. 

Since the domain is used only by the state apparatus, links from such web resources are considered the most valuable for link building. Many optimizers believe that a backlink from a GOV domain is equal to 10 or 100 backlinks from trusted sites on popular TLD domains. 

Links from .GOV are really useful for SEO, but they are hard to acquire in most cases, especially when it comes to standard information sites or company projects that have little relation to government agencies. 

Almost every link builder or optimizer would like to acquire one or more GOV domains, but it is almost impossible. Only government agencies, state-owned entities in the US and other countries, which are controlled by the government, can get the address. 

To apply for a GOV domain registration, you will need a letter signed by an authorized representative of the government agency. In most cases, it is CIO. 

If necessary, the regulator will request constituent documents and additional files that confirm the relation to the government organization. Domains are registered for a year, but they are not automatically delegated after 365 days. 

The registration period is usually renewed without the regulator’s intervention, but in some cases, the latter requests additional information. This usually happens if the organization’s activities are dubious.

Even if an optimizer has experience in promoting in the US, registering a GOV domain and using it to increase the equity of personal or client projects will hardly be possible. Therefore, link building remains the only option for getting links from a GOV site. 

2. Backlinks from GOV sites

Many novice optimizers believe that it’s better to spend a few thousand dollars on a link from a GOV site than buy 5-10 links from commercial platforms. 

In fact, there’s nothing magical about GOV domains. If a governmental website is high-quality has almost no external links, you can try to get backlinks from it. However, it is not worth focusing on governmental web resources only. 

EDU and GOV resources are often considered to be of equal significance because it is difficult to acquire backlinks from them. But while it is possible to negotiate educational projects through promo codes, scholarships, or essay contests, such methods do not work with government agencies. 

A link from an IRS website profile of the U.S. or another country cannot be considered maximum trusted by default. It all depends on the approach to working with a website. If all gaps for spammers are closed, and «cooperation» offers are rejected, getting a link from such a project makes sense. 

Do not assume that backlinks from GOV domains are a tool for a quick increase of link equity. If the donor’s resource is referred to only by similar projects and has a minimal number of outbound links, backlinks can be useful. However, the recipient is unlikely to take the top position in search results for all queries from the keyword list. 

3. The impact of GOV links on ranking in Google search results

Webmasters should stop spreading SEO myths because they prevent newcomers from understanding search engine ranking algorithms. Be it a NET and GOV domain, the effect of posting links from the two resources will depend solely on the project quality. 

For example, if a government website has a forum that is actively used by spammers, it is not worth struggling to get a link from such a resource. It is necessary to check the reference metrics of the domain and pay attention to the section with UGC if a backlink will be in a profile or thread on a forum. 

A backlink from a high-quality GOV domain may indeed affect the visibility in search. However, search algorithms will need much more time to analyze the backlink, link it to the profile of the promoted site, and begin to take it into account in the ranking.

It is difficult to acquire many links from trusted GOV websites, and several posts on resources that are also available to competitors are unlikely to significantly affect ranking.

3.1. How does Google treat such sites?

Notions of SEO are formed mainly on the basis of public information and cases of SEO specialists. For example, someone spoke about gaining high visibility thanks to EDU or GOV domains, and webmasters started spending money on cooperation with governmental organizations.

A strategy that worked in a particular case may be useless in another. This is why it is not always beneficial to use approaches from public cases since money can be spent in vain. However, sometimes, copying tactics can be fruitful. 

Google representatives answer questions from webmasters from time to time, which also concern popular myths. They are often related to the authority of GOV and EDU domains. Optimizers want confirmation that algorithms pay special attention to such links. 

John Mueller, a Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, actively participates in SEO discussions on Twitter. In response to one of the questions, he noted that the GOV domain doesn’t get special benefits when ranking in the associated country.

Ideally, this means that a GOV site might be ranked lower in search results for thematic queries than any COM website if the latter matched search intent better. But such situations are extremely rare.  

