Posting on Forums for SEO benefit

[jj3434]

Hi

Is it beneficial to participate on forums in our market place to help become an authority in Googles eyes?

I assume even if we don't get links it still  useful in terms of co-citation...

Thanks

[jj3434]

already doing FB, just looking for more opportunities.

[irvingw]

I'd spend my time in FB discussions instead - forums are spam havens, and FB is safe nofollowed links where you can build your brand awareness safely since this is what you want to do.

Even if a forum looks OK today, word could get out and the next thing you know 200 spammers posted viagra and casino links below you.

[Jinx14678]

LOL, I was gonna respond

"One Word, Don't"

Yours is much better

[jj3434]

Hi

The plan is to join relevant forums and post useful answers to questions and try to help out users. We have good knowledge in our market place. Not to worried about links just getting our name out there....

[TomRayner]

In a word: no.

There's a rough sort of hierarchy for where links come from.  Up near the top, you've got mainstream news websites, reputable blogs and so on.  Somewhere near the bottom, along with the likes of free, spammy directories, SEO press release sites and article directories are forum links.

They've been devalued substantially.  Even on pages that show a decent PA/DA (just the way the Moz algo works), forum links carry very little strength.  If you're using them to build an SEO benefit, then you're wasting your time.

Now, forums that are close to your market/niche and have an active community can be a great way to build potential leads - providing that you become part of the community yourself and are not there to just drop your link and go.  I'd certainly look at the possibility of that, should you have relevant forums in your industry.