Do links from forums help your Google Ranking?

Do in context links from forums help?

[zac51]

If my site is all about widgets and i post widgit related comments in various widget related forums with links to my widget related site, would this be factored into Google's formula for ranking my widget site? Or does Google not count links from forums toward your "link score"? Or...

Thanks for the help.

[diddlydazz]

Hi Zac51

Welcome to Webmasterworld,

There are a few factors that can affect whether a link is counted by the big G

First the page on which the link resides must be indexable (this can be checked by searching for the page in Google).

Second, it is better (if not necessary) for the link to be in standard HTML format, in other words not through a cgi redirect or javascript, etc.

hope this helps

Dazz

[ThomasB]

As long as Google knows the page and the target is not excluded via robots.txt it should work. But don't expect a huge boost though.

[Ginger_Tom]

Sounds like you intend to spam a load of forums to me.
I think you could spend your time better getting quality links.

[cayleyv]

G generally does not index forums to exclude artificial links. While many people to post online to boost their link popularity, G seems to exclude all bulletin boards, forums, guestbooks etc. in a blanket rule.

[treeline]

How can you tell that they're not indexing forums? I've heard they ignore guestbooks, but they obviously index many of the forums here.

[rfgdxm1]

>How can you tell that they're not indexing forums? I've heard they ignore guestbooks, but they obviously index many of the forums here.

Google also indexes guestbooks. It is just that they *ignore* links on guestbook pages. Given many forums allow .sigs with URLs, counting links on posts there sounds like a Bad Idea.

[ILuvSrchEngines]

Best way to think of Google is a schizophrenic company. They go out and search as many pages as possible and then turn right around and block/filter as many pages as possible. Google has the right hand punching it in the face while the left hand is trying to block the punches.

So what they say and what they do may be two totally different things. Regardless, if you install the Google toolbar you can turn on an option called 'Blog This' (orange 'B' on the toolbar)

If you mouse over the 'B' it says: 'Click this button to create a blog post pointing to this page'

Now it could be that they actually mean it or it could just be more of Google's schizophrenic behavior, claiming it does something when it doesn't.

Another interesting item that I found is the term 'Google Bomb". It is when a bunch of blogs co-ordinate a 'link text' assault toward Google's indexing of a term. For instance, you don't like someone so you have all your blog buddies link to his site with link test of 'big jerk'. It is claimed that if enough people do this the person's web site that you don't like will be ranked #1 for the term 'big jerk'.

[zac51]

Since posting my original question, i was able to find other threads on this topic and found that there is a strong dislike by many to the practice of placing hyperlinks in forums with the mixed motive of increasing one's page rank. I understand the 'forum spamming' concern and would agree that that is 'cheating' in the same way link farms would be. However, my honest intention (and if i'm wrong for intending to do this, i am open to being corrected), my intention was to visits forums where people genuinely discuss the same thing my site is about, and weave in links. This seemed to me (and again, i could be wrong) a non-intrusive way to create "quality links" to my site (quality links, meaning on-topic, related, same audience, etc.). That way i'm not tying up anyone's time asking for favors, having to build trust with strangers, etc. I'm not the extraverted salesman type, so i don't generally like to intrude on others to do things for me. Sooo, i figured if i had to get links in order to get Google to notice me, then why not weave legitimate links into legitimate dialog on forums related to the same content as my site. I'm not sure what is so wrong with that. I hate spam. I don't spam. I'd rather not have to do any links to get noticed by Google, but that's the way it apparently works. So what's the difference in whether I work my link (call it artificial if you like) into a public dialog, or whether i (artificially) ask someone to link to my related site in exchange for linking to theirs creating (just as artificial) a relationship? I understand the abuse issue, but what is wrong with leaving RELATED hyperlinks? Isn't hyperlinking what the web is all about?

Sincerely and Respectfully. :]

zac51

[kaled]

A few forum links won't do any harm, however, they may not do any good either. In the long term, you need proper links.

Kaled.

[otnot]

Hi Zak:
You may not get any backward links from forums but you will get traffic. I have been posting to some on topic forums and recieve some really good traffic for my efforts.

[Leosghost]

Go look in google groups ...
There are posters there...

Those who claim to offer SEO advice but who in fact just repeat endlessly the info on the guidlines page ..

They do however leave their links to their own domains with every post they make ....( all in anchor ) ...every time they sign a post ...strangely enough those who pontificate the most do it the most ..

( "g" brings up "forums" in "search for sites which mention widgets.com" or whatever ...so yes it can help ..depends if "g" thinks that what goes on there could be called "quality" on "topical" and "relevant" or "expert" on subject material .... :))

This IMHO is about all these posters did understand on SEO ...

( while such forum spamming may work ..I would imagine that the negative result ..in that other webmasters are less likely to link to someone who does it probably would outweigh the possible benefits )

I have seen them refer to the forums here as "censored" and "snobbish" ..because one can't leave a link to ones site ......

Then again the quality of the posts is so much better here ...post of present poster excluded.......JMHO

[Pimpernel]

It's quite simple. The more that a forum links outward, the less effect that each individual link will have. So it is not that google disregards forums, guestbooks etc, just the more people that post URLs the less effect each individual link will have, sort of a self-fulfilling prophesy, which of course IMHO is very clever.

Nothing wrong with posting in forums, perfectly legitimate if the forums allow it, and frankly it would be stupid not to post. Just bear the above points in mind. Even if you go on to a forum and are the first one to post, and get massive PR passed the others won't be long behind you and as they post links, the value of the link you originally got will diminish