Signature Links as Backlinks?

[E07.NET]

What is your thought on this?

Can signature links be used for backlink purposes?

If YES, how effective is it?

 

[jesse pitt]

I think It is very much effective method for getting backlinks from your signature and hope you have been using this method already. Didn't you get any result.?

 

[Ashish92]

effective method and worth a try but you have to keep in mind the dofollow and nofollow stuff.

 

[David]

As long as it's on a site where people are active and the link can be seen without logging in, then yes, it can be effective, even if it's nofollow, but dofollow is preferable for purposes of a backlink.

 

[tunescool]

i have thousands of backlinks from just forums i regularily post on, code sites, support forums

 

[Heart]

Google has specifically said it will penalize forum signature backlinks that don't relate to the content.

For example, if your post is five sentences long and is about animal cruelty then your signature link leading to your tech blog is useless.
I must correct myself. I can't specifically remember if Google said penalize or simply disregard the links that don't relate to the content.

They also said a lot about quality.
So if your post is three sentences and is about tech, your signature link is not as effective as a signature link that is paired with a post that is let's say...Three paragraphs long.

 

[GeekStep]

Signature links can be backlinks to your site. However, most forums insert a 'nofollow' attribute to the signature section, so whatever links you insert in your signature, would be accompanied with a nofollow attribute that search engine would ignore.

Example, <a href="http://example.com" ref="nofollow">Check out my site</a> If you place a link in your signature, it would be automatically be accompanied with the nofollow attribute.

 

[Heart]

Example, <a href="http://example.com" ref="nofollow">Check out my site</a> If you place a link in your signature, it would be automatically be accompanied with the nofollow attribute.

Signature links use

[url=http://www.blah.com]blah[/url]

There is no way to set a no or dofollow tag in forum signatures aka BBCode

 

[Ashish92]

Example, <a href="http://example.com" ref="nofollow">Check out my site</a> If you place a link in your signature, it would be automatically be accompanied with the nofollow attribute.

Signature links use

[url=http://www.blah.com]blah[/url]

There is no way to set a no or dofollow tag in forum signatures aka BBCode

that's what we see and it actually is. But bots work in a different way. they work through indexing the links and when indexing takes place the dofollow and nofollow comes into action.

 

[Heart]

The do follow and no follow abilities are set by the administrator. It can be done for usergroups so we don't have control over it.

 

[Ashish92]

that everyone knows right ?. I am confused by what point you are trying to convey through your last 2 posts.

 

[GeekStep]

@Heart

There is a way, and there will always be. Search engines DO NOT read BBcode. They read plain HTML. Yes you may have seen it as BB code as you stated.

[url=http://www.blah.com]blah[/url]

With the SAME code as above, search engine sees this

<a href="http://www.blah.com">blah</a>

To put it in layman terms, the word 'yes' means the same in both English and French but however, 'yes' is a English word and 'oui' is a French word. Both gives the same meaning.

With a good forum setting, you can set an automatic 'nofollow' in 'rel' attribute for any EXTERNAL links so the code above

[url=http://www.blah.com]blah[/url]

would be seen as

<a href="http://www.blah.com" rel="nofollow">blah</a>

In short, there IS way to set a no or dofollow tag in forum signatures because BBcode is not a web language.

 

[Heart]

You are not understanding what I'm saying.
I know that BBCode is read as HTML. BUT the truth is is that USERS don't have control over this. The admins control whether something is dofollow or nofollow - NOT the user. This is undebatable, it's a simple mechanic truth based on the current versions of forum software.

To answer OP:
Signature links are only good if the post relates to the link.
Having a link to a tech site does NO good if you post in a thread about fluffy cats, or colleges, or laser tag.
In fact it will count against you or simply be ignored.
^This comes from Matt Cutts & Google, so there is no debate here either.

 

[GeekStep]

In my first reply I have never mentioned that user has any control. In fact, I said that it can serve as backlinks but most forums will automatically insert 'nofollow' in all links of the signature section. So indeed, it won't be a backlink, user has no control but could simply insert links, either having an 'rel' attribute there or not is up to the forum administrator.

Signature links can be backlinks to your site. However, most forums insert a 'nofollow' attribute to the signature section, so whatever links you insert in your signature, would be accompanied with a nofollow attribute that search engine would ignore.

 

[Heart]

I see that now.
It originally sounded like you were implying users had control over it when you mentioned forum settings.

I think at this point the OP's question has been answered.

 

[GeekStep]

Most of the forums have 'nofollow' enabled anyway in signatures. As for the website details in the members' profile, most do not have 'nofollow' enabled.

 

[Ghost]

Oh so the profile pages have dofollow? Hmm, that's pretty cool, but that's not good for the numerous forum owners who don't know that!

 

[GeekStep]

Oh so the profile pages have dofollow? Hmm, that's pretty cool, but that's not good for the numerous forum owners who don't know that!

By default, all links in the forum do not have nofollow enabled. Unless if you download a plugin which will convert all links like posts, profile details and signatures.