They must not affect PR considering the fact that the thread page won't have PR. They can affect traffic which could result in a link from the user but the link on the forum doens't affect PR. Correct or no?
every link counts... the most important thing is not PR, but search engine placement, and every link counts
Links from forums like this one can have a huge affect on SERPS and PageRank especially if you have enough of them, the only reason these threads don't have PR is because they are new If you look at threads that were started back in July they will all have PR!
if you go to the link sales, a signature link for an user with 1000 posts worth more than a link on a PR 5 website
There are quite a few threads that have gradually achieved PR over time. How much PR is passed through to the sites via links is a good question though. Not sure if Google's algo maybe disconts links from forums as opposed to other links from static pages...
dude ... thread pages get PR also. but i think sig links doesn't help a lot. but help is help {little or more}
I would think that many forums and blogs add rel=nofollow to signature links and outbound links, thus doing nothing for your backlink count. Additionally, if the links didn't have the nofollow attribute, I would think that if google sees hundreds or even thousands of backlinks from a single source, that it would discount that link, either giving credit for one link or giving no credit at all, IMO.
Its an easy 1 way link but this sort of linking can potentially slide into the category of black hat seo. At the moment it definitely counts i think. Its a different strategy and variation on the usual links like reciprocal, directories and so on. So it can also look fairly natural to search engines.
I'd say that it does have an effect with the more you post. Of course minimal, but like most people say anything counts.
Depends on the quality of that certain forum you are being linked from. A forum like DP (depending on your site's category) will bring more weight than blablaforum.
Forum posting works. You may not see them with Google, but Yahoo indexes them all. Either all of them or many of them. The traffic you get is what I really look for. Sometimes I look for the traffic more then others. Forums are not really a way to build traffic. Some say it is and thats all they do, but I prefer other strategies. Still it is a good incetive to get posting and sharing info with others.
Especially if you are posting some interesting information. If you regularly do this then other members here will look out for you. They will keep checking back with you to see if they are missing anything. Trust me, I have a few stalkers here following me around...LOL The upside is if you have some service or product to sell then they are usually onto you pretty quick. Col