Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Forum Signature Links
-
After the new update from google, are Forum Signature Links still very good to use linkbuliding or?
-
**Hey, this is exactly right: **chase the marketing, not the algorithm
If you search around your topic and find frequent forum listings in the search results then get in on those pages and help out and that link back to your site is some good solid branding that will drive referral traffic.
On the flipside, if someone stumbles across that post and you have chipped in with:
"Yes, very good information, I am thanking you muchley"
And have a signature like
Keyword Spam | more Keyword Links | Blarghh SEO Puke
Then all you are doing is indicating to Google that you are trying to manipulate the results for those keywords so you will likely do more harm than good.
The spammy link algorithm aspects like Penguin are only going to get more aggressive so as Corey said above: chase the marketing, not the algorithm!
Marcus
-
And of course, you should not join all the forums that come along the way. I have seen people skipping reputed forums because they do not give instant back link from the signature section. This is a sickening mentality. Participating in forum is about helping others and not just getting a link back from them. So, if you wish you can add a link back to your website with Branded Keyword, avoid exact matched anchor texts like plague and you will be just fine.
-
They do get indexed and they can help as much as any other link. And, like everything, you're best off doing it without embarrassing your brand. So,
YES: If you want to plop a PR rep on a forum to make a good 15 or so useful contributions to the conversation, with a real signature, like you might attach to an email, compliant with that particular forum's signature guidelines.
NO: If you want to buy 100,000 forum signature links blasted using a piece of software.
As with everything, chase the marketing, not the algorithm. That will get you a lot further than worrying about what Google will be doing in 2013, because even if you dodge a bullet in the short-term, Google's end goals are always the same.
-
If your idea is to slap on your signature with anchor text heavy links on every forum possible, then no they are not a very good thing to be doing post-2012.
There's a place for them though. If you're participating on a forum that's relevant to your website then I don't see why you can't place a link or two to your website in the signature. But I would avoid trying to put manipulative anchor text in there. Just use the plain URL or a branded term like your business or domain name.
Also, google recently updated their webmaster guidelines with a forum signature example of what you should not be doing:
Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature, for example:
_Thanks, that’s great info!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Should I disavow these links?
Hi all, I have a ski website that I am currently performing a toxic backlink audit on. I have noted that a lot of the links being flagged as toxic/spammy by the tool I am using seem to be the same/similar sites with different URLs. The sites are vaguely related to skiing (relating to helicopter travel options for travelling to ski resorts) but it is concerning me that there are so many of them and they are being flagged as so toxic.
Link Building | | SolveWebMedia
Do you think it is worth disavowing these? Or contacting the owner to ask them to remove the link? I have included an example of some of the links below. https://www.cannes-helicopters.co.uk/index.php?menuopen=21&showcontent=5
https://nice-helicopter.co.uk/index.php?menuopen=21&showcontent=5
https://monaco-helicopter.co.uk/index.php?menuopen=21&showcontent=5 Slightly different site but same favicon icon:
https://monaco-helicopter.co.uk/index.php?menuopen=21&showcontent=5
https://www.whitetracks-holidays.com/Helicopter_Transfers_Villars_Switzerland.htm Thanks in advance for any advice / help!0 -
Value of Links? What is each link worth?
Morning Everyone, I just had this thought and wondered what everyone's opinions were in terms of link value in monetary terms. We'll assume for the purposes of this that the links come from contextually relevant sites and that the sites in question have got the Moz DA from being high quality and have a good quality incoming link profile. Its a bit of a theoretical question, but i guess imagine if the only way you could get links was to pay for them, what would they be worth to you. This is link value for SEO purposes, they will have in addition value from traffic from good sites, that no doubt varies wildly depending on topic. I assume everyone also agrees on: The first link from a domain is the most valuable High DA sites are worth more than low ones. So could anyone who has an opinion on the link value suggest a monetary value for links. Its really just using a monetary amount to see how best to target my time. Here is my example of what might be expected, but I am hoping people with more knowledge will perhaps correct it. DA Rating First Link 2nd-5th Link 5th-10th Link 10Plus Links 5 $5 $2 $1 $0 15 $7 $3 $2 $1 25 $25 $10 $5 $2 35 $45 $20 $7 $3 45 $65 $30 $11 $4 55 $95 $45 $19 $5 65 $200 $100 $45 $6 75 $350 $120 $65 $9 85 $700 $240 $95 $15 95 $1100 $450 $200 $30
Link Building | | wellandpower1 -
Disavowing Links
I need some advice... I've noticed our link profile has increased with many comments links --- something I certainly have not pursued manually. I'm new to disavowing links. However, before I go ahead and disavow them, I'd like to ask how harmful these links are and would you recommend this is something I can do myself (relatively novice SEO) or if you'd recommend someone who could do this for a reasonable cost. In one instance, the link from this comment thread is with the anchor text, "porn"... Certainly not something we want to rank for, haha! I look forward to your advice
Link Building | | LukeBTDT0 -
Forum posting
I would like to ask i have found on blog: "Forum posting is an important effective SEO Link Building Method to getting quality traffic and quality back links to your website. Learn here about forum posting basics, advices and guidelines." Is it true? Forum posting with backlink to my website can help me to rank better? I mean posting on the related forum website?
Link Building | | joekoo10 -
Footer Links And Link Juice
I'm starting to learn about link juice and notice in GWMT > Traffic > Internal Links, that the list is in this order by the links counted on each page. Some are in the footer and some are in the header, with some being more important than others commercially i.e. /register /privacy /terms /search /sitemap /disclaimer /blog /register So I am wondering if I should add a 'no-follow' attribute to the footer links i.e. privacy, terms, disclaimer and leave the others as they are? Does this help retain link juice on each page where the links appear? Or am I missing the point all together? This is my website: http://goo.gl/CN0e5
Link Building | | Ubique0 -
Link Detox and Link Removal
I have a question about which links to remove after running a link detox from Link Research Tools. First a little back story. I had had an SEO company link building for one of the websites I own. But I have recently stopped working with them. In the last month my rankings have near dropped off the charts. I have just recently gotten access to Google webmaster tools and noticed an unnatural link warning from back in March. So yesterday I ran link detox and it reported 19 toxic links, 120 suspicious links, and 24 healthy links. It's rather obvious that I should remove all of the toxic links. They all from sites that have been deindexed by google. But my question is a about the suspicious links. What should my criteria be for removing them? Am I better off removing them all and leaving my site with only 24 healthy links or should I personally comb through them and remove only the worst of the worst so that I leave my site with a few more links? I'd really like to get the site ready to resubmit to google as soon as I can. Thoughts? yyCOf.png
Link Building | | CobraJones950 -
Text Link vs image link?
Which passes most link juice a text link or an image with the correct 'alt' attribute? Do the pass the same amount or is one more valuable than the other?
Link Building | | SamCUK0 -
Forums
1