What is Forum Posting in SEO? Types, Advantages and Its Important Rules for Link Building

Participating in online discussions at several forums on a specific topic is known as forum posting. The goal is to direct attention to your website by including a link in your forum signature. A forum is a website designed for online discussions. People come here to ask questions, dispel their doubts, and share their knowledge on a particular subject. If it’s a pet forum, users will talk about pet nutrition, care, behaviours, and other pet-related topics.

What is Forum Posting in SEO?

A forum is a type of online discussion site where you may publish your content or a link to your website and gain traffic from it. You must respond to other forum posts or ask inquiries here. When you reply to a forum thread, you can include a link in your signature. To be more specific, a signature is a space at the bottom of each comment you submit where you can write a little introduction and include a link to your blog or website.

This article will discuss forum posting and why it is important in SEO. Then we’ll go over the many types of posts you may make on forums and how to do them correctly.

These days, a few popular forum posting platforms are:

1. Stackoverflow (forum for developers)
2. Quora (a forum in Q & A format)
3. Ubuntu discussion forum (for Ubuntu users)
4. XDA Developers on Reddit
5. Blackhatwolrd Warrior Forum (for blackhat SEO)

Types of Forum Posting

Today, there are mainly four major types of forums available online:

• Traditional Forum

Traditional Forum is also known as message boards. These are the typical forums that host discussions on related topics using “threads” and “sub-forums.” A recent example of this kind of forum is Reddit.

• Private Forum

Traditional forums either 1) need a personal invitation to join, or 2) need to pay a subscription fee each month to get access of these forums. The public is not permitted to access these forums.

• Q&A websites

A variant of the conventional forum that enables users to post queries and receive responses from other site users. A good example of a Q&A website is Quora.

• Social media groups

On social media platforms like Facebook, there are both open and closed discussion groups that are frequently created around a shared interest (i.e. parenting, dieting, fashion, etc.). These Groups can be public or private and you may need to pay the admin to join these private groups of social media.

Important rules to do Correct Forum Posting for SEO

Before we get there, you should be aware that each forum you join will have its own set of rules and guidelines to follow. There are some universal guidelines that will apply to almost every forum you join. Here are a few of the most important rules to remember:

1. Do not put the URL of your website on the forum to get traffic from it. Even if you have the best content, using a link rather than your URL will prevent you from being ranked for that term.
2. Try to include useful information in your response to benefit the readers. People can read your responses if they wish to find out more about anything. That will also be beneficial.
3. Always respond to a post with as much detail as you can. Avoid writing a response that reads like advertising.
4. Try to provide thoughtful responses. Any visitor who has a question can get all the information they require here. Good responses always draw people in and give them the confidence to do additional research. Before responding to other forum users’ postings, be sure you have done enough research.
5. Don’t publish insulting or personal remarks about others. You will be kicked off the forum if you do that.
6. There are strict rules in many SEO communities. You cannot spam the forum or promote other websites there, either. You’ll need to prioritize participating in constructive debates on the internet forum.
7. Multiple postings of the same content on the same thread are occasionally prohibited. If you’ve already posted on one of the topics, you may post related links to other topics.
8. Your “display name,” “about me,” and website all serve as sound signatures that help to define your identity. People will be able to believe what they read from your posts because it will be clear that you are serious about what you’re doing there.
9. What should your goal be if you want to achieve a high rank in the SERPs for the search keyword you’re targeting? What does the searcher hope to find? Keeping your forum discussions on topic will make it easier for people to grasp what you have to offer. It can be challenging for Google to assess how relevant your postings are if you consistently stay away from certain topics.
10. Don’t actively advertise your goods or services when responding to posts on a forum. Avoid promoting your own company and bringing up the other members in conversation. You’ll be kicked off the forum for it.
11. Ensure that the information in your forum postings is original and of high quality so that Google can understand what you’re doing there.
12. On the forum, avoid posting hate speech and using vulgar language. On the forum, hate speech and vulgar language are not permitted.

