Is Forum Link Building Good For SEO? Things You Need To Know

Do forum backlinks work for SEO? Are forum profile backlinks bad for SEO? Will they increase your website’s rankings on Google? Okay, so the first thing I’m gonna say is, wow, I can’t believe people are still building forum backlinks in 2021. But I’ve seen people paying good money for this on Reddit, on Upwork, and that’s exactly why I’ve written this article. So if you don’t want to totally screw up your website’s SEO with forum link building, keep reading this article till the end.

So in this article, you’re gonna discover exactly why building forum backlinks for SEO is insane, how to avoid them, plus why this is literally. And I mean literally one of the worst things you can do for your website. Hey, let’s make sure you stick around to the end, where I’ll cover the best link-building strategies in 2021 and how you can start using them right now.

It’s a Google penalty waiting to happen

So number one, building backlinks on forums is a Google penalty waiting to happen. And if you won a website and you want better rankings, you need to understand this bit. Okay, so Google specifically mentions on their Webmaster Guidelines, which is like a set of rules for website owners that you should not build backlinks on forums with over-optimized anchor text.

And what all this essentially means is that if you’re just going on forums, trying to build authority to your site by building backlinks from these types of websites. You’re wasting your time, my friend, and it could land you in trouble.

In fact, it could get your website either penalized, could get you deindexed, you could lose all your traffic overnight, and that’s a huge risk for your website. So the gods of Google may rain down terror upon you if you build links on forums. So just don’t do it, just stop.

And you may say, “Okay, but it’s on a really “high authority website and it’s definitely “worth something”. But no, 100% just stop, just don’t do it, because it’s not worth the risk. It’s not really valuable even though it may be a high authority website, and this is just not the type of links you want, you know.

This is why my clients pay me so much for link-building services, simply because there’s a huge difference between high-quality and low-quality links to your website. And one will get you amazing results on SEO. And one will be like building a straw hut in a hurricane and it’s definitely not worth the risk. You can visit this site if you are interested in buying backlinks online.

Difference between white hat and black hat link building

This is the difference between white hat and black hat link building, okay. If you’re building links with forums, that’s black hat, it’s dodgy, it’s spammy, and if you’re building links like I do, with cold email outreach, then that is a great way to get authorities to your site. And improve your website’s rankings without tanking your site overnight or doing anything naughty.

Now you may also think, right, what’s the worst that can happen. You build a few forum links, it doesn’t do anything. Okay! you move on to white hat link building. But at the same, this can go against you and it can go against you for a very long time.

So if you’ve got a spammy backlink profile with tons of forum links, then you may never recover from that. And you may get a penalty forever if you don’t do something about it. That’s why you have to invest in white hat link building the first time around and just forget forum link building totally. So in nutshell, link building can be heaven or hell for your website, and we’ll talk more about that in a second.

Yes, you will get caught

it’s just a matter of time, okay. So it’s a bit like the movie “Taken”. You’re taken, you know that they will find you, they will catch you, and it’s the same with Uncle G, okay. Big Google is gonna find you eventually because they can track your backlink profile. They can see where you’ve had backlinks from previously. And they can see all your history, and it’s built into their algorithm.

So it’s very smart, it’s smart enough to detect okay, how many links have you got, what types of links have you got, and are they authoritative, are they very spammy. And when it comes to building links on forums. Unfortunately, it’s very spammy for your website. It doesn’t look and it creates a poor link reputation for you.

And the problem is, as well, every link that you build leaves a footprint across the internet. And it’s very hard to hide this, okay. So even if you decide, okay, I’ll try forum link building then I’lltry other white hat link building methods later, this isn’t good for your site. Because it leaves a trail, there’s a footprint, Google’s algorithm can easily see that you’ve built low-quality backlinks in the past. And you really want to avoid this.

