SEO Strategies for Posting in Forums

[subcitizen]

Hey Everyone! Hope y'all had a great holiday!

Here's goes. Recently I've been looking into posting in forums in an effort to get my links out in the web for SEO purposes.

Should I only be posting in forums that focus on the category that my site is in? For instance, my site sells urban streetwear, are these the only types of forums that I should be posting? Sometimes, let's say in a car forum, they may have a fashion category, is this a good place to post for me?

Also, many times in the signature you could put more than one link. Does this mean that, to a certain extent, the power of multiple links gets watered down?

Also, I know this sounds like I'm splitting hairs, but in the avatar, you usually have the option of either linking to a picture on your server or just uploading the picture to their server. Wouldn't it be better to upload the pic to their server, so as not to create a link to an image that probably wouldn't help you with SEO?

Does anyone else have any good strategies for posting in forums?

Thanks Everyone! Please let me know!

Jason

[crankydave]

I'll give you my personal opinion on forum posting...

Don't post in forums strictly for "SEO Value". Find communities you like and enjoy and try and be a valuable member of that community. What you contribute in the way of questions, answers, and input is what gives people a reason to follow your links to begin with. It's what you post that matters not simply the fact that you do.

Like any community, online or off, you "reap what you sow".

Likely not the answer you were looking for but it is what I believe.

Dave

[subcitizen]

Thanks for that info Cranky Dave. I absolutely agree with you. The main purpose should be to contribute and interact with a given community.

But, to be pragmatic, I also have to think about SEO.

Not to get off the subject, but it's so funny. I'm not supposed to be posting in forums for seo. I'm not supposed to be linking for seo. I'm not supposed to be writing with too many keywords for seo, etc. I wish I didn't have to do these things, but if I don't I'm going to get killed in the SERP's by my competitors who are doing these things.

Anyway, thanks again CrankyDave, I always appreciate your effort. You always have an interesting and valuable perspective, as well.

Jason

[crankydave]

LOL!

Who says SEO types don't like cool t-shirts?

Staying "relevant" certainly isn't going to hurt. Remember, it's your posts that count IMO. Indexable content that searchers with the same questions, looking for the answers, trying to find information, search for and find. Every post you make on a forum gives the searcher a "reason" to follow the the links you provide based upon what you post. Signature or otherwise. Gives the searcher an opportunity to not only follow the links, but an opportunity to tell friends or even link to you.

Ever follow a signature link because you like what the person had to say or ask?

Dave

[Tubby]

You could also consider, that the SEO value actually comes from other members of the forum.

In the case of WPW there is always a little bit of insight to be gleaned from other members. selecting strategies for SEO, SEM, or whatever is far easier if there is a constant bombardment of fresh thoughts entering your awareness.

In the case of WPW, I do not know the value of the link. . But I do know WPW has at least four members that own classic cars.

Value is where you find it.

[innominds]

Posting for mere SEO benefit is a waste of time as most of the forums use nofollow in signatures. So I would prefer forum participation only to get interacted. Even if I place the signature links, I don't think it has a great SEO imapct

[subcitizen]

Originally Posted by innominds

Posting for mere SEO benefit is a waste of time as most of the forums use nofollow in signatures. So I would prefer forum participation only to get interacted. Even if I place the signature links, I don't think it has a great SEO imapct

What are some of the things you do for SEO on your site?

[hawash]

take care when posting on forums

so that your purpose is not solely is get links

really I get banned from forums bec of posting my links there

try to write some content on the forums which constitute of most of your post and then add your signature or link

also think of some forums as you do with directories

when u start a post you should target specific keywords in that post different than the posts in other forums

use this google groups and usenet

[subcitizen]

Originally Posted by dilrajs

hello everyone my name is raj and i m very newbie in seo.

Hey Raj! Pleasure to meet you!

If you were in my shoes: no budget, and in need of more traffic and sales, what next SEO steps would you take to get maximum utility?

Nice site, by the way. I notice you do SEO work yourself.

Jason

[ctabuk]

This is a good topic - and some nice posting - of course you can use forum topics for SEO - you can achieve relevance - you can achieve landing page results - you can do virtually anything you like - all you have to do is find the forums that use thread html titles on thread subjects - talk to the forum admin about what you are trying to achieve and away you go.

But crankydave is correct - forums are for sharing secrets - so the thread leaves me little other choice than to say - crankydave knows of such forums and so do I - but I never spam a forum link especially when I own it - I'll let someone else drop the link.

