Forums seem like a forgotten name, however, if you look at them from a marketing perspective, you’ll find that they’re still very popular among SEOs.
Why?
Well, simply because Forums are a wonderful platform for link building which paves way for accomplishing your SEO goals.
You can easily create forum backlinks and get more traffic to your website.
However, the question that might be confusing you is what are forum backlinks exactly and how can they help with SEO? Well, that is what this article is about.
In this article, we will discuss everything about forum backlinks and the help they are to accomplish your SEO goals.
What are Forum Backlinks?
Forum backlinks are the links, whether no-follow or do-follow that you take from different forum sites by placing them on your profile, forum posts and comments on other forum posts. You can even place the links in your forum signature.
The placement of the links on forum sites is essential as that decides whether the link would be no-follow or do-follow. So, when you’re working on building forum backlinks, you should always focus on link placement to meet your SEO goals.
Are Forum Backlinks Good For Your Website?
Forums had become very popular around 1994. People conversed and discussed topics at length on forums. With newer social media channels, the popularity and use of forums have declined to a certain extent, yet they’re an efficient channel for SEO and marketing.
While 65% of the digital marketers think that link building is the hardest part of their jobs, forum backlinks are still seen as an easy and quick way for the purpose, and creating them comes with multiple benefits.
Build Brand Identity
A forum site is an easy way to make your website more visible and create a brand identity. You can do that by adding your website to your forum signature and talking about it on your forum profile or through your forum posts.
Alternatively, you can just be natural and discuss different industry-related topics on the forum. You could be initiating a topic or simply taking part in a discussion or answering other people’s queries and questions.
Whatever you do, it shows you as a knowledgeable person and people become interested in knowing you more closely. This will make them explore your website and that’s how you’ll build an identity for your brand.
Drive Traffic to Your Site
When you create forum backlinks, you are creating the scope of having people come back to your website. Forums are spaces that have a specific niche audience that relates to your business niche and industry.
So, you get a targeted audience on a single platform and you can easily drive them to your site by promoting your services, products, and business as a whole through forum backlinks.
However, when you are creating such backlinks, be sure that you don’t violate the forum guidelines. You don’t want to simply put your links anywhere and spam the forums. Instead, be strategic in link placement and post the links only where it is relevant.
You can create your own forum posts. When the target audience will see something relevant, even on your profile, they’ll be intrigued to find more details and that will bring traffic to your website.
Build Valuable Relationships With Influencers
A forum is a space where you can connect with people of like tastes and interests. So, you can take it as an opportunity to connect with influencers and have a valuable relationship with them which works for the benefit of both, the influencers and your business.
You can enter into an arrangement or business relationship wherein the influencers promote your website and give you backlinks on their pages and blogs for a specific commission. This way you’ll create more scope for backlinking and growing your business.
Gain More Authority in Your Niche
Forum backlinks are a straightforward way to gain more authority in your business niche by directly providing the users with what they’re looking for.
When you look through a specific niche forum, you find out what the target audience is seeking in terms of new products and services. You can go through their discussions, answer their questions, and come up with solutions that will actually work out for your target audience.
When you come up with exactly what your target audience is seeking, you will have more authority over the competitors and your footing in your industry niche will help you reach business success.
New Ideas For Your Blog
Forums are an easy way to generate new ideas and content for your blog. When you go through forums for creating backlinks, you work on relevant and niche-specific content. This content can be helpful for your website blog as well and you can bring traffic to the blog through the forums.
Additionally, you can go through forum discussions and know the questions your target audience is raising. Once you’re aware of the queries and doubts, you can create practical guides and tutorials and post them on your blogs. Furthermore, you can create forum backlinks to make those blogs reach the target audience.
As you can see in the above screenshot, there is a question asked by a user in Google Webmaster Forum, I can simply go there and link a related article from my blog (in this case it will be: https://5minutesseo.com/seo/are-redirects-bad-for-seo/).
Or if I don’t have a related article on my blog then if it’s a topic that seems to have search demand as well, I can write the article, publish it & then answer in the forum & link to my article.
With all these practices, forums are a powerhouse for content generation and you can drive excellent traffic to your blogs by publishing relevant and converting content.
How to Get Do-Follow Forum Backlinks: A Step-by-Step Approach
Now that you know how helpful forums are in SEO, you definitely want to know how to create forum backlinks.
Here, the essential thing is to get do-follow backlinks as no-follow backlinks would not be of much use and benefit. The question is how to get do-follow forum backlinks.
Well, it’s quite an easy process. Read on for a detailed step-by-step explanation of the procedure to get do-follow forum backlinks.
1. Find a Forum Relevant to Your Niche
The first and foremost step is to look for forums that are relevant to the industry niche in which you’re working. You need to keep it relevant so that you can post the links without spamming and be assured that you’re connecting with your target audience.
The question is how would you find a relevant forum? Well, we know some brilliant ways.
Google Search Strings
The Google search box is your best friend to search for forums. However, here, you cannot put simply the search terms. You need to use different Google search strings such as:
“keyword+forum” or “keyword+discussion board”Putting in such search strings or their other variations helps you easily find out relevant forums. Moreover, you can create your customized Google search operators to improvise your search and increase the scope of finding forums of your industry niche.
Use SEMrush
SEMrush is an excellent tool that meets all your SEO and digital marketing needs. With features such as brand monitoring, advertising research, etc., you can easily find relevant forums and start promoting your website on those forums.
You can also use competitor analysis tools on SEMrush, find out the forums that your competitors are targeting, and use those forums for promoting your brand.
2. Check if the Forum Offers Do Follow Links
Once you’ve found the relevant forums, you need to check if they are worth your time or not. This can be figured out by checking if the forums allow to follow links or not. Now, you can check that in two different ways.
Inspect the Link
You need to check the HTML markup of the link by inspecting that link. Simply find a link, right-click and choose inspect from the drop-down menu. Check the HTML markup. If it shows “rel=do follow”, the link does follow and you can proceed with the forum for backlinking.
Use a Browser Extension or Link Analyzer Tool
There are different browser extensions to check if a link is do-follow or no-follow. The extensions simply highlight the do-follow links. You can use any extension available on any browser or any other tool for link analyzing.
Some tools and extensions that are good are NoFollow, Mozbar, Link Analyzer, etc.
3. Earn Do Follow Links From Selected Forums
Once you know the forums that are relevant and usable, it’s time to start earning the links. You can get forum backlinks through your forum profile, signature, posts, and comments.
Be sure to create a great profile and you can insert your website link in the relevant section. Next, create a good forum signature that will go with all your posts and comments. Adding a link to the signature is great for earning backlinks.
Finally, start posting and commenting by taking part in discussions. Keep your posts and comments relevant so that you’re in line with the forum rules and regulations.
While doing this, keep checking that the links are still active and fix the broken links if you find them so as to not affect the SEO of your website.
You can also filter & get dofollow forum links with the help of SEMRush:
Are You Ready to Start Earning Forum Backlinks?
Forum backlinks are indeed a great way to enhance your SEO and create a name for your brand. With the strategy followed well, you can easily benefit from more website traffic, better relationships with customers and other businesses, and increased brand following. Following the strategy is easy.
Hopefully, this article served as a useful guide in creating an understanding of what are forum backlinks and you’re all set to start earning such backlinks following the process explained above.