3.2. Why are backlinks from .EDU and .GOV more effective than others?

Optimizers are struggling to acquire links from rare domain zones that are not available to them for the past 10-15 years. This is the case not only in the U.S. but also in other countries where educational and governmental institutions actively operate online. 

It is well known that Google has a formula for assessing website quality. When calculating the ranking, much attention is paid to link mass, that is, links from quality GOV domains can affect the recipient’s promotion and increase its equity for search engines. 

Backlinks from government resources are considered quality because:

• government agencies do not engage in link schemes;
• the same quality GOV domains refer to the resources;
• backlinks are difficult to acquire.

Government organizations are often active online: they publish news, report on events, work with students, and spend a lot of time interacting with the public. A backlink from an updated and trusted resource is always helpful.

Educational and government websites create quality content and refer only to reputable sources. That is why links from them are more valuable than posting links on sites with domains from standard TLD zones.

3.3. How this affects the credibility and authority of your site?

The main goal of Google’s ranking algorithms is to find quality sites and increase their positions in search. After gaining visibility in search results, the resource generates relevant traffic. If behavioral factors prove to be effective over time, positions are permanently secured. 

In some niches, government websites have the highest trust flow, and standard content projects cannot compete with them. For example, if the promoted resource is about tax legislation, the link from the official resource of the tax service will be much more authoritative than others.  

4. The effectiveness of GOV links in different periods

SEO is a complex and constantly changing industry. For example, webmasters used the nofollow attribute to avoid passing link juice, but Google started to treat the attribute as a hint. 

Similar situations occur all the time because the Internet does not stand still, and with it, algorithms evolve. Only then will they be able to find quality content and increase its position in organic search results. 

Links from authoritative resources are the core of successful promotion in Google and other search engines. Long-term postings help take a firm position in search results and constantly increase the active audience.

4.1. Before 2007

Before 2007, it was difficult to acquire links from government web resources because there were few such projects, and they rarely partnered with information or commercial sites in different niches. 

Government agencies usually have a confidential content policy and publish information related to the activities of a particular organization. And only selected companies and projects can be added to the list of partners. 

4.2. 2007-2018 

After 2007, the number of government websites began to increase, together with a growing interest in backlinks from optimizers and link builders. Public lists of GOV domains for posting links appeared, and approaches to working with projects of this format began to emerge. 

According to GSA.gov, in 2014, there were 5,300 GOV domains, and only 1,300 of them belonged to the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the US Federal government.  

4.3. 2018-2024 

We can assume that after optimizers started massively aiming at acquiring backlinks from government websites, Google’s algorithms changed their approach to evaluating those links. 

Only senior Google officials knew the details, but webmasters claimed that at some point, the impact of such posts diminished. There are virtually no permanent approaches in SEO; so, the situation can change overnight. This may have been the case with links from GOV domains.

5. Where can I get a GOV link?

Acquiring backlinks from government websites is a complex and time-consuming task that requires the utmost concentration. It is worth making every effort to acquire backlinks from government sites only after internal optimization tasks are completed and links from other projects are acquired. References from government web resources will not help reach the top if the site is low-quality. 

The approach to acquiring backlinks from websites of state organizations is partially similar to the strategy of working with educational projects. Backlinks can be acquired through information partnerships or sponsorships. 

The only difference is that government organizations choose their partners very carefully. It’s even harder to secure a link on a GOV website because government agency representatives make no guarantees. If a backlink is posted as part of an outreach campaign, it will eventually become irrelevant, and the press release or news article with it can be removed. 

You can use the following queries with search operators to find relevant GOV sites:

• site:.gov inurl:blog
• site:.gov inurl:forum
• site:.gov inurl:profile
• site:.gov allintext:comment
• site:.gov allintext:resource page

Similarly, you can find sites with second-level .GOV domains for local link building. For example, UK government resources are hosted on .gov.uk.  

5.1. Websites of educational institutions

Educational websites are not always hosted on EDU domains. Sometimes, they use the .GOV domain zone. In such cases, you can use strategies for acquiring backlinks suitable for educational projects. 

