Forums having old data gaining high positions

forum articles

[coolstuff]

Hi,
I am stuck on trying to figure out why forums are able to have their old posts rank very high in the search engines even if the content links to an article or articles that are negative posts continuously.

An example is < no specific sites, please >
Any ideas anyone?

[edited by: tedster at 8:23 pm (utc) on Aug. 21, 2007]

[tedster]

even if the content links to an article or articles that are negative posts continuously

Google's algo does not look directly at the content's quality - it's an automated program and cannot comprehend what it "reads". Given enough healthy backlinks, plus the right words on the page, almost anything can rank.

[coolstuff]

ok thank you.
I thought so..
Would it also be right to think that the higher the PR of the backlink(s), the better options are for that article?

[webdude]

I have seen the same thing. About a year and a half ago, someone started a thread on one of my forums that was very controversial. The subject of the thread had the URL of another website in it. There were so many links going to this thread and so many responses (thread went over 8 months before it petered out) that it actually outranked the original site that the thread was about. It is still popping up at #2 when you type in that URL even though it got buried in the forum.

IF G's algo deems it pertinent, it will rank it accordingly.