Have you heard of forum link building and didn’t know what it was? In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about forum link building.
So, how to do forum link building? Get your site on websites like Reddit, Quora, and much more. You can identify relevant forums, build relationships, share valuable content, create helpful resources, participate in signature links, and monitor your backlinks. Backlinks from here are valuable, despite being mostly no-follow links, because this creates a natural link flow to your website.
The bottom line is links are one of the main ways Google and other search engines like Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, and others rank your website for credibility. In this article, you will find all the tips and tricks you can take to build backlinks from forums.
Let’s get into it.
What Is Forum Link Building?

Forum linking building is a strategy intended to increase the number of backlinks to your very own website from online discussion boards, aka other forums. This can be achieved by posting inside the appropriate threads and creating backlinks. This is also known as inbound links or links from other websites that point in the direction of your website.
These forum links are crucial for search engine optimization (SEO) because they indicate to search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing that other websites consider your content relevant and valuable. The more backlinks you create, the higher your website will rank amongst search engine results pages (SERPs).
Developing a link-building strategy through forums, blogs, newsletters, and other forms of content is a great way to bring awareness to your brand. It can help organically increase your Google analytics generating more traffic.
However, it is important to note forums do not have the same SEO value as before. Since newer, more “advanced” algorithms are continuously being adjusted and created, Google indexes only a tiny fraction of forum posts, meaning that Google can not index most links from forums.
How To Do Forum Link Building?
Identify Relevant Forums
There are hundreds of forum link-building sites available. The most popular sites include Quora, Reddit, Digitalpointforum, Microsoftanswers, Oracle, Stack Overflow, MySQL, and so on. Remember to be specific about your business.
You will need the help of search engines to find a quality forum that is related to your industry or topic. Browse and target your research to find the right audience where you can relate it back to your industry. More often than, the forum will already be filled with people asking the same question or topic you are looking for, and that is exactly where you want to be.
Build Relationships
After you have researched and targeted the specific forums you would like to use, I would refrain from promoting your business without any form of genuine interest. You must build relationships with other forum members. In doing so, you can bring value to the discussion forum and gain knowledge from other people inquiring about similar questions or ideas.
You can begin by introducing yourself, which is always a great way to enter new forums related to what you are looking for. Include who you are, your company’s mission, and why you are entering the forum. This can be for a nonprofit, a commercial real estate agency, marketing, sales, etc.
Participating in discussions and providing valuable information to establish yourself as an expert in your field. In exchange, this will help build trust with other members.
Share Valuable Content
When you decide to post on forums, understand that your content should always be valuable and relevant to any current discussions. In the long run, this will help establish yourself as a valuable asset to the community.
Although valuable content requires a social media strategy, it takes time, research, and understanding your target audience in order to promote a product, service, or brand. Social media marketing allows businesses to connect with their target audience more personally and interactively. This outcome can increase the chances of ranking higher in SEO if done correctly.
Create Useful Resources
To continue establishing yourself as an authority within your business niche, start by creating useful resources that can always be referred back to and create longevity. This will also be very crucial to get backlinks to your site.
Participate In Signature Links
Many forums will allow you to include a link to your website, known as the signature. Keep it short, simple, and straight to the point, and avoid spamming the forum. So that participating in discussions and spewing valuable information will increase your chance of other users clicking on the link in your signature.
Monitor Your Backlinks
You must monitor your backlinks to ensure they come from a relevant and authoritative source that provides a strong sense of credibility. You can use tools such as Ahrefs or Majestic to track your backlinks and remove any that are not from reputable sources. You want to avoid sources that are not reputable because long term, it will affect the validity of your site.
Types Of Forums
Dofollow Forums
Dofollow forums are online discussion boards that utilize the “dofollow” attribute on their links. The “dofollow” attribute let’s search engines know they should follow the link and pass on link equity to the linked website. An example of a dofollow forum is The Warrior Forum, an online community of internet marketers and entrepreneurs.
Nofollow Forums
Nofollow forums are the opposite of “dofollow” forums. They essentially tell search engines not to follow the link and not to pass on equity to the linked website. For example, Quora and Reddit.
However, it is important to note that using both these types of forums can be very beneficial in maintaining a good balance. The use of too many dofollow links can raise red flags, and too many nofollow links can make a website look a little less authoritative.
4 Tips To Keep In Mind
Healthy Link Building
Avoid black hat link building, a method of acquiring links to a website through manipulative or unethical ways like link farms or purchasing links. This can result in spammy backlinks, which are often low-quality links that do not provide any relevance to your website.
On the other hand, practice white hat link building, an ethical and legitimate way of acquiring links to your website. This can include social media marketing creating valuable content and informative content that other websites might want to link to.
A healthy backlink profile will generally include a mix of both internal and external links. Internal links are links that point to other pages within the same website, while external links are links that point to the website from other sites. A well-rounded backlinks profile will include a mix of high-quality, authoritative links. Also, organic-looking, diverse anchor text.
Use Anchor Text
Anchor text is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. It’s vital that you use keywords that are relevant to your website and discussion. In return, this will help search engines understand the context of the link and can boost your rankings overall.
Be consistent
We want you to be successful when using forums to link build. Consistency, like anything in life, is key to your success. This means engaging in discussions and posting quality content regularly.
You do not want to spend all your time on the forum, so it is wise to manage your time. Participating in any forum for around an hour or two each week should allow you to scale your domain authority and drive traffic to your website.
Be Respectful
Stay away from spamming or posting irrelevant content and instead focus on building relationships with other forum members. You might find great insight and expertise from another member that will improve your skill and effort to do forum link-building in the long run.
On the flip side, be prepared to receive rejection and harsh commentary, as it takes a while to get involved and really make yourself an expert to bring value to that specific community.
Create Partnerships
Creating partnerships or sponsorships with a popular forum in your niche can provide a number of benefits like many of the ones mentioned above. Increased visibility, credibility, high-quality backlinks, collaborations, and building relationships. Remember to approach partnerships and sponsorships with longevity in mind. Building genuine relationships and providing value will always be ideal for long-term goals.
Final Words
These tips can help you use forum link build effectively to attain backlinks to your website and improve your overall search engine ranking. Remember, it is crucial to understand that forum link building is not a get-rich-quick scheme, which will take a lot of time and effort. The more time and effort you put in, the better your chances of success. Start participating in discussions and adding value to each and every conversation you integrate or begin.
Overall, forum link-building is an effective way to build relevant links to your site. By identifying relevant forums, building relationships, sharing valuable content, creating helpful resources, participating in signature links, and monitoring your backlinks, you can ensure that your efforts to bring validity and a higher ranking status to your website can be a success.
Lastly, you can always contact a marketing agency that provides SEO services or digital marketing to help with your link-building efforts.