[brian.mark]

We are discussing this post tonight for airing 1.9.2008.

Brian.

[kevsta]

Originally Posted by ctabuk

This is a good topic - and some nice posting - of course you can use forum topics for SEO - you can achieve relevance - you can achieve landing page results - you can do virtually anything you like - all you have to do is find the forums that use thread html titles on thread subjects - talk to the forum admin about what you are trying to achieve and away you go.

But crankydave is correct - forums are for sharing secrets - so the thread leaves me little other choice than to say - crankydave knows of such forums and so do I - but I never spam a forum link especially when I own it - I'll let someone else drop the link.

lol, there ya go UK SEO & Internet Marketing Forums

this is exactly such a place. but be nice, dont take libs

[sheena]

Does anyone else have any good strategies for posting in forums?

First is to select a related forums like the UK SEO & Internet Marketing Forums
and Digitalpoint forum.
Read the guidelines and procedures
Post in a related category with your signature and targeted keywords.
And the good strategy is to create or start an interesting "thread" or "post" and so everybody will answer.
Be friendly and answer it in the best you can.

[AVC]

Originally Posted by innominds

Posting for mere SEO benefit is a waste of time as most of the forums use nofollow in signatures. So I would prefer forum participation only to get interacted. Even if I place the signature links, I don't think it has a great SEO imapct

Exactly, posting in forums for SEO is wasting time, 10,000 signature links pointing at your sites even if followed will certainly be discounted by the SE's.

Many of the link farm directories promoted on DP were banned from Google's search index because the link farmers purchased links from many of the signature spammers who post there for income from pimping out signature links, so there is the value of forum SEO (spamming and signature link abuse), these sort of con men ruin it for legitimate contributors and hurt the entire webmaster community.

[coolguy27]

Although there is a spamming and signature link abuse, posting in forums is not a waste of time as it gives benefit for the site such as it gives traffic for the site and as for keyword position of the site.

Originally Posted by AVC

Exactly, posting in forums for SEO is wasting time, 10,000 signature links pointing at your sites even if followed will certainly be discounted by the SE's.

Many of the link farm directories promoted on DP were banned from Google's search index because the link farmers purchased links from many of the signature spammers who post there for income from pimping out signature links, so there is the value of forum SEO (spamming and signature link abuse), these sort of con men ruin it for legitimate contributors and hurt the entire webmaster community.

[AVC]

Google is hip to anchor text spam on forums and discounts it, even penalizes webmasters that blatantly spam forums with the same anchor text over and over, remember, many webmasters will report you to Google if they see you spamming forums also.

[ctabuk]

Originally Posted by AVC

Exactly, posting in forums for SEO is wasting time, 10,000 signature links pointing at your sites even if followed will certainly be discounted by the SE's.

Many of the link farm directories promoted on DP were banned from Google's search index because the link farmers purchased links from many of the signature spammers who post there for income from pimping out signature links, so there is the value of forum SEO (spamming and signature link abuse), these sort of con men ruin it for legitimate contributors and hurt the entire webmaster community.

Interesting

So how do you explain this - These are from my IBL list
My Green Corner- Search Results

Welcome to My Green Corner Directory. Feel free to search on our site for free stuff and professional web services.
www.mygreencorner.com/index.php?search=social - 28k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Are backlinks REALLY important??? - Webmaster Forum

For a while there has been countless discussions about how backlinks are very important to boost your PageRank in Google. Are they really that.
www.v7n.com/forums/google-forum/17281-backlinks-really-important.html - 128k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Is today today or tomorrow yesterday? - Page 39 - WebProWorld

There is no such word as toroid Au contraire. toroid: Definition and Much More from Answers.com The "passage through a retrochronal toroid" is the complex.
www.webproworld.com/breakroom-general-any-topic/1155-today-today-tomorrow-yesterday-39.html - 250k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

[AVC]

Was that post to make a certain point ?

If so I don't get it, maybe you should explain it to us.

[ctabuk]

AVC - it is extremely simple - not all IBL's go to a site based on relative content or Anchor text - forum links to some extent are discounted or carry less weight.

Why else does virtually every poster in WPW carry their sigs in their posts?

The reason surely is without question it assists your overall presence on the SE's.

Recently I carried out an experiment on my own forum where we use html code systems based on the thread title. The thread was indexed and showed on page 2 of Google for the search term 'Shared Ownership Remortgages' Not a common search term - but useful for my business - my longtailed URL page on the keyword shot from page 5 to page one and has been there ever since. The forum link fell out of SERP but occassionally it acts as a scrapper site and returns to boost the SERP on the home page.