For example, the database of accredited universities has a card of every educational institution along with a link to the site. They are not marked with nofollow or redirect, but only real educational institutions can get such references. Also, educational organizations hosted on GOV domains may be interested in a scholarship contest. Links from such resources are very attractive in terms of SEO since it is difficult to acquire them.

5.2. Websites of clinics and healthcare institutions

There are a large number of clinics and healthcare facilities in the U.S. with different profiles. Their sites can be used to build links to a relevant project. 

The problem is that to partner with a medical organization, you will need a profitable offer. For example, if it is an ophthalmology clinic, its representatives may be interested in collaborating with an optical store. 

Medical projects with GOV domains refer to external sites if they are confident in their quality and usefulness for the audience. 

5.3. Websites of government social organizations

Governments of different countries spend considerable resources to create and support social organizations that cover the different needs of the population. If a business project offers its support in a certain area, it can count on a link.

The main task when cooperating with social organizations is the focus on help. You should not put backlinks in the first place. Google analyzes even references without active links ­ if there is no URL of an external site on the page, algorithms see its name and take the data into account.  

5.4. Government websites

Links from GOV sites are harder to acquire than those from healthcare or EDU websites. Link builders will need negotiating expertise and quality email marketing with a focus on personalized offers. 

Government agencies have different departments responsible for working on important social issues. Each of them needs to be approached differently, and if there are no ideas for partnership, it is worth analyzing the backlinks already created on websites. 

5.5. Government Programs

The federal government of the U.S and other countries devotes a lot of resources to the development of government programs. Commercial companies that can offer assistance in the implementation of projects can easily cooperate with them. 

The websites of the relevant government departments often publish information about loan programs, government social assistance, and other types of projects. The description often includes an active link to the site describing the conditions of participation. 

5.6. City and regional government websites

Websites of city and regional administrations are quite easy to find by subject queries and in public directories. It is possible to make cooperative agreements with representatives of different departments if there is an opportunity to offer a useful service or product. 

For example, the State of Michigan has an official website where news articles are constantly posted. One of these is a post about sturgeon plant tours, which includes a link to the Sturgeon for Tomorrow organization. 

6. Types of GOV links

Experienced optimizers know that the quality of the link depends on the site it is posted on, the position on the page, the text around the link, and a large number of other factors. The URL of the promoted project on the GOV site page itself has little effect on anything. 

To create a natural link profile of the promoted project, it is necessary to get links in different formats. These can be:

• references without active links
• links in the text
• links from Resource Page
• backlinks from profiles
• links in comments

Many link builders prefer to post links in profiles because it is the easiest way to solve the problem. But in the case of government web resources, things are more complicated — registration is often closed and accessible only after submitting special documents.

To leave comments on the forum of an educational institution, you need an account, and to create it, you need a student ID. It is possible to negotiate registration with students, but not everyone will agree, especially when it comes to US universities or colleges. 

In some cases, access to profiles is not strictly regulated, and it is possible to find a way to create an account. Before you do this, it is important to check the technical possibility of posting links so as not to waste time. 

6.1. Profiles of students of educational institutions

Link builders mainly focus on profiles when showing examples of .gov links. Many of them use a standard technique: they find opportunities to post backlinks and add references to the sites of all their clients. 

Obviously, such donors can hardly be considered quality. If a backlink can be acquired with minimal effort, thousands of optimizers can take advantage of this opportunity. 

Profiles of students of educational institutions are often in the public domain or become available through comments on a forum or in the news section. Links from them can be indexed if there is no restriction in the source code or technical robots.txt file. 

6.2. Professors’ Profiles

On the official websites of educational institutions, you will often find professors’ profiles with the possibility of posting a dofollow link. In most cases, they are not closed with redirects because only an employee can register an account. 

It is impossible to create a professor profile if there are no security gaps in the site’s algorithms. And even in this case, you can hardly achieve the desired result. Therefore, it is better to select other methods of acquiring backlinks.

