The Value of Signature Links

[inertia]

I agree with all the info at the end of your links. Relevance is obviously a huge factor. But what I'm saying is that if irrelevant links are really harmful then sites would be getting penalised all over the place. What it comes down to is the overall link profile (which was discussed in this thread also).

I don't think we are disagreeing with each other webnauts, i think its a case of where we draw our line in sand.

[kgun]

Originally Posted by inertia

So are you saying that (for example) my "inertia" user-name, which i try to use wherever i go, will build up its own reputation within Google?

Yes, and GoogleBOT remembers like an elephant, he never forgets unless you hurt him and he throw you out of his register.

Personally, I would, ceteris paribus, prefer a forum that don't put no follow on forum sig links. IMO, it is fair to state that policy in the forum rules.

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by kgun

Personally, I would, ceteris paribus, prefer a forum that don't put no follow on forum sig links. IMO, it is fair to state that policy in the forum rules.

Kjell, can you explain why?

[inertia]

Originally Posted by kgun

Yes

Well, i wish id chosen a more unique username! I knew i should have gone for Mr Smith!

[kgun]

Originally Posted by Webnauts

Kjell, can you explain why?

A signature should be part of your brand. One of the most important things you do online, is build your brand. Every time you hit enter you should, in and ideal world ask the following

1. Does this post support my brand?
2. Is my words on topic (personally as you may have noticed, I am not the best on that).

You are on a forum to give and take (what is called a win / win situation). For that reason the forum should distribute some of its pagerank to members that contribute to the forum's eProperty.

I may know your objection about the irrelevancy of sig links and as such they should have a rel="nofollow" attribute. Some forums take away nofollow after x posts. That is the best option IMO.

Signature links should be related to your web identity and part of your brand, read the following comment for additional explanation.

Originally Posted by Webnauts

The whole thing is about relevancy. Each of us defines what our sites are about.

Since the search engines will attempt to categorize our web site by its theme and will look to our OBLs and IBLs, also the user behavior to help them to determine our web site's true worth and relevance to its claimed searched terms, my question is:

If I am posting in irrelevant to my site's theme forums/categories, how good could those signatures really be? Are you sure that they cannot harm? Looks to me the same as adding on my site irrelevant to my theme OBLs, and/or getting irrelevant to my site's theme IBLs.

Or did I miss something?

My bolding. Great question that I have thought of. May be I should use more time on financial forums.

Originally Posted by Webnauts

If you still think my points are just theories or off topic, then do yourselves a favor and read this carefully:
Anchor text link penalty in Google - Googlerankings.com Diagnostics

I can bring up more quality resources if above is not enough.

Quality resources? The company has been online since 2003. I have been online since 1995 collecting and judging links and it is getting so complicated that I will not have a larger collection than it can be checked maually.

IBL's from a porn site can not hurt you, but the effect can be zero. See the link to the thread given you above by inertia, can IBL's really hurt you? How easy would it then be to destroy a competitors site with "google bowling"?

Experiment:
Let us say you want to hurt your competitor with a meaningless link to his site in your signature. IMO, the worst effect is that you are completely zeroed out by Google, that is thrown out of their index and banned. You got what you deserved for trying to destroy a competitors brand. The effect for your competitor of pagerank distribution would be zero, but you may have succeeded in degrading his brand temporarily, but that is another story.

[kgun]

Originally Posted by inertia

Well, i wish id chosen a more unique username! I knew i should have gone for Mr Smith!

Definitely not and yours are far better than Mr Smith

But it takes time to build a brand and web identity, and credibility comes like a snail and can disappear at the speed of light. GoogleBOT opreates in a digial world, close to the speed of

My nickname, kgun is not good (unique), since there is an American News company that should pay me for traffic, but I use my name in my sigs. I do not know of any other with that name.

[AVC]

Signature links can hurt you also, especially if you sell your signature links to link farm directory promoters as is done on Digital Point, this is one of the reasons Google hit the bidding directory link farm promoters so hard, they were all spamming the directory forum there and put a spotlight on themselves at a time when Google came out directly against paid links.

This goes to show you how much ignorance and greed exists within the webmaster community.

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by kgun

My nickname, kgun is not good (unique), since there is an American News company that should pay me for traffic, but I use my name in my sigs. I do not know of any other with that name.

Kjell what about my nickname?

[inertia]

Originally Posted by Webnauts

Kjell what about my nickname?

Which one? Webnauts? Or the ones you dont know about!!!?

[kgun]

Originally Posted by Webnauts

Kjell what about my nickname?

That brand has the potential to rise high if you are identified with a person that understands and navigates the web and help other people.

Remember: The higher it rises, the larger is the potential fall. Important for a young man.

But I personally liked your old picture (a man sitting in front of the computer screen intensely studying what that screen told him) better.

But women may like your new picture better

Your new picture is "not" Webnauts, but John to me personally.

[ctabuk]

Ahhh webnauts over 21,000
ctabuk at only over 8,000

Mind you, he has a lot more free time than me

Whereas Kgun is far more infamous

KGUN - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[kgun]

Why are Google so bad at ranking sites?

Google

object oriented programming

Why are my last signature link more relevant than if the Danish professor in Texas "stole it"?

A soft introduction to object oriented programming.

See post 31.

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by ctabuk

Ahhh webnauts over 21,000
ctabuk at only over 8,000

Mind you, he has a lot more free time than me

Was that the joke of the year?

[innominds]

I've noticed that some forum usernames are showed in google search results. If this is taken into account, then forum signature definitely does some SEO.