[AVC]

Yes, forum signature links can at times show up in an oddball search or show as backlinks in Yahoo or other SE's, but anchor text in forum threads is the common way to rank if the forum allows these links to be followed and I have seen many abuse their forum membership by spamming threads with anchor text blatantly.

One may get away with this for a while, but I know for a fact that Google will look at forum spam reports and de-index a website if a forum spammer is reported, so there is a downside now days if you use this tactic (spamming forums to rank).

Most people are just looking for a bit of exposure by running signature links and it is a way to reward legitimate members for creating forum content.

Sitepoint removed signatures to guest view, then reversed course after I flamed them across the forum circuit for it and started showing them again because it was hurting them big time, so forum signatures are good for the forum and forum members, as long as they are not abused by spammers who love to pimp out and sell their signature links to link farms and so on.

[ctabuk]

Thank you AVC - I actually encourage it over there. But my reputation has always been 'try it and see if it works' and in this case it does

[AVC]

Originally Posted by ctabuk

Thank you AVC - I actually encourage it over there. But my reputation has always been 'try it and see if it works' and in this case it does

Come on man, don't hedge on us, "encourage what over where" ???

[ctabuk]

Originally Posted by kevsta

lol, there ya go UK SEO & Internet Marketing Forums

this is exactly such a place. but be nice, dont take libs

AVC - I cannot say on a personal level

[kevsta]

i have been wondering how long it will take for people to get this.

i dont think many people actually click links in threads because you'd surely be over-run by now if so..?

[sheena]

I agree with you, people in forum don't actually click links unless they got interested in clicking it. It take people to get this unless you have an interesting post or thread. It does not important if your site is click or not, does matter is every post you answered or thread you created, it can easily crawl by the search engine.

Originally Posted by kevsta

i have been wondering how long it will take for people to get this.

i dont think many people actually click links in threads because you'd surely be over-run by now if so..?

[torpengkute]

Originally Posted by innominds

Posting for mere SEO benefit is a waste of time as most of the forums use nofollow in signatures. So I would prefer forum participation only to get interacted. Even if I place the signature links, I don't think it has a great SEO imapct

really? that's why you have a lot of signatures in this forum?...

[summer14]

Forum postings help in SEO in a way to promote and make it popular in joining related forums or closely related to the site being optimized.

[torpengkute]

also we gain our Backlinks on Forum Postings...

[erikko]

i go to forums which i know i will learn something or i can share my views without other members being sarcastic whatever my opinion will be

[drmadcow]

My tips are to hit as many forums as possible, and track all your forum logins, passwords, URLs, and number of posts on each in an excel file. In another file write down all your signature, so that you make sure your varying them up between all the forums. Google likes it when you have a lot of variety in your anchor text, just keep it themed with common keywords to maximize your rankings. And lastly don't forget to link up all your profiles through Sphinn or any other social services your on. Cheers.

[AVC]

I honestly never posted on forums for the SEO factor, it is simply the love of the game and subject matter and passion for the theme of the thread.

I do understand that folks try to take advantage of forums though by planting links in anchor text, I think many of these types ruin forums and are simply trolling for traffic or signature spamming.

It is up to management to cut off folks that have this intent to protect the editorial integrity of the forum, a bit of promotion should be allowed, but if that is the sole reason that a member is posting, I personally ban them or take away their signature links.

[drmadcow]

Absolutely but if you bring something unique to the table and add to the conversion is a positive way then its fine Its the people with the automated software that are the real issue, or people just dropping links every where for the sake of links. And then the higher your forum quality content the more likely you are to get organic visitors as well.

[kronikmedia]

I think it goes both ways. As long as you contribute effectively to a post or discussion it s completely fair to get the seo advantage from the signature back link and other links within the post. I will be honest to say the the SEO benefits of posting in a forum or blog does encourage me to participate. However his does not mean that I Will spam a forum purely fr the purpose of SEO. I think that as long as you contribute meaningfully and not just post one liners, for getting back links form signatures, then you will be fine.

Spamming and self promotion are frowned upon and you will find yourself getting banned for repeated misuse.

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by kronikmedia

However his does not mean that I Will spam a forum purely fr the purpose of SEO.

Does that mean that you will spam but not for SEO purposes?

Originally Posted by kronikmedia

Spamming and self promotion are frowned upon and you will find yourself getting banned for repeated misuse.

Oh! Thanks sounds new to me.

