Linkbacks from forum signatures....

[cashisfilthitakecheck]

I was wondering whether backlinks from forum signatures get the same weightage as that of from a related website

I have a feeling that it never gets the same weightage from SERP point of view

What is your take

[SeattleCPA]

Several months ago, after dropping off of page one for a couple of terms that were important to my web sites (but not all that competitive probably in the eyes of most people here), I decided to try and rectify my ranking problems by getting active in a handful of forums that let me include 2-3 links in my sig.

Over the summer, by posting messages regularly, I (theoretically) added several thousand links. No, not like the moderators get to do...but still, quite a few... and I could never seem to get much effect.

A few days ago--and this isn't quite what you're asking about--I was looking carefully at what the moderators get in terms of links in another forum... (In this particular forum, they each get 3 links at the bottom of each page--this would be in addition to their sig links.) This moderator through this method had accumulated roughly 15,000 links that pointed to a, hmmm, let's say a sort of medical device.

Now, 15,000 links seems like a lot to me... but he did not (yet?) appear to be getting traction. He was not, with 15,000 links, on the 1, 2 or 3 page at Google.

But now I'm rambling...

[noobie2shoes]

What do you mean by moderators getting extra links.....?

[ken123]

I think the signature from forums does help.

[nvtellan]

At least, signatures containing your website is free promotion of your site that hopefully visitors may click and visit.

[sheds]

I don't know what others thinking on my view.
But i think all sign. links if it from same domain than it will definitely helps.

[pulikuttann]

forum signatures have much important value than other backlinks.

[litb2902]

does it really work?

[etali]

In my experience they're great for generating traffic, but not for getting pagerank or increasing your ranking. I guess there are so many links on each forum page that any 'juice' getting passed is minimal.

[childfont]

forum signatures have much important value than other backlinks.

I think you are wrong,
Than why people first choose directory submissions, because search engines likes back links from free directories.
Regards,
Ricky

[SticKer]

Sig links help increase backlinks and if its from the same niche you might get visits.

[cashisfilthitakecheck]

Sig links help increase backlinks and if its from the same niche you might get visits.

Yes, rightly said
Signature links do increase backlinks even though PR may not be of much help
But if the backlink is from related forum signatures, then the value may be of higher importance with SE's

[Qryztufre]

Baclinks, serp, and the like are only part of the value...

If you are an active and contributing member of the community, then you will find that people will favor your sig link over that of the typical poster that just bounces his post rate through "thank you" or "pm sent" posts.

By adding content that is worth reading you'll find that people will care what you have to say and could be clicking through your signatures to see what else you have to offer.

Its humans that click on links, and human traffic is generally the best traffic. If your link looks like it has something to offer, then you will find that the sig link is well worth the time or money that is put into it.

There are also a few tricks in making the most of your sig link...

Forum Link Building tips (it's not just your signiture!) (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=303332)

[thunderbolt007]

Forum signature links are good one way links and promotion to your site....

Since the time the SEs like sites that have fresh contents they love crawling it.. Forum is a site that has always updated contents since many posts threads...

[toystoys]

yes, the cigs always help, i am moderator on a german community from 2004, i have more than 2000 backlinks from that forum :)

i guess we can own DP forum sigs too

[digitalduke]

If the forums has dofollow tags then it will get PR juice. Traffic starts to flow once the signature is visible. Some forums allows to put links after some posts or time like in DP. So if you interact with the forum other than soul motive of putting signature links, it will be much better.

[usasportstraining]

Take a look at this thread on DoFollow Forums (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=719030).

The value of the links in forums is questionable, but it could add up. However, you could get plenty of traffic if the forum and your links are somewhat related or at least intriguing.

[weilies]

forum signatures have much important value than other backlinks.

forum signature work for human but not index by those engine i think :D
Plz correct me if i am wrong

[jeurboy]

I think the signature from forums does help.

I hope so:D

[cashisfilthitakecheck]

forum signature work for human but not index by those engine i think :D
Plz correct me if i am wrong

Wrong
I have seen a site of mine which was not indexed by google inspite of all my efforts to get it indexed in search engines get indexed in just 3 days of putting a forum signature link to its homepage from here DP itself
But how much that will give link value interms of backlink and PR is a contentious question

[Markz]

Sig links do not pass as much value as a normal backlink so it seems.

