For my search phrase my targeted forum hovers between 13-18 on Google's SERP and has been there for a couple of years. What I'd like to do is "get the word out" to more people so that I can continue to grow links organically. This is happening already but I am afraid I've saturated the core users for my topic so I'm not getting many new links at all. My question is, is it smart or dumb to buy AdWords in order to get my forum more well known for my keyphrase? On the one hand I am happy to buy some advertising in order to get me over the current hump, but I also know that buying links is not good. Maybe if I buy links from Google it won't be a strike against me?
Adwords has nothing to do with your organic rankings. They are javascript - not counted as links. Google has no problem with buying links from any site, they just want them to be "nofollow" ones that don't pass PR.
Yes, I don't mean to confuse my purpose here. I am not looking for the AdWords links themselves to be increasing my rank. I am looking to actually get more people to my forums for my highly relevant search phrase, in order to in turn make it more known that my site is the right place to go for future visitors. The more people that know about my site, the more people there are to tell other people. That kind of organic.
Adwords will cost you less if you landing page also ranks for the keyword. Otherwise adwords is a good way to 'get the word out' until you start getting ranked.