Using forums to build links

[Stewie Griffin]

Forums are a great way to build links and get relevant click-thru traffic as well.

The key is to always post in relevant forums for the maximum benefit. The biggest drawback to this is the time involved in manually posting. Of course it can be automated using something like xrumer but that is hardly as useful, most relevant forums will delete the post and ban your account if posted using xrumer or a similar tool.

A cost effective way is to engage the services of a (human) forum poster to post on related forums(preferably ones that allow dofollow text links in signatures).

Some queries that you can search for in google to find related forums & threads (replace key word with whatever you want to build links about):

vbulletin key word

phpbb key word

inurl:showthread.php key word

inurl:viewtopic key word

These lists of forum scripts will be useful in coming up with more search strings:
Comparison of Internet forum software (ASP) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Comparison of Internet forum software (PHP) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hope this helps...happy link building! :beer:

[CountryBoy]

Useful Stewie. I always find forum posting such hard work... hence I'm languishing on only 700 posts whereas people who have been here half as long have 7000. I guess the easiest thing to do is to hire some cheap labour to do your forum posting!

[unr]

I've recently fallen in love with signature ads.
Namely, here on WTF.
My website was 'launched' officially for just 1 month,
Where my advertising was only about 5 paid ads for the month, and advertising in my signature accross a couple forums, this being my massive one.

After my first month, went from PR0 - 3, with over 1700+ 'backlinks'
Thanks to forums.


Works like a charm if you ask me.

[iowadawg]

Want more backlinks from forums?

Make relevant posts with your anchor text and url in the post itself.

If one posts in say, the BST forums of DP, one will see those as backlinks.

Why I may post sales where I know I will never sell, just for the backlinks to a site.

Then just about every forum has a website review sub-forum.
Again, post your anchor and url there, asking for a review.
Backlinks again!
Plus I discovered that a lot of times, bloggers will pick those reviews up and put them up on their blogs.
Backlinks again!

Oh, one last thing I found.
There are tons of blogs out there that grab sales, reviews, domains for sale, just about any and all parts of forums to use as content.
Got to love rss feeds and forums that allow the use of.

[c55]

thx for sharing.

[GameOver]

For my pet site, starting from November, I will post 5 posts per day in the 10 most popular pet forums.

50 posts would only take an hour or two or could be spread throughout the day.

The other benefit would be that I am learning about my niche and what they want etc.

[010081]

nice tips,i guess newbies will benefit from it.thankx for sharing.

[sums123]

Thanks for tips,but it is better to post it yourself rather than relying on someone else.

[Mysanctuary23]

Forums are a great way to build links and get relevant click-thru traffic as well.

The key is to always post in relevant forums for the maximum benefit. The biggest drawback to this is the time involved in manually posting. Of course it can be automated using something like xrumer but that is hardly as useful, most relevant forums will delete the post and ban your account if posted using xrumer or a similar tool.

A cost effective way is to engage the services of a (human) forum poster to post on related forums(preferably ones that allow dofollow text links in signatures).

Some queries that you can search for in google to find related forums & threads (replace key word with whatever you want to build links about):

vbulletin key word

phpbb key word

inurl:showthread.php key word

inurl:viewtopic key word

These lists of forum scripts will be useful in coming up with more search strings:
Comparison of Internet forum software (ASP) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Comparison of Internet forum software (PHP) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hope this helps...happy link building! :beer:

I love participating in a forum most specially if the forum is just like WTF
thanks for the tips Stewie very well appreciated

[djmc]

Good thread topic!

The best approach is to find forums that are "Do Follow", I found a couple of lists:

DoFollow (non-nofollow) Forums List | Reviewer of Sites
Nothing found for 2008 05 11 List-of-dofollow-forums-with-dofollow-signatures #comment-539

Using these lists, I found WTF!

[seotogo]

I think posting on both dofollow and nofollow forums is fine since it simulated natural link building. Of course, you’ll get the most bang for your buck on dofollow.

[MrCat]

Not only does forum sigs help in boosting for position in the SERP's, but it is also a good source of direct targeted traffic so long as you participate constructively and frequently in similar niche forums

[aciam]

^yep. Forums are good source of traffic too. Just be an active member and participate well in discussions so other members will respect you - some sort of reputation for you and the site that you're promoting using your sig

[GameOver]

^yep. Forums are good source of traffic too. Just be an active member and participate well in discussions so other members will respect you - some sort of reputation for you and the site that you're promoting using your sig

I strongly agree, providing quality posts brings you many more visitors than simply posting to increase your post count.

[hem]

Yes forums are also very useful to increase relevant back links and some traffics. I am participating in 3-4 dofollow forums.