[AVC]

Add value to the thread, don't post to signature spam forums or you will be reported to Google for dropping links and web spamming now days doing yourself more harm than good.

Use common sense, spamming forums and blogs will only make you a target and other webmasters will report shady tactics, bet on it.

Forum spammers are a cancer and a blight, one of the worst forms of online animal that exists, once you are known as a forum spammer you will be hated in the community and you can take that to the bank.

[ajay0547]

try to post relevants comments to forums or blogs. don't used any tools to generate backlinks for you this will give you more harm in the long run.

[kbeus21]

Personally I split my forums with make money forums and webmaster forums and have seen not only backlinks but traffic from both. For SEO purposes I would guess a forum closer to your niche would be more useful.

[weegillis]

I've never placed a signature link so I wouldn't know... This has been a good discussion, though.

Why not have signature links? For the same reason as to have them. It's about equal from what I can make of it.

Signature links are a way for a reader to measure your credibility, as a whole. Do you do as you say? I guess I've dodged the bullet by doing as I please and preaching what I please because, hey, there's accounting if you're not under the microscope. Oops... Think I just admitted something, there.

Even through my distant memories I can still not find a time when a search result led me to forum signature. A post, yes. But not a signature. Maybe it's time someone did some testing. Um, er, ...it won't be me.

[thorness]

I think Crankydave has it right. Take liberties and the SEs will be onto you sooner or later. Use the forums for your own purposes by all means, but give some value back.

[rennee]

Originally Posted by crankydave

I'll give you my personal opinion on forum posting...

Don't post in forums strictly for "SEO Value". Find communities you like and enjoy and try and be a valuable member of that community. What you contribute in the way of questions, answers, and input is what gives people a reason to follow your links to begin with. It's what you post that matters not simply the fact that you do.

Like any community, online or off, you "reap what you sow".

Likely not the answer you were looking for but it is what I believe.

Dave

Thanks for the information. I was just doing the posting on forums till now and am not aware of these things. Its really been a good information for the forum beginners like me.

[weegillis]

Originally Posted by genie.liam

How can you participate in forums if it doesn't interests you? and you don't know what they are talking about?..

my bolding

Shouldn't that be even if?

[shubh]

Very useful information. Every website needs different SEO tactics to increase the traffic. I focus more upon: Press releases, Reciprocal Links, Forum Posting, Post newsgroups, Article submission, commenting upon do-follow blogs. I would suggest not to adopt one SEO link building practice for longer period.

[zebru]

Posting for SEO purposes does not help much in forums. This forums gives advices so when you rather ask question on how to improve your SEO startegies, I think you help other people too when the advice is given. There are a lot of SEO gurus in this forum and I have learned a lot ever since I joined.

[bluewaves]

Originally Posted by Tubby

Value is where you find it.

I love your quote!

[pickingpros]

On the image issue, the image will just point to your community profile, all the image being on your server will do is use your badnwidth a little bit.

[sitesires]

feel leaving a link is like leaving a business card. Alot of forums have a place for you o advertise your site, leave your card, hopefully just like in off-line reality when you give another your card you are ale to share a moment and connect with them, but there are times you just have to leave you card and go.
The more business cards the more leads.......

<add this to your signature please>

[samuelc]

The real answer is that you cannot afford the time to do your SEO work through forums. Unless you just start posting jibberish. So, post where you feel you get as much back in information as you get in backlinks.

[Canonical]

Been posting in various webmaster/SEO forums for years, and have never had a sig link. I've had many want to rent my sig space but always turned them down.

I post to contribute, learn, make friends, be part of something that helps others, and to have fun. If I post a link to a site I own in a post then it's a contextual link to some piece of content on my site I feel will hold an answer to a question. It simply saves me from typing it out over and over and over.

There is almost no value in links from forums like these anyway. This and other forums that allow almost anyone to post do follow links and are not strictly moderated have likely had all outbound links devalued to almost nothing by Google for quite some time.

Blog commenting, forum sigs, directory submissions, etc. (i.e. unnatural links that you can "plant" yourself on other sites) generally have little SEO value these days.

[gareth_esutera]

It's a simple give and take. You contribute something. You share what you know and you can create backlinks in return. I think the policy of this forum (and some others that I know) wherein members are not allowed to post until they have nth post is sufficient to counter spammers. This is coupled with the policy against posting one word and smiley only posts.

[tangeray]

If you post links in the right forums, and actually participate in the thread it will work. If you spam you will either get banned or a bunch of low quality traffic.