Forum backlinks are among the top link building method. But you'll see that not many SEO link builders are using it as it's also the toughest links to get. Read this article to know some of the secrets and tricks behind building links on Forums.
Steps
Find forums that relate to your niche.
You can do this by using keywords and Google operators.
- For example, if you need to find a forum in a ‘dating niche’, then search in Google as ‘Dating inurl:forum’. What will happen is; this query will search for dating related sites that has ‘forum’ in the URL and it will take you directly to the forum page of the particular URL you select from the Google.
Find websites.
Make sure the websites you find are suitable for you to build forum links and click on it. Note that you may also find other sites in between that would point you to other real forum meetings. Skip it.
Read the forum rules.
This is because generally, every forum board has different layouts and different positions. Hence, browse throughout the site. One of the places where you can find it is 1. Inside the main forum threads as sticky posts, you’ll 1st PM that you will get from Forum Admins, at the bottom of the footer, etc.,
Register yourself.
Do this by clicking on the ‘Register’ or ‘Sign up’ button. It will be usually at top right or at below the header or somewhere else.
- Remember, forums have been one of the top backlink building source for SEO masters and Forum boards intentionally keeps the ‘Register’ button at different places to avoid spam registrations.
Confirm the registration.
Confirm the registration by going to your mailbox. You’ll get the mail to the mail address that you have entered while registration. Remember that at times, the mail will be delayed due to some scenarios like server congestion, manual verification, etc.,
Wait for the administrator.
Even after verifying the mail, you may be put on waiting queue till Admin manually changes your membership status to ‘live’. It may take from 5 minutes to indefinite time depending on the admin’s availability.
Read the rules again.
Before posting, read the rules again. This is mandatory. Almost all the forum boards share the same IP banned list, that is, if your IP address has been banned on one forum board, you’ll be automatically banned on other forum boards too.
Post.
After reading the rules, you’ll know when and how to make your first post. To control the spamming activity, forum boards has the toughest rules on the internet and even it has two type of moderation- auto-moderation and human moderation.
- Start posting carefully only after analysing all the rules related to the forum, related to the link, related to the thread category you are selecting to post, etc.
Build Links.
There are two type of links in forums: signature links and post links.
- When you enter your links in the signature field which you’ll usually see in the ‘user control panel’ menu at the top. Those are called signature links. They’re constant and will be same in all the posts it appear and it’ll be easier to post links. You may never be able to be found in a forum board if you have an access to signatures. First, check ‘user cpanel’ and find the ‘signature’ tab. If you don’t, search threads using the search bar available on forum board with the keyword ‘signature’. Then, read all the postings to know where and how to use signature if it’s available. Understand that some signatures allow either html tags or bb codes or nothing. These may vary.
- When you post links manually within the posts you write in threads, these are called as ‘Post links’. Most of the forums has formatting options and so you can select the keyword you want to post link on and select the ‘URL’ option at top and enter the url you want to link to; you can also have a naked urls within the post, but these all again depend on the forum sites you are posting at.
- Signature and post links have advantages and disadvantages.
Tips
- As forum boards easily ban anyone they think as spam, it’s advisable for you to use a fake IP address till you master the technique of forum link building.
- Mostly, the posts you make on introduction thread will not be counted and so don’t waste time on those.
- To find if a forum site allows a signature or link, you can quickly go through the popular discussions and browse all the pages to know if any links available either within the posts or signatures. If you don’t find any, avoid the forum site and move on to the next.