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Are forum signature links being penalized by Google?

by Danmarketman2012
17 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I noticed a post: http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-ppc-seo-discussion-forum/794763-forum-signatures-dangerous.html
suggesting that google does not like forum posts with signatures solely for the purpose of getting backlinks. If this is the case, how do we get good backlinks?
#forum #google #links #penalized #signature
  • Profile picture of the author dragas
    please can anyone explain to me how google can distinguish a natural forum signature from an artificial one ?
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by dragas View Post

      please can anyone explain to me how google can distinguish a natural forum signature from an artificial one ?
      They don't need to. They both suck equally.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Originally Posted by dragas View Post

      please can anyone explain to me how google can distinguish a natural forum signature from an artificial one ?
      (I'll translate "natural" into "what one should do")

      A little research would give you the answer...

      They do not like sig links that say stuff like "number one best in the world car seller"
      Emphasis on "number one best in the world"

      IMHO, it's not just sig links, although they mention them specifically, but all
      links. That's what they meant by anchor text. So, better to do
      "student loan tips" as opposed to "unbelievable best in the world student loan tips to
      help you pay off your loan quick easy."

      Also, when making posts, threads, or even articles, do not add some nonsense
      sentence that has no context of the paragraph. If in an article on student
      loans, you add a sentence with link that says, "college students can get
      good deals on travel to Europe," well, that's a tip off as well.

      Google publishes all this stuff. It's out there.

      Paul
      Signature

      If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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  • Profile picture of the author humbledmarket
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Danmarketman2012 View Post

    I noticed a post: http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-ppc-seo-discussion-forum/794763-forum-signatures-dangerous.html
    suggesting that google does not like forum posts with signatures solely for the purpose of getting backlinks. If this is the case, how do we get good backlinks?
    It doesn't hurt you if you don't abuse it. I've seen our own applications where we use several links naturally across a variety of forums and the site ranked well with a good Pr.

    However I don't suggest optimizing your keyword in the signature or having too many of such links. There is a measure of penalty after all the spam with forum links the past years.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael T.
      Forum signature links don't have so much weight...you better get some quality links from trusted domains.
      Signature

      Regards...Michael T.

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  • Profile picture of the author Moneymaker2012
    Forum signatures has been a great source of quality backlinks in the past but after the google updates now google does not prefer back link from forum any more, but still it's a good source to get direct traffic.
    Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author TomerN
    I don't use forum signatures as backlinks. Rather, I use them for traffic sources. And they're very, very good traffic sources.
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  • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
    Most people look at signatures the wrong way. They can be a goldmine for quality, targeted traffic.
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    • Profile picture of the author smodha
      Originally Posted by JSProjects View Post

      Most people look at signatures the wrong way. They can be a goldmine for quality, targeted traffic.
      Exactly this. Who cares about the backlinks when you're getting targeted traffic in your niche?
      Signature
      I Sell What People Want. The Money Is A Bonus..
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by smodha View Post

        Exactly this. Who cares about the backlinks when you're getting targeted traffic in your niche?
        ...again, your sig. is for apartments.

        That's got to be some targeted traffic on an IM forum.
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        • Profile picture of the author smodha
          Originally Posted by yukon View Post

          ...again, your sig. is for apartments.

          That's got to be some targeted traffic on an IM forum.
          I'm just trying out something different instead of the usual "Online Bingo, Play Online Bingo" sigs. you see.. Believe or not, I'm getting quite a few click throughs...

          When I have something IM related to sell, you'll see an IM sig. But for now, I'm happy to get rental enquiries for my apartment.
          Signature
          I Sell What People Want. The Money Is A Bonus..
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  • Profile picture of the author Danmarketman2012
    Thanks for all the replies!
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  • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
    Yeah, I've got hundreds posts from various niche forums that are more than a few years, and still bring in consistent traffic. One has brought in a few hundred people over the past 2 months and it's nearly 3 years old.

    It's fun looking at my traffic logs and seeing traffic coming from posts that I made as far back as 2008 in some cases. Many of the threads rank very well organically. So the traffic is coming from people searching in Google, stumbling on the thread, and clicking through a sig link.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dead Body
    Forum links are not bad.... they should used with sense...
    Signature
    free movies online
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  • Profile picture of the author dudeco
    They still have some link juice, just not what they did before. Can still be good for lower competition keywords. Use similar-match keywords though, and not necessarily exact match keywords, and watch the "over-hyped" sales pitchy as one of the earlier posters stated. Again, Google has flags they're looking for, and 8,000 forum links with the same exact long tail keyword will catch their attention.
    Signature
    If you're going to direct members to 'click the link in your sig' this is what they'll see.
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  • Profile picture of the author resetrsx
    Has anyone seen forum signatures penalized by Penguin 2.0 (as in your site lost ranking and you used this method primarily).
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    • Profile picture of the author PBScott
      Matt Cuts made some comment recently about how if you are giving out advice on how to game Google on Black Hat forums, your signature might get you penalized, I guess because it just perpetuates the spam, but I doubt they are penalizing linking in all signatures, more likely just devaluing them, but rumor has it signature links were worthless years ago already.
      Signature

      If you don't look at this => Really Funny Shirts <= you missed something in life

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