Using forums for SEO purposes can be a very good way to increase website ranking and to generate web site  traffic. Some people think that “Forum Posting” is a Blackhat SEO technique. If done properly and if done within the forums guidelines and rules, you will be within the Whitehat SEO realm and also add to your SEO efforts.

The most effective and SEO Friendly way to utilize a forum to increase you web sites SEO is to make good use of the forums signature feature. A forum signature shows up under every post you make in the forum. A signature can (in most cases) include 1-3 links to your website or sites. Adding a link in  your signature then posting is the most positive way to obtain backlinks from a forum. Simply making an account and posting a bunch of spam posts will get your account banned and will make you look like an idiot.

You can include links within some posts if it is on topic and does not violate the forums rules. I make posts sometime that are basically answere to Noobie questions, I simply add a link to an article or website that will answer their question. This is a widely acceptable way to add a link to an actual forum post. The safest way however is to use the signature feature.

To gain an SEO benefit from your forum links, the forum must be DOFOLLOW.

DOFOLLOW simply means that the links are followed by search engines like Google and will count as a valid back link to your website URL. Going out of your way to post links for SEO purposes within a NOFOLLOW forum is a waste of your time.

Here are the DOFOLLOW Forum Lists:

PDF: DoFollow Forums

Word Doc: Dofollow Forums

*Files above will open in new window. Files are provided in PDF and MS Word.