6.3. Profiles of healthcare workers

Profiles of healthcare workers act as business cards for specialists. They usually contain information about a doctor’s academic background, achievements, and scientific work. 

A link builder will not be able to create such a profile. The only option is to restore the content of the abandoned domain that once belonged to a doctor. But this approach is not entirely legal, and links to a resource may eventually disappear.

6.4. Pages describing state programs

State programs are about supporting different sectors of the economy and other areas. With the right approach, optimizers can get links from resources that act as official sites for a particular program. 

A company can run its own program, but it’s difficult to add it to the Benefits.gov listing and similar resources because the site focuses on state support programs. But there is still a small chance for success. 

6.5. Profiles of schools, academies, and universities

Profiles of schools, colleges, and other educational institutions are often listed on state resources for quick access to information. There are directories with filters that allow finding an educational institution in a particular region quickly. 

Only a functioning educational institution can get into such a directory as all information is checked by moderators. Therefore, you should not count on an easy solution to the problem.

7. For what niches is it better to use EDU sites?

Optimizers rank the resources of educational institutions as equal to the sites of government organizations. But if the promoted project is about education, it’s better to get one backlink from a school or university resource than focus on GOV domains.

Getting links from EDU sites is easier than from .GOV sites, but there are some aspects. In recent years, educational institutions have been scrutinizing partnership offers and responding positively only if there is no doubt about the transparency of the new partner’s intentions. 

One of the main signs of natural links is the matching topic of donor and recipient sites. Search algorithms are constantly learning to find paid postings and improve the model for detecting artificial links.

7.1. Local business

Local businesses can offer their products or services to educational institutions and government organizations. The result of cooperation depends on the approach to negotiating the terms of cooperation. 

A digital agency, an industrial company, a sports club can become a partner of a school or public organization and get precious links from trusted resources.

7.2. Online platforms

Education-related SaaS platforms are interested in getting quality links from EDU sites. They take an active part in the social life of educational institutions, act as sponsors for scholarships, and organize contests for students. 

Online services from another niche can also partner with educational projects. For example, a graphic editor can be linked to an educational institution’s activities and generate profit. 

7.3. Blogs

A blog of a commercial project, a non-profit organization, or an educational platform can get links from EDU and GOV sites if the right approach to cooperation with governmental bodies or educational institutions is applied. 

If a blog’s topic differs from the donor’s one, it is better not to waste time and money on so-called top-quality domains but focus on trusted resources in standard TLD zones. 

7.4. Global businesses

Projects that are not associated with a particular region have complete freedom in terms of working with backlinks. They can post backlinks on regional sites and resources operating in different countries. 

EDU and GOV domains are popular not only in the U.S. So, link-building strategies that focus on these domains work well in other countries as well. If a link profile will have a large number of links from authoritative and non-spammed resources, this will affect the visibility of the resource in organic search results. 

8. What should be considered when searching for GOV links?

While chasing GOV backlinks, many webmasters forget that not every link is high-quality. And if it didn’t take long to post a link, the donor’s quality is dubious. 

Efforts to negotiate link posting with representatives of a government agency may be in vain if you do not analyze the resource quality in advance. And there is no point in sending template emails to representatives of all the GOV domains found. 

The process of posting links comprises simple steps, which are also relevant when working with GOV resources. It is necessary to make a list of suitable donors and work with each site using an individual approach.

8.1. There are more GOV sites than organizations themselves

There are no up-to-date data on the number of sites in the .GOV zone, but back in 2014, the number was estimated at more than 5,000. If we collect resources from all countries and take into account second-level domains, the total number can greatly exceed this number. Thus, getting at least a few backlinks is quite realistic. 

One of the most common mistakes when working with governmental organizations is that a webmaster uses open lists of donors and follows the path that has long been paved by spammers, forgetting that backlinks from poorly moderated resources can harm SEO.