So yeah, that’s why I recommend investing in white hat link building from day one. Because otherwise, it’s just a matter of time before you get caught, and there’s no hiding once you’ve done it and building high-quality backlinks. And the problem is as well, that with forums, you know, who even posts on forums these days, right? It’s not 1990. I feel like most forums probably haven’t had a good post since 2015. And these are dead websites that have no active community most of the time, you know, most people have switched over to social media.

So just be very careful with the links that you build from day one. Forum links aren’t the right way to do it. And if you decide to go down this trail, it’s just a matter of time before you get a Google penalty or you’re penalized for the links you’ve built so far.

A Spammy Backlink Profile WIll Destroy Your Website’s Authority 

And that brings me to number three because link building is a bit like choosing where to live. Let me explain. So if you’re getting links from forums that have already been scammed by low-quality websites. Then that reflects badly on your backlink profile. It destroys your website’s link reputation, and in the eyes of Google, you’re gonna be kind of guilty by association.

Because if they see, okay, we’ve penalized loads of websites that are getting links from this forum already. And then you come along with your site and you get a link on there too, then that destroys your authority. It destroys your backlink profile, and it makes you look very spammy too.

So you have to be very careful where you get your links from, especially from day one. And the other thing is as well, that most forums have been spammed by low-quality sites. So for example, casinos, websites selling Viagra, gambling sites. These are all the types of niches that are gonna spam forums simply. Because they can’t get links from anywhere else, no one else wants to link from them.

So that’s why you have to be very careful with getting links from forums. Because it can be so detrimental to your website’s backlink profile. So it’s just like how you wouldn’t choose to live in the roughest ghetto of Mexico. You wouldn’t choose a spammy link neighborhood for your website. Now if building forum backlinks wasn’t bad enough when you do this, you’re pretty much spamming the internet. Because here’s the thing, right.

You Are Basically Spamming The Internet

Forums got destroyed by Mark Zuckerberg and cat memes on Facebook a long time ago. So if you go onto any forum now, it’s pretty much dead. And if you’re spamming it with your website and loads of keywords that you’re trying to rank for, then that’s very disrespectful to the person who owns the forum and you’re just kinda making the internet a worse place.

So from an ethical perspective, this is pretty much like walking into the forum owner’s house, trampling mud all over the floor, and then asking for a cup of tea afterward. It’s definitely not the most civil way to do things. And the other thing as well, this just isn’t ethical, right.

From a brand image perspective, if you’re spamming forums with your keywords, with your cover-optimized anchor text, then this reflects very poorly from you. And if you’re a website that’s gonna be around for the next five or 10years, then you wanna protect your website’s authority. You wanna protect its reputation, and spamming forums with links isn’t the best way to do that.

So it’s not good for PR, it’s not good for brand image. And it’s something I would avoid in terms of that too. Now if you want to grow your website with white hat link building, then you won’t want to miss a second of what I’m about to say.

Nofollow Links Are Useless Anyway (Almost)

So most of the time, links on forums are useless anyway because they’re usually nofollow. And if they’re nofollow, that means they’re not driving that sweet tasty link juice to your website and there’s no authority from them. This is the difference between dofollow and nofollow links.

Nofollow doesn’t pass any authority, they don’t add any value in terms of backlinks. And then dofollow links are gonna increase your website’s authority. They drive link juice from other sites, and therefore, they’re gonna help your ranking. So you have to be very careful which one you choose.

Now you might say, “But links from forums, “it’s gonna drive referral traffic to my website. “People are gonna click on the link.” But at the same time, forums are pretty much dead right now, okay. So 90% of the time, forums have died out a long time ago, nobody goes on them. And therefore nobody’s gonna is clicking the link that you just spammed in that forum anyway.

So essentially, getting backlinks from forums is kinda like the wrong place, wrong time. Sure, they were valuable 10, 15 years ago. But nowadays it’s so outdated. It’s such an old-school link-building technique, and it’s one you should definitely avoid. But building high-quality, authoritative links that actually get your website’s ranking on Google, is easy with the knowledge I’m about to share. So, three easy ways to build backlinks to your site under the skyscraper technique.