What is a Forum?
A forum is an Internet message board where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged. They are great places to connect with others who have similar interests to you. Forums are typically centred on a specific topic and therefore are ideal for getting expert advice and finding people with a certain interest.
What is a Forum Signature?
A forum signature is a piece of text (sometimes an image too) which can be placed underneath any comments you make in forum posts. This is normally created in the control panel of your profile and can be set to automatically insert underneath all of your comments. Typically people include a link back to their website and give some details about their name and job title.
The Problem with Forum Links
The problem with forum links is spammers. For years underhand link builders have used forum signatures to create keyword rich anchor text links to websites without providing participating in the discussion.
How to Use Forums Correctly
Forums are ideal places to display your knowledge and expertise on a particular topic. You must however, be sure you are joining a community in order to share or give knowledge; a spammer can be spotted a mile off. If you are there solely to advertise this will be apparent and your efforts will not be appreciated by the community. You can also get banned by the forum moderators.
Use forums as a place to support your company by sharing your knowledge and creating a favourable impression to members of your community. Forums now often have a bad reputation among the SEO community as in the past they have been used by spammers only to get a link from the forum signature.
The best way to approach using forums is to look at it as a branding/PR exercise. If you get a link back it’s a bonus. If you are providing useful advice and information to the members of the forum there is a high chance people will visit your website.
There is also evidence that brand mentions do have some SEO benefit, so even if the forum does not provide a live link it is still worth participating in very relevant forums as these can still drive relevant traffic to your site. Also the better you can answer a question the more likely it is your answer will appear in SERPs
Top Tips for Forum Participation
- Stick to forums that are related to your area of expertise
- Ensure your profile is up to date with all your correct contact information
- Help members by answering questions to the best of your knowledge
- Do not spam
- Engage with forum moderators and those with a high post count
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