A more effective technique is performing a comprehensive analysis of your competitors’ profiles with a search for GOV domains and parsing search results using search operators. The last step is to compile a list of potential donors and check the link metrics of the domains. 

8.2. Check the DA and TF of the domain

When checking donor quality, different SEO analysis services should be used. Each platform uses its own algorithms to assess the authority and spam levels of domains; so, it’s important to see a comprehensive picture. 

There are many services on the market to analyze the quality of domains. In most cases, optimizers prefer Domain Authority (DA) and Trust Flow (TF). 

DA shows the authority of the domain on a scale from 0 to 100 points. The greater the value of Domain Authority of a potential domain, the better. Trusted sites have figures reaching 85-95 points. 

TF is the Majestic SEO service metric, which stands for Trust Flow and reflects the site reliability in terms of link quality. The maximum possible value of Trust Flow is 100 points.

Webmasters use different ratios of metric values when selecting potential donors, but the following formula is common:

Rank = (TF – CF) / (TF + CF + 1) + TF/(CF + 1) + TF/100

8.3. Avoid spammed sites

Links from spammed domains have low SEO value, and in some cases, they are detrimental to visibility in organic search results. A domain is considered spammy if backlinks are posted without any control or if there are more outbound links than inbound ones. 

Sites of government organizations are rarely spammy as moderators strictly monitor sections with user-generated content and reject sponsored links. But the donor’s quality should always be checked, even if it is the Ministry of Education’s website. 

9. How to acquire backlinks from government sites?

Almost all standard link-building techniques work for building links using GOV domains. The difference is that in each case, maximum effort must be devoted to post backlinks properly. A simple sponsorship to solve the problem is unlikely to work. 

Before you decide on the priority methods of acquiring links, you need to develop a comprehensive work strategy. It is necessary to take into account the website features, the region of promotion, and the expected result. If the task is to improve the profile as much as possible, it is important to dilute links from the GOV domain with other links. 

First of all, you must find resources that may become potential donors. If their link metrics are good, you can proceed to choose a link-building method and the process of posting links.

9.1. Crowd Marketing

Crowd marketing is used to increase brand awareness and create a positive company image. Link builders publish posts and comments on forums, Q&A sites, social media, and other platforms with a target audience.

Effective crowd marketing helps generate a constant customer flow and attract users in almost all niches. Link-building methodology implies that there is plenty of relevant traffic on platforms for posting content, and, with the right approach, it can be partially moved to the promoted resource. 

In the case of GOV sites, crowd marketing is difficult to be applied in practice because comments and articles are posted in sections with user-generated content. The sites of state organizations do not always have forums with open registration, and there is often no form for posting comments under the news.

If while analyzing potential donors, you managed to find a way to post comments with an active link, you should be very careful because moderators can remove such content and block the account at any moment.

9.2. Creating your own resource page

A Resource Page contains links to other projects that can complement the already created content. For example, if a project is about education, you can find links to state agency resources. 

A Resource Page is suitable for local businesses that can refer to important organizations and get references in return. In most cases, useful content is also posted on pages. In this case, behavioral factors will be better because users can take the time to check out the information. 

A Resource Page is often used for link building, but on GOV sites, this technique may not work well enough. The problem is that the «refer back to me» tactic is not relevant for state agency resources.

Some government organizations don’t refer to outside resources with which they have no connection at all. They don’t need sponsored links or other perks; so, it will be difficult to get a potential partner interested.  

9.3. Links on a Resource Page

Government resources often create pages with links to useful projects that can help people. For example, the IRS website can post backlinks to sites that explain the latest legislation updates in simple terms. 

Similarly, the NRCS website might refer to an organization that serves as a sponsor and publishes useful content on a regular basis. 

State agency resource pages often refer to similar organizations; so, if there is a link to a resource in a different format, it should not look artificial. It is worth taking care of the link subject matter. 

Some sites even have forms for publications on a Resource Page. It is enough to send a request, and in some time, the link can appear on the landing page. This is possible only if the content of the site is high-quality and thematic. 

