Getting links into forums

[Hardley]

Hi guys Ive been try to get my links to my site in forums but when i post a comment , which includes a link,
they are marked as spam. Can anyone suggest any techniques to getting links into forums?

[Marcus_Miller]

This is something else where you can consider quality and the internal linking of the forum itself with regards to the quality of a followed signature link.

So, the forum has tens of thousands of posts and pages. If you have say 20 posts of no real substance on backwater posts to get your post count up and get your followed link and leave it at that... well, the link is going to be of little value.

If you have hundreds of posts, from some quite weight discussions that in turn get linked to from external sources, then, your profile is much better linked to from these weighty pages and in turn, is of much more value as an outbound link.

This is a very simple look at how quality can be discerned quite easily for individual links on any given forum and how you simply can't get away from providing a quality contribution (or at the very least, hawking in on quality discussions but I would venture they have a solution for that also).

[RankMover]

Most forums that still allow you to embed a link in your signature now have a minimum post count before you can put a link in your signature. Ultimately this ensures that you at least engage with other forum members and add value to the forum consequently before embedding the link.

[Marcus_Miller]

Hey, I agree, if you are trying to just drop bombs, then this is potentially dangerous, if you are trying to add value then this is a solid approach.

The point I wanted to clarify is that there are no good or bad techniques. Directories are not bad, neither are they good. Same goes for everything else. We can't just demonise technique A and sign off on technique B.

OP - move away from that kind of simplistic thinking and approach everything from a quality and relevance perspective and you will be okay.

If you are trying to just drop links without contributing in a meaningful way then... well, do some more reading, this is not going to help you in any way, shape or form.

Link safe folks!

[Matt-Williamson]

I think we might be at cross purposes here, or maybe I wasn't clear enough in my response Marcus, sorry. I do agree with the fact that you can gain value and no penalties from forum links when they are used in a natural manner - for instance contributing/adding value to a thread.

I also have no evidence and wasn't suggesting that any exists in regard to contributing within a high quality forum discussion could lead to a negative impact on traffic. I note your inclusion of "high quality", which again would point to the fact that your activities were natural and adding value to the discussion, thus creating decent content, something that would never be penalised in the eyes of the search engines! Here's to a better web.

I was more referring to the original question that was posed, and it would appear that the poster is trying to gain links from multiple forums via comments posted - "Ive been try to get my links to my site in forums". They then go on to ask for techniques that can get links into forum,  both of which to me suggested that they are commenting for the sake of links - which I am sure we would both agree is a low quality, dubious practice.

What I think we need is more information on Hardleys strategy here and what the intent behind it is...

You are looking at it from a seasoned professional that is using this tactic in a sensible and safe manner, which will have a  positive effect in terms of referral traffic.

I was looking at it from the point of view that this could be a quick and "easy" way to increase links to your website.

One last thing is that I don't think anyone was suggesting that you should be scared of contributing to a discussion in a meaningful way - a link would again be natural in this case.

In this sort of situation the question would then be best put to the forum on which you are posting and not on here...

[Houses]

Dropping links in forums can backfire on you if the forum members take offence at you spamming.

Sometime you can't even drop a link until you have made a certain number of posts but even when you can, the link must be really relevant. If it isn't helping someone it is spam.

It might be useful to link to your website on your bio page instead.

Each forum is different so take your time to get to know it.

As already said by Marcus and Matt, participating in forums can help raise your online visibility which has got to be good, but don't overdo the links.

[alsvik]

Get involved. Share valuable information and personal thoughts. Stay tuned on the blog. Gain som credit.

It is normal (common) that forum users are given different "titles" as of how often they post or if their posts are rated as usefull. Sometimes a user is granted a link in their signature when they recieve a certain level.

If you had a forum/blog and some guy wrote "Hi guys. Great blog/form. Remember to visit www.spies.dk". Would you visit/reply or just delete the post?

