You might not be aware of how powerful your signature in community forums can be for SEO, networking and promotion. Not only might they entice someone to visit your website if they click, but they’ll entice search engines as well.
When you sign up for membership to community forums, you generally have a specific amount of signature space that you can add to each forum posting. Some sites will have rules and regulations about number of links as well as how many posts you need to have before you’re allowed to utilise this feature. The great thing is that for every post you make, your signature attaches and forum posts do get indexed by search engines.
Writing a Great Forum Signature
Keyword anchoring can definitely help the SEO for your website or blog. For instance, if you sell computer parts, you might choose to link that word to your site in your signature. Not only will you get visits from interested people who find your posts interesting or who happen to need computer parts but if you get a high number of posts on that forum, each post with your signature link in it contributes to your site’s page rank and your search engine placement for keywords. Don’t write anything misleading in the signature but trying to write an eye-catching signature can help you get clicks.
Should I Change My Forum Signature Regularly?
Some who are looking for the forum signature merely to entice visitors would suggest changing your signature often but others would say that this isn’t as wise from an SEO standpoint because you could lose rankings for your old search terms as the forum may change the posts in archives to represent your new signature.
Whatever you choose to do, it’s worthwhile to know that networking and promoting yourself in community forums online can work for you in multiple ways.
Have a most outstanding day.
Sean RasmussenAussie Internet Marketing
www.SeanSEO.com © 2008 - 2010
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Sean,
I haven’t used a forum signature as yet. I am a member of a couple of forums but I feel like I’m still trying to build relationships with the other members. I want to add something of value before I try to get anything out of being there. How do I know when is the right time to start using a forum signature, assuming I’m not in a forum where I can automatically start using one after a specific number of posts?
Also, using some keyword anchor text in my forum signature is an excellent idea.
Personally, I would have no hesitation to add your signature straight away Jazz, if you have a respectable site you have nothing to hide.
Hi Sean,
You’re right. I think I’ll take the plunge because I want to move forward. It’s time to try some new things to see if I can get some different results.
Great information Sean
Like Jazz I have not been very active and have not used a signature yet.
Thanks for answering her question as I was wondering the same thing.
Am I correct in thinking that if a forum is a closed forum, then we wouldn’t get any SEO link benefit, just the benefit from any traffic which happens to follow the link in our signatures?
I agree that it is important to closely read the terms of use for a particular forum before we start including links in our signatures. One sure fire way to get a forum offside is to start including links in a signature block when this is prohibited. First impressions are important.
I think that’s correct Tom. There are just as many forums that employ follow links as there are that employ no-follow.
I believe that if you enjoy using forums and you are a member of a high traffic forum, then it doesn’t matter whether whether you get any link juice as the traffic will be there.
You’re on the money there Tom. Closed forums won’t pass linkjuice, neither will nofollow sites. The benefit of being active in these types of forums is traffic from other users. If you build reputation within a niche forum and provide quality conversation, you will be very surprised at the amount of traffic that can be generated from your signature link.
Well now, this old dog has learned another new trick. I’d never considered using a forum signature for SEO. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever filled in the signature space with anything relevant on any forums I’ve been active on. But then again, at that point in time I wasn’t considering SEO.
I guess it’s time for me to get active on some forums and start utilizing the signature space.
Another little reminder for my Learn and Earn notebook. And something else to add to my online todo list which I’ll be keeping open in a tab in my browser so I can manage my time effectively. Did I get that all right, Sean?
A very interesting point here on the forum signature and certainly something that I was not aware of them having SEO advantages.
Thank you for this valuable tip
I learn something new everyday and like Jazz and Gee I believed that a community forum signature was something to put off until I gained more experience.
Thanks Sean for your answer to Jazz as I am further enlightened and like Jazz should take the plunge rather than just paddle on the edge.
Hi Isa,
You’re absolutely right. Taking the plunge and doing things we’re not comfortable with is the only way to move forward and achieve our goals. Thank-you for reminding me of this.
This is something which I definitely need to put more effort into as it has been so easy for the “I’ll do it later”, or as Isa says which I have more experience so that I put the correct information into there. There are just so many little componenets, which when they come together are so incredibly valuable and important! They all add up for good SEO.
Hi Sean,
I now know why it’s important to write a great forum signature. This is something I will need to spend time on to get it right.
Great article, thank-you.