[usasportstraining]

forum signature work for human but not index by those engine i think :D
Plz correct me if i am wrong

It does get quickly indexed on popular forums, however the "link juice" value may not be much, if anything.

[weilies]

Thanks for correcting me

[funkynektaria]

forum signature work for human but not index by those engine i think :D
Plz correct me if i am wrong

i think if you put your link in your signature then SE's would index it. but i don't think 1000 link from one forum would be better than 1 link. i think SE's would count it as 1.

CMIIW
:):):)

[Caesar1]

The value of the links in forums is questionable, but it could add up. However, you could get plenty of traffic if the forum and your links are somewhat related or at least intriguing.

I think your right. I've been a mod on a forum for 5 years and another for about 3 and I had well over 100,000 posts but only the keywords in the topic showed up in the search

[leri]

I think you are wrong,
Than why people first choose directory submissions, because search engines likes back links from free directories.
Regards,
Ricky
I consent with u.:)
I think that if your comment is good then also you can increase your visitors. By posting proper comment for a particular topic, you can gain credit and may appear truthful in their eyes.
So, keep up with good posting.;)

[usasportstraining]

Baclinks, serp, and the like are only part of the value...

If you are an active and contributing member of the community, then you will find that people will favor your sig link over that of the typical poster that just bounces his post rate through "thank you" or "pm sent" posts.

By adding content that is worth reading you'll find that people will care what you have to say and could be clicking through your signatures to see what else you have to offer.

Its humans that click on links, and human traffic is generally the best traffic. If your link looks like it has something to offer, then you will find that the sig link is well worth the time or money that is put into it.

There are also a few tricks in making the most of your sig link...

Forum Link Building tips (it's not just your signiture!) (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=303332)

Very well said! The key is to take part in the various forums. Most of the benefit to being active is the traffic that may visit your sites. It is questionable as to how much, if any, 'link juice' you would actually get from the search engines.

[SeattleCPA]

What do you mean by moderators getting extra links.....?

E.g., one one of the small business forums, moderators get 3 sig links rather than the 2 alloted to regular folk...

Also, on that same forum, the moderators get listed (along with some links they choose) at the bottom of every page.

[usasportstraining]

E.g., one one of the small business forums, moderators get 3 sig links rather than the 2 alloted to regular folk...

Also, on that same forum, the moderators get listed (along with some links they choose) at the bottom of every page.

Nice to be a moderator, huh?

I have noticed on some forums that the only links that are allowed are by the moderators and admins. But then again, it's their forum so they can do whatever they want with it. :)

[fabriciogr]

wouldn't actuall know how to weigh the importance of a link coming from a forum

but when i check incoming links coming to my site more than once the links coming from this forum or others show on the first few pages off google.

how would that be interpreted?

[tomterm8]

Google appears to also pay attention to the homepage link in your profile page. I got 200 back links from one forum, where I DIDN'T use a sig. And since hundreds of links will point to that page, it is actually a very powerful PR page.

Just a thought, but if you've been regular on a forum, you can still extract some juice even if you don't post a link in the sig. (In the above case I couldn't because it's banned on several forums I visit).

It also prevents people thinking you are just link spamming;)

[James Long]

At the end of the day all those links are coming fron one site, even tho each page is different. I think it will have very little effect but still... you will get clicks from targetted visitors

[usasportstraining]

At the end of the day all those links are coming fron one site, even tho each page is different. I think it will have very little effect but still... you will get clicks from targetted visitors

In edition there are thousands of links within the forum spilling the "juice". The best part about sig links is the potential traffic.

However, especially if your post is stickied, it doesn't mean the links don't count for something. Even a little is better than nothing.

[hecto]

Effective to gain traffic but not too sure about page rank.

[nuruddeen710]

It does help. Sig link is still a link and it does have some weight to search engine.

[dspohn23]

From my experience, the sig links help out. However, I don't believe these links hold that much link strength, since there are so many other links on the same page. Some say that multiple links from the same site, only count as a single link. Yet I would argue that 10,000 signature links to a site is much better than 10 signature links to a site.

[Loco.M]

fyi..

backlinks and linkbacks, to totally different things ;)

also, this has been asked a number of times, try the search bar next time :D

[sarahFreder]

people are using forum signature link for mainly to develop traffic and backlink for their website. also when search engine bots crawl www it will crawl all the contents in www. so if the forum sig is followable one, it will also get crawled and consider it as a backlink for website.