Value of Forum Link and Forum Sigs - Opinions

Buskerdoo · 01-23-2005, 09:59 AM

Ok, I see these statements all the time, but have not seen any proof. Let me know what you think.

Do Forum links have value?

Do Forum sigs have value?

When you respond, state if you have some proof one way or the other. I'll comment on my findings after I've read a few comments.

dave conz · 01-23-2005, 03:11 PM

No I don't have proof but I think it's obvious that forum/sig links have at least *some* value. The question is "how much?"

Common sense says the value is either declining now or the search engines will find a way to devalue them eventually. Any system which allows people to artificially create more links to their site will be undesirable to search engines.

awall19s brother · 01-23-2005, 05:14 PM

I agree with Google new blog spam blocking they are doing now I dont see it being long before they start applying this to forum sigs. I think they are just testing it out on blog spammers but will expand it to forum sigs soon.
Not to mention a sig has to share the Pr value of every link on that page including internal ones, so most forum signatures value is very minimal at best.

jstcrzyengh · 01-23-2005, 05:58 PM

Well, they will allow your site to be crawled I know that for a fact. I put one link in a message board one time to show some links to a guy and I have constantly been spidered. We will see what happens. If I pick up a PR1 I will let you know...

awall19s brother · 01-23-2005, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstcrzyengh

Well, they will allow your site to be crawled I know that for a fact. I put one link in a message board one time to show some links to a guy and I have constantly been spidered. We will see what happens. If I pick up a PR1 I will let you know...

Well that we know, but yeah thats one good thing is it gets your site indexed if its new. Thats about it really, at least in my opinion.

sem4u · 01-24-2005, 02:48 AM

I think they have little value in terms of getting your sites ranked but they go a long way to getting your site crawled if you don't have any other links.

dave conz · 01-24-2005, 07:25 PM

Here's a thing: Last year my best friend died and I needed to get a memorial page to the top of Google ASAP. I used my sig link here to do it - it took less than 24 hours. Not necessarily a high ranking (it was an unusual name) but very fast.

TanyaMartin · 01-24-2005, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buskerdoo

Ok, I see these statements all the time, but have not seen any proof. Let me know what you think.

Do Forum links have value?

Do Forum sigs have value?

When you respond, state if you have some proof one way or the other. I'll comment on my findings after I've read a few comments.

If they do, it would depend on the forum script and how it is setup.

**ToddW** · 01-27-2005, 04:05 PM

They are valuable, the value depends on the site jus like anything else.

randfish · 01-27-2005, 04:23 PM

To me the great value of forum signatures is not in what they do for the search engines, but what they do for us as individuals and members of a community. We can all see what sites the other members run, take a visit, etc.

I think it's a terrific way to be able to learn more about someone on the forums you respect, admire or just want to know more about. The traffic from click-throughs alone is worth it to me.

**ToddW** · 01-27-2005, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by randfish

To me the great value of forum signatures is not in what they do for the search engines, but what they do for us as individuals and members of a community. We can all see what sites the other members run, take a visit, etc.

I think it's a terrific way to be able to learn more about someone on the forums you respect, admire or just want to know more about. The traffic from click-throughs alone is worth it to me.

Double edged sword somewhat. You may spark an idea and competition from one of your sites listed in your signature by another board member, but by somewhat I mean you did afterall post your site in your sig

Buskerdoo · 01-30-2005, 12:15 PM

I think that sigs have value for:

-getting indexed
-if they are on relevant topic pages they can help in rankings. It takes more sigs than regular links.

How about links in the topic area of forums? what's their worth?

Brian · 01-30-2005, 12:23 PM

When I was on the phpBB support team I had a link to my old website in my signature. I would post roughly 50+ times per day. And, John as my witness, that signature helped give my old site a PR8.

Ichibanda · 02-05-2005, 11:10 PM

Along with what others have stated here so far that the sig links will help you get spidered faster etc. I have also found that I get traffic to my site from the forums I post in. Especially if I focus on helping people out and giving advice. I get a few people comming to my site on a daily basis from my postings in various forums.

Any of you get traffic from the forum sig file itself?

Thanks
Ichibanda

awall19s brother · 02-06-2005, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ichibanda

Any of you get traffic from the forum sig file itself?

Thanks
Ichibanda

i do get some yeah, although most just click out of curiousity and leave just as quick, but there have been a few from the forums who have stayed for smetime with more than 1 page view.

Johan007 · 02-07-2005, 04:09 AM

My gift-ideas-shops.co.uk is only linked from forums and is my experiment.

It did ok in Google but its been hit very hard in the last 6 months. I still managed a sale or two (£30 over xmas £0 for Jan) possibly from people visiting directly.

I don’t know if its Google filtering forums out or because there is a redirect links being added.

I still recommend it as a form of free marketing and depending on the forum it does work.

Dave Hawley · 02-07-2005, 04:18 AM

IMO, there is no harm in forum sigs, but they likely have little more than click value and being indexed. PR is a "unique democratic vote", so at best you get some value from 1 sig per forum. Perhaps not even that as you are voting for yourself.

Buskerdoo · 02-09-2005, 01:09 PM

Thought I'd bring this up again.

If you have a link in the body of your forum message (not recommended by any means), does it have more weight than a forum sig?

losangel27 · 02-17-2005, 09:18 PM

i dont think it has pagerank value, but does it have value as an keyword rich inbound link? and how much value does links from the same forum bring?

toddieg · 02-18-2005, 05:25 PM

the new msn search engine is showing lots of forum sigs that come up as links to my sites.

i actually just started a forum today to see if there was any interest in people swapping forum sigs instead of links...

(i don't want to sound spammy, but the link is in my sig file)