[seome]

A lot of forums use the "nofollow" attribute on signature links. There's a good list of "dofollow" forums at http://www.bestrealincome.com/dofollow-forums/ if anyone is interested.

[GameOver]

A lot of forums use the "nofollow" attribute on signature links. There's a good list of "dofollow" forums at bestrealincome.com/dofollow-forums/ if anyone is interested.

I thought that most forums were do-follow

[generis]

A lot of forums use the "nofollow" attribute on signature links. There's a good list of "dofollow" forums at http://www.bestrealincome.com/dofollow-forums/ if anyone is interested.

I'm not able to view that list. When i go there, i get redirected to the main page.

[benjaminp]

It is working fine for me but I just copied the list for you just incase.

If you are looking for a few forums to become active in here are are a few suggestions:

* Digitalpoint Forums
* v7n Forums
* SitePoint Forums
* Harmony-Central Forums
* Search Engine Round Table
* Submit Express Forums
* Start Ups
* Comic Book Resources Forums
* Web Design Forum
* 360 Gamerscore
* Acorn Domain Name Forums
* Book and Reader Forums
* Ableton Forums
* The In Place
* 6Pins
* IQ69
* Adobe Forums
* Adobe RSS Feed Submittal (This may be hand reviewed - But if your blog talks about Adobe products, you can get excellent exposure)
* MSDN Forums
* MySQL Forums
* AMD Support Forums
* Intel Software Network Forums
* CNET Forums
* Oracle Forums
* Payment Processing Forums
* Directory Junction Forums

[eddy]

Forum sigs only help for increasing backlinks and a better SERP result.

If you are doing it for increasing your PR, Then they help only 1% in that !

esidyo added 1 Minutes and 5 Seconds later...

I thought that most forums were do-follow

95% of Forums are Do-Follow and maybe 100% of Webmaster Forums are Do-Foloow :love:

[Romer]

good post!added to that forums gives me the updates on my surroundings and my nature of work, I love getting ideas from the members.

[Stepho]

I have to agree that it is a good idea to post in forums yourself.
The thing is that you gain some credibility and that always helps, others might find what you are saying interesting and have a look at your site.
Don't use someone else to do this for you or they will be gaining and you won't get anything out of the deal.

Stepho

[zerodigit]

hey nice tips, thanks for sharing...keep it up

[djmc]

its still working for ME.....

[Menthol]

It is a worthwhile exercise i try and make at least one post a day to keep things ticking over.

[ValeryHaw]

Great news!
XRumer 5.0.12 Palladium was released, just ask Google for more info

[vectro]

Great news!
XRumer 5.0.12 Palladium was released, just ask Google for more info

From Wikipedia: XRumer is a Windows program that posts forum spam with the aim of boosting search engine rankings.

XRumer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maybe it's best not to use something like that.

[chimeara27]

Yes indeed joining in some forums help build links. I love to see my sig at the bottom left of my posts. But we have to be careful in posting in forums by not spamming it. Let us contribute good information on every forums we joined.

[cecille20]

As long as you keep on participating in a do follow forums then you will gain quality links.. In my two months on participating I got my first PR1 in my new websites twitter followers.. By just participating in do follow forums.. So it really helps..

[bryanfuller]

i am also working on forums and blog postings. All work is done manually and I am trying to improve it. thanks

[Andy Edwards]

I love the idea of posting on online forums to increase the number of backlinks for my sites. I make sure they're closely related to my niche.

[aldonjohnes]

forum posting does not have much weight in increasing authority rating of your pr especially now that PR from google can be hacked, it has no meaning at all, but it is effective to promote your website.

[evatw001]

Thanks for the info in this thread. will help with my building. I am trying to boost up Cuban Cigars. The product is decent, the site is good, just not getting a whole lot of activity. I think it's googles indexing.

[aldonjohnes]

that's cool man, keep it up.

[technohive]

Sig links will add up to the number of backlinks your site has . It can generate backlinks and generate traffic as well to your site or blog

[alex111]

It is true that forums help to build good amount of back links and the back links generated from them are of high value. It is a very valuable for everyone to know in detail about forum posting.

[technohive]

Sig links are indeed useful in SEO especially when building backlinks even in yahoo site explorer you can see that forums generate backlinks so I guess in a way it not only help in traffic but also in getting backlinks as well

[victorm]

I think they are overrated (forum links) due to their low authority.
Unless you find a very targeted thread on a relevant forum, and then you rock.

[mrthe9th]

Nice tips, thank you for sharing. for me online forum is useful to build backlink and traffic

[busycraze]

Definitely, forums are great one to increase links for our websites. That's also a reason we all gathered here. Thanks for WTF for providing us great opportunity for link building.

---No naughty link dropping here---