Do bbcode links count as backlinks?

phpbb2 / bbcode links

[Ankheg]

Maybe this should go over in the PHP forum; apologies if so. I've searched the site, but found no answer, so, here goes:

Do "bbcode" links in message boards like PHPBB2 get recognized -by SE's- as links? They're coded like [url]www.foo.net[/url], but seem to get parsed into usable, clickable links by the forum software. I've noticed a few referrals to my sites from message boards, and am curious if they're going to count as links in ATW or Google, for instance, when they're updated. (assuming the BB's are indexable, which at least one seems to.) Either way, any traffic is good traffic.

[heini]

A bot is nothing but a browser. So if it's a link for a human using a browser then it is a link for the bot spidering for an SE database.

And yes, they do count as well, which is one of the reasons many boards get targeted by url droppers.

[Birdman]

Actually, they may not count to some search engines. Alot of those boards use session ids in the urls and never get indexed.

To find out if it counts, copy the url of the page that is linked to you into the Google search field. Remove the http:// and search. If the page is there, it counts.

Hope that helped.

Added: Sorry, I missed this in the last sentence "assuming the BB's are indexable, which at least one seems to" :o

[edited by: Birdman at 1:44 pm (utc) on May 3, 2003]

[heini]

For demonstration purposes:
this is a bbcode link to a thread about bbcode links [webmasterworld.com]

When this page is requested, the software processes the bbcode and presents a link.

Birdman, sure, if the whole page does not get indexed, than the link won't be either. If however a bot spiders this page, then the link gets recognized, though not neccessarily followed.