[PastaFreak]

Hi Hardley,

I would suggest to get in contact with the blogger. Start communication and if the blog is relevant to you it might be that your site / services or products are relevant to the blog as well. Try to find a way to get him to write about you or ask if you can provide him with a good guest blog post. It is time consuming but it will pay off at the end.

Good luck!

[Marcus_Miller]

Hey Matt, not sure I agree with the logic there.

The only important metrics here are quality and relevance. If you contribute in a quality discussion and bring value, then you could do this all day long. Likewise, if you build a best of class resource or provide the best answer, you are going to see people linking to it from forums, blog comments etc.

Quality, is a great way to put the breaks on and there is only so many quality forum interactions you can manage in one day. Likewise, there are only so many quality discussions in any one given day.

The risk factors here is if you get silly with anchor text etc. Just link natural, the URL is likely best, forget anchor text, just provide the reference. They are nofollowed so effectively not part of the link graph anyhow so in my experience, you can fill your boots here, but just mind the quality and relevance.

Have you a single example where contributing to high quality forum discussions would provide a negligible impact on traffic? Are we not swaying into negative SEO paranoia here?

Re: Everything is okay in moderation, but as a link building strategy?

This is not a link building strategy, this is an exposure, branding and referral traffic exercise. Sure, there are links that may in turn drive traffic, but it will not impact your rank in any meaningful way (unless someone sees the discussion, reads your resource and in turn links to it so... another reason to focus on relevant, high quality, high traffic sources where you are further telling the world about your great resource you linked to).

Nobody should be scared of contributing to a discussion in a meaningful way and dropping a link if it adds further value. If you try to add some SEO to this, start trying to use targeted anchor text, start creating discussions and linking out from them or start dropping the links in irrelevant places well, I would still venture that will do no harm, but it is going to be a big fat waste of your time but still, then you are trying to manipulate things and you deserve anything you have coming.

[Matt-Williamson]

Hi Marcus -

I agree that there is no doubt that you can gain some decent referral traffic from a link placed in an appropriate thread on a forum - especially if you are a regular contributor.

However I think it still needs to be considered that dropping links to your site on multiple forums is likely to get noticed by Google and this could impact on your search traffic. Swings and roundabouts from this view point, but I still think you need to look at it and consider it from this angle, especially in the current climate (post-penguin).

Everything is OK in moderation, but as a link building strategy?

One link every so often would be fine, but if you were to gain numerous in a short space of time you are likely to get flagged...

[Marcus_Miller]

Hey, there can be great value from forum links, not so much for raising your ranking but for referral traffic and visibility but you have to bring some considerable value to the discussion.

For instance, say you were a widget consultant and you then monitored several forums where people generally talked about widgets and asked questions. You could then swing by and chip into the discussion and help people.

You can improve upon this by answering peoples questions but then providing a link to a more in-depth answer or relevant resource on your site. Then, you benefit from folks finding these answers, seeing you know your stuff and clicking through to your site (where you can try to convert them to social accounts, newsletters, download some kind of guide etc).

We really have to look at things beyond SEO and beyond ranking with a more inbound marketing perspective and with that in mind, dropping nofollow links on forums, Q&A, blog comments etc can be a valuable approach to drive traffic to your site.

But, bear in mind, forums are funny places, often with established pecking orders, so you just can't barge in and start dropping links, they have to be highly relevant and expand upon the discussion and you have to bring value to the post where you drop the link else you just risk being marked a spammer.

Just my tuppence (5 cents).

Cheers

Marcus

[ToonyWoony]

Hi - it was suggested to me today that instead of posting a www link, instead post your @Twitterusername, and that won't be picked up as a link and therefore won't be spammed but will still enable people to 'find you' in the webasphere.

Obv not great for backlinks but good for brand recognition and driving traffic.

Haven't yet tried it myself but worth a pop?

Thanks

Kate

[Matt-Williamson]

I would look at other methods of link building other than trying to get links via comments on forum as this is a dangerous tactic especially post Penguin when link profiles are under more scrutiny than ever - there is also little to no value in this method and essentially if you are commenting just to get links it is a form of spam.