9.4. Take part in state information programs

Government organizations often host a variety of events and actively use the help of information partners. An offline company or online project can become a sponsor and get a link from a quality page. 

To use this link-building technique effectively, you will need a quality website and active participation in the life of government organizations. Acquiring a few backlinks is possible, but if you need to build the process up on an ongoing basis, you will have to spend a lot of time monitoring events. 

Participation in state programs doesn’t necessarily involve donations, but funding always strengthens the bond between partners. The key is to make sure that the donor site representatives don’t assume the cooperation is just for the sake of a link. 

State information programs often host offline meetings; so, it makes sense to attend them. In a working environment, it will be easier to discuss terms of cooperation and learn about the possibility of posting a backlink. 

9.5. Guest posting

Guest posting implies posting quality content on the topic of the resource, which may be useful to the target audience. Sites that post for money usually do not have high requirements for the quality of materials, but this is not the case with government organizations. 

It is difficult to get links from a guest post on a GOV website because the content must be interesting and of high-quality. Even public organizations will not agree to post material if it is boilerplate or irrelevant to the group’s activities. 

For example, the U.S. Law Library of Congress website regularly posts guest articles on jurisprudence. They include links to outside resources, but in most cases, they refer to government agency sites. 

If an article is written by an experienced lawyer and refers to a company, the chances it will be successfully posted are quite high, but target backlinks should not look artificial among links to government resources.  

9.6. Writing an article discussing a state agency

Publishing guest posts on state agency websites is difficult enough, but it is possible to get backlinks with a standard PR article. Any government agency is interested in building a positive reputation and doesn’t mind posting a link to an article that improves its image.

For example, you could talk about how the United States Fish and Wildlife Service cares about conserving natural resources. It is not necessary to do large-scale work and spend a lot of money on research. In most cases, a small note about the organization’s activities is enough.

The effectiveness of a link-building technique depends on the ability to correctly present the article to a potential partner. If a government organization sees that a letter about posting a link to an article came a few hours after publication, suspicion may arise.

Therefore, it is better to wait at least a few days before contacting a government organization. 

9.7. Write about a well-known politician

The technique of writing about a government agency can also be used in relation to politicians. If you present their activities in a positive light, politicians can post a link to the article on social media and on their party’s website.

To use link building effectively, you need to constantly monitor public life and find newsworthy occasions that will help solve the problem. For example, if a politician was involved in the creation of a new law that will make life easier for people or public organizations, this is a great opportunity to create a quality article.

Getting a link from a political association’s website is difficult, but it can be a great addition to a link profile. For example, the U.S. Republican Party’s website often refers to reputable news sources that cover the president’s activities. 

A link from a political organization’s resource will be useful to companies and projects engaged in active public work. Along with link juice, you can gain interested followers, but for business projects, the challenge of posting an article increases. 

9.8. Arrange an interview with a trusted member of a state agency

An interview with a trusted member of a state agency is an effective way to establish basic contact. If he or she agrees to be interviewed, the likelihood of getting a backlink from the organization’s resource increases to almost 100%. 

If the dialogue is productive, and the state agency representative is satisfied with the cooperation, you can get an offer to post a backlink to the material. All that remains is to agree on the link location and make sure that the link is indexed. 

After getting the first experience, you can gradually expand the approach and earn backlinks with minimal cost. You will need a reputable site to master this link-building method because few people will want to cooperate with unknown resources.

9.9. Government contracts or partnerships

A government contract or partnership on a permanent basis opens up almost unlimited possibilities for link building. The link-building approach is especially relevant for for-profit organizations that can count on government contracts. 

It is more difficult for a public organization or online service to conclude a contract with the state because useful products or services are required. If a positive result is achieved, you can count on a continuous flow of backlinks. 

Partnering with a state agency will give you the opportunity to strengthen the credibility of the site and increase link juice. Backlinks will be a good addition to the contract rather than the primary purpose of the partnership. 

