It is a backlink, because any link to anywhere is a "backlink" However, it is also a NoFollow back-link so there won't be any SEO value in them It helps bring in more direct traffic + get your site indexed, but other than that; not much use.
Sure it is. Although it has little to no value it is still a backlink. There is much debate on how much juice these signature links pass, but I would not count on them alone to give high rankings.
It can be useful if the forum where your sig is gets a lot of traffic (like DP) - not sure they offer much SEO value though
The only use for it is a fast way for the search engine to notice you other than that its garbarge thats why I do not have my other sites in my signature.
I disagree with all who are saying it has no PR value and it is nofollow link , It is a normal link i use a tool to check pages no follow links http://www.quirk.biz/searchstatus/ Code (markup): and it is a follow link a no follow link has a attribute called rel="nofollow" in it download that plugin and check yourself
Who tell you that sig on forums has no linked juiced? Of course it helps a lot specially on improving SERP.
If its a Follow link or a no follow link don't matter yahoo picks up no follow links. Google will pick up follow links. And yes it does have value. When the spiderbots or crawlers find your link they will follow it.
@ M3rC nofollow links also has SEO value. If you heard from SEO experts about no-follow having no link juice then they just lied to you. Man be practical just do not believe someone blindly. And most forums has dofollow links. DP has too.
Thanks a lot to all those who gave an insight on what are backlinks. I finally understood the concept
if u post ur link anywhere in the net.that will be the ur backlink.bt for indexing google dependes upon the higher page rank backlinks.
if your link anywhere on the net,that will be the ur backlink and considered as vote for your site depend upon quality of the link, your website ranking boosts. Eg. If the links from .edu sites and .gov site the back link will have more valuear than other back links.
If it has little or no value it is always good as some of the people in the forum might find your blog /website interesting . So you get returning visitors.