How to find the best Forum websites for SEO?

You must discover the appropriate forums if you wish to use them to build links. Here are some ideas about where to look for relevant forums:

• Search on Google by relevant keywords

One of the best resources for finding forums is Google. Simply enter “forum” after any terms pertaining to your industry in a search engine. then check the search engine results page to see what appears. There are probably forums regarding these keywords because they are ones that you should think about ranking for.

You might also conduct in-depth keyword research if you have the software or tools such as SEMRUSH, AHREF etc. to do so. You may get some inspiration from here for forums to join. However, forum link creation does not always require the use of Ahrefs or other SEO tools.

• Search websites related to your industry

A fantastic technique to find out whether other websites in your field list any forums is to check them out. On their websites, businesses frequently indicate the online forums where they participate.

This method can also be used to find websites and blogs that are important. Once you’ve identified a few, check to see if they have any forums that you may join.

• Use Social Media

Another excellent resource for finding appropriate groups and discussions is social media. For instance, you could look up “#digitalmarketing” in a Twitter search to see what results are returned. In order to check if they participate in any forums, you could then look at the profiles of those who are tweeting about digital marketing and join the conversation.

You can interact with others in your field by posting on social media. They frequently are delighted to provide any relevant forums in which they participate. You can develop partnerships and expand your business by participating in these forums.

How to check forums for “Do-follow” links?

Finding out if these forums provide do-follow backlinks is the next step. Since they wouldn’t be worth your attention if they didn’t,

Two methods exist for checking the forum:

• Inspect link

Using the “Inspect” feature of Google Chrome, you may check whether the forum’s links are do-follow. This is how it goes:

Find a post with links on the forum in question first.  Then, while still hovering over a link, right-click it and select “Inspect” from the menu that appears. The key to using this technique is that you’ll be provided with the URL for the link along with all of the HTML code.

If a link is no-follow, its HTML code will include rel=”nofollow,” and if it is do-follow, you won’t see rel=”nofollow.”

• Use a relevant Browser Plugin

Another option is to use Google Chrome and add a browser plugin that highlights do-follow links.

First, download Automatic Backlink Checker from the Chrome Extensions page (it is free). Visit the forum you wish to check after that.

All links on a given webpage are highlighted using two different colours by Automatic Backlink Checker. No-follow links are represented by red colour. Do-follow links are represented by the blue colour.

This approach is quicker and easier than utilising the “Inspect” option, which is why I prefer it. But only use what makes you feel most at ease. Neither option is a poor one.

What are the Advantages of Forum Posting in SEO?

Posting on forums has a variety of benefits, some of them are as follows:

1. The primary and most obvious advantage of posting to forums is traffic creation. Talk about anything that interests you or someone else is being discussed in these forums at any given time.
2. As a result of consistently participating in a forum posting, you will acquire a large number of high-quality backlinks and improve your website’s position in search results.
3. The benefit of joining forums is that you can learn a lot about the subject matter you are discussing there.
4. Your writing talents will advance through forum posting.
5. You can better grasp the needs and issues of people in a particular area by participating in forums. Then you can try to address those problems and meet those demands with your own solution.

Why is forum posting essential for SEO?

First, you may gain a bunch of different backlinks for your website and also drive traffic to it, which is why forum posting is important for SEO. If a topic isn’t generating much traction in the search engines, focusing your forum postings on it will increase traffic.

Posting on forums is one of the off-page SEO strategies because it enables you to obtain relevant backlinks from reputable forums. This is crucial for raising the authority of your website and the number of visits to it.

Conclusion

Making use of SEO while promoting yourself on forums is a terrific idea. The internet is filled with a huge amount of forums. All you need to do is choose which ones are most crucial to your organization. Starting a forum post is quite simple, and it doesn’t take much time either. Start now to start enjoying the benefits.