A contract or formal partnership is not available to all companies, but you can negotiate an informational partnership if you want to. In this case, the first posts will help get backlinks from GOV domains faster thanks to previous experience. 

9.10. Creating profiles on .GOV websites

Link builders often use the technique of creating profiles because it requires minimal effort. It is enough to register on a site and add an active link to the profile. It is unlikely to increase search engine visibility, but it will dilute the link mass. 

The problem with profiles on GOV sites is that not all sites allow you to register without providing special documents. For example, creating a profile of a fake doctor on the site of a state-run clinic will not work.

It is possible to contact people who have many profiles on the sites of state organizations and negotiate for cooperation. For example, if you do a good interview with a doctor, he or she can edit the profile on the clinic’s website and add a link to the content. 

In 2024, it’s hard to find government agency sites with easy registration and the possibility to post backlinks. Most projects with poor moderation have long been mastered by spammers, and the value of backlinks from them is almost zero.

9.11. Broken links

Government sites are considered to be of the highest quality also because they are constantly updated. This is not always true — there are many resources that are not updated for years despite the activities of the organization. 

If the profile creation approach does not work on certain sites, you can check the content for broken links. If there are references to non-existent pages, it is advisable to replace them with correct ones or remove them so as not to disrupt the juice passing.

This strategy can work only if the theme of the promoted resource partially matches the activities of the government organization, and the updated link is natively embedded in the content. The technique is best suited for a Resource Page because the replacement requires minimal effort. 

It is better to use several approaches to post backlinks on GOV websites because a certain technique may work in each case. If you manage to use guest posts or interviews effectively, these approaches are worth considering.

10. How do I contact government sites?

Government organizations usually have strictly regulated policies for interacting with media and information projects that are active online. Some agencies have employees responsible for PR. 

Before you choose a link-building method for a particular site, you need to make sure that the resource is not abandoned. It is necessary to find the contacts of the responsible representatives and reach out to them. It is not necessary to immediately ask about links; you can ask any question about the organization’s activities. 

Finding email addresses can take a lot of time; so, it is better to use automation tools. For example, Hunter.io automatically finds all the addresses and generates the results in just a few seconds. 

If a government organization responds promptly to messages, you can move on to action ­ negotiate a guest post or an interview with an employee. Further results depend on the approach to building relationships with new partners.

11. How do you make sure links aren’t harmful?

Before searching for email addresses, creating personalized templates, and performing other actions to prepare for posting links, it’s important to check the donor’s level of quality. 

The list of potential donors should contain resources that have been thoroughly checked and meet all the quality criteria. Even among the sites of state organizations, there are spammed resources. 

Links will not be harmful if:

• site authority is not in doubt;
• the resource has a very strict policy regarding backlinks;
• the donor’s topic matches the recipient’s topic;
• there are not many links on the page; 
• anchor text corresponds to the content of the final page;
• links are posted in a noticeable place.

Many optimizers believe that government websites are quality by default, but sometimes, this is not true. In such a case, wasting time negotiating posting a link is unprofitable.

12. Popular services for checking the quality of backlinks

SEO analytics services do most of the work to check the quality of donors for webmasters. You should definitely use them in the backlink-building process because they save time and help protect against unpleasant situations. 

If a site appears to be of good quality, it may have problems with SEO, and passing link juice will jeopardize the authority of the promoted resource. It is better to use several services to see the complete picture. 

The list of popular services for checking the quality of backlinks remains unchanged for many years. It traditionally includes Ahrefs , Semrush, and Moz. 

If the services did not find anything suspicious, it is worth doing an additional manual verification to exclude poor-quality donors from the list. For example, if a site has more incoming links than outgoing ones, the quality of posts will not be affected. At the same time, anchors can be overspammed, and the number of links on the page is very large. 

13. Black-hat methods of acquiring links: what should be avoided?

Some optimizers are looking for an easy way to get backlinks from GOV domains and destroy the reputation of the promoted site. Most often, they compile a list of donors on the basis of open lists of dofollow resources. Obviously, they are unlikely to include 100% high-quality resources. 

