What Are Forum Backlinks? Are They Still Useful for Link Building?

In the earlier days of SEO, forum backlinks were extensively used for improving search ranking and website authority. However, with time, the algorithms improved, substantially reducing the impact of these backlinks for digital marketers. There are conflicting opinions on the usefulness of these backlinks these days.

While some experts suggest that they have become obsolete, others consider them to be still fruitful and yield advantages beyond SERP results. So, what is the truth exactly? Are these backlinks effective or we should rather focus on other strategies for link building? Let us explore this further-

What Do We Mean by Forum Backlinks?

Forum posting refers to links digital marketers place in discussion forums and digital communities to improve website performance. Marketers can add these links in a variety of locations as per the features and rules of the forum. The most common places to add these backlinks include:

User Profiles: In some forums, users have the option of including a website link to their profile page. Whenever visitors enter the profile, they easily spot the link and click on it.

Signatures: In other forums, the option to add forum links is present in the signature section of the posts. Users can include website links in their signature section. In this way, whenever users contribute their viewpoints in a discussion, other users can see the link to the website.

Within Posts: Sometimes users can embed links directly into their posts especially when they are sharing posts regarding useful resources or proprietary solutions.

Advantages of Forum Backlinks

If these backlinks are implemented well, they can still be invaluable for SEO performance and overall marketing strategy. Here are the key benefits:

Generate Referral Traffic:

One of the most notable benefits of forum posting is its capability to drive referrable traffic. When you consistently contribute at forums dedicated to particular niches, users who find your viewpoints engaging and useful might be tempted to click on your website and take a look. This can improve your engagement, reduce bounce rates, and enhance the rate of conversions.

Authority Building in Niche:

Consistently giving answers to particular questions and showcasing expertise in industry-specific forums improves credibility. With time, this can yield collaborations, business opportunities, and organic backlinks from credible websites.

Diversify Your Backlink Profile:

A genuine backlink profile consists of both nofollow and dofollow links. Since all links from the forum are generally nofollow links, they provide you an option to diversify your backlink profile. It is an effective way to make your backlink profile more genuine.

Wider Reach:

When other users in forums find your resources and contributions to be helpful, they may promote your website through industry publications, social media posts, and blogs. It is an organic way of expanding your reach and generating more high-quality backlinks.

Disadvantages of Using Forum Backlinks

While there are a few upsides, there are some risks as well associated with the community site links. It is important to be knowledgeable about both benefits and demerits before including forum posting in the SEO strategy. Let us learn about the demerits-

Strict Moderations in Forums

Credible high-quality forums ensure strict regulations against self-promotion and spam. Dropping your website links without any context or value can label your content as spam which can result in post deletion or account suspension.

Google Fines

Google has become more strict with link-building practices that are spammy and manipulative. Excessive utilization of forum links can put your website under the scrutiny of Google. If Google finds any website using low-quality forum links, bot-based link dropping, or manipulative anchor texts, it can downrank that website and even de-index it in some situations.

Damage to Website Reputation

In digital marketing, credibility and reputation is everything. Many forums are now outdated and do not employ a strict content moderation policy. Posting on such sites can be damaging to the overall reputation of the website, resulting in lower performance and business opportunities.

What Experts Suggest About Using Forum Backlinks?

If you are still confused about whether to use forum posting or not, you must know what experts suggest-

John Mueller (Google)

John Mueller, who is a Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, has reiterated multiple times that links from UGC content sites like forums are no longer effective or relevant for SEO performance. Over the years, his stance has not changed. Since it is coming from the Google employee himself, it is safe to assume that forums cannot directly improve your website performance.

Brian Dean (Backlinko)

In his detailed guide for link building, Brian Dean has clearly stated that forum links are low-quality links that do not provide any substantial value to the SEO performance. However, he has suggested that forum posting can still be utilized for referral traffic and building a network.

Neil Patel

One of the well-known modern SEO experts, Neil Patel has firmly advised against the use of spammy links in directories, communities, forums, blog comments, etc as it damages reputation. Instead, he advises online marketers to only focus on creating quality links from reliable sources.

Outright CRM

Outright CRM also suggests against the use of spammy forum links. It advises marketers to submit guest posts on reliable and niche-specific websites with high traffic. For example, if you have a tech-based business, you can connect with technology write for us websites with high DA/DR. By submitting authorities and highly-researched blog posts rich with insights, you can create genuine organic traffic, which is vital for lasting growth.

Conclusion

Thanks to changes in Google algorithms, SEO strategies have gone through significant modifications over the years. This has resulted in old strategies such as forum backlinks becoming outdated and ineffective. However, they can still be used strategically to network with niche-specific users and generate referral traffic. The blog explores the relevance of forum posting in today’s SEO strategies.