Another popular way to get backlinks in quickly is outsourcing. There are many offers on freelance exchanges to post backlinks to GOV sites. It is not necessary to completely abandon delegation, but you should carefully check the quality of services. 

Using security gaps in algorithms also does not lead to anything good. Even if a government organization’s site publishes comments with active links today, tomorrow, its forum may be completely cleaned of spam.  

14. Services for buying backlinks from GOV sites

In the case of GOV links, you can count on high-quality work only if you allocate a large budget. For example, if a service constantly cooperates with educational institutions and government organizations, it can help with link building. 

There are almost no companies that provide services for getting links from GOV domains. The SEOviser agency, a reliable provider of EDU and GOV backlinks, guarantees manual posting and quality content creation. 

If you plan to organize link building and gradually expand, it is better to entrust the task to specialists. If you need to get links in a short time, it is easier to contact marketing agencies and link builders for outsourcing.  

14.1. Pros and cons

The main advantage of backlink purchase services is that they save the webmaster time. If one has no experience with government sites, he can build up links from other sites, and the profile will quickly grow. 

As for guarantees, they are relevant only if they are clearly described in the electronic offer. Few people enshrine guarantees in agreements because, in the case of GOV sites, sponsored posts are rarely concerned. Accordingly, links can disappear at any time.

The main disadvantage of working with services is that the result will be evident at the end, and there is no way to affect it. For example, if the first 5 links are placed on quality donor sites, and the remaining 30 are on spammed resources, it will be difficult to improve the situation. 

14.2. What to pay attention to when buying?

Decide on cooperation with a link-building company having analyzed the proposal carefully. If the examples and cost per placement are satisfactory, you can start working. If the list of examples includes resources from public listings of GOV sites, this is an additional reason to check the reliability of the link-building contractor. Many freelancers use public listings, but reputable services should take a different approach.

Proof of the quality of the services provided is the cases that services usually publish on blogs to attract potential customers. It is worth paying attention to them and analyzing the figures to understand what to expect from possible cooperation.

14.3. How much do links cost?

In the case of GOV sites, it is difficult to make accurate predictions because the result depends on the terms of cooperation. Some government organizations only work with information sponsors, while others prefer to conclude a formal contract.

The cost of link building is also affected by the approach to posting links. If the contractor will post submission articles or comments on a forum, the price should be minimal. But when using scholarships or grants, the cost can be quite high. 

For example, the SEOviser agency offers clients standard packages that include 300-2,500 backlinks. Prices range from $20 to $100, and this is very cheap. Even if the company uses crowd marketing and other techniques without guarantees of link retention, the price still looks suspicious.

15. GOV site listings: should you use them?

Public GOV site listings are useful in that they provide information for developing a link-building strategy. They should not be taken as a blueprint for action. Most resources on the list are spammed, while others have changed content policies. 

Even if the list was updated a month ago, the information from it may be outdated, and you will have to manually check the status of each donor. The situation may change in a day ­ a trusted resource will limit the possibility to post comments and ruin the business of link builders.

If you cannot acquire GOV links, it is better to focus on other domain zones. Link exchangers help with this. For example, PRPosting offers 44,000 sites for different localities and tasks. Representatives of the platform control each post manually and give a 100% guarantee of the result.

The service offers convenient filters by link metrics, domain zones, subjects, languages, and other parameters. There are even two GOV domains on the list and more than 4,700 US sites. 

Thus, getting backlinks from GOV resources is difficult and for some niches almost impossible. Therefore, do not chase backlinks from sites of government agencies and expect to instantly increase the trust flow of the promoted project. It is better to concentrate on permanently acquiring links from reputable donors. 

Using the services of agencies is beneficial only if they can guarantee quality, but few make such a commitment. Links from GOV domains can be a good investment for a link profile if they do not cost an annual budget for the project.  

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