Is Forum Link Building a Waste of Time in 2018?
-
Hi there, this is a general question about link building strategies in 2018. It actually relates to reports derived from the link building audit tool on SEMrush, so forgive that. We use Moz as well, it's just that we happen to be working in SEMrush for link analysis.
Basically, the audit tool looks at our links and our competitors' links. It has come back with a number of 'opportunities' for link building and I'm questioning the value of many of them, in 2018. Many of the 'opportunities' the tool is suggesting we explore include answering forum questions on places like Reddit, Quora, etc. The tool has been good at identifying topical threads which might hold promise (a very specific branch of legal services) but most of the threads are 3 - 8 years old. To answer them, I would need to muster someone with expertise to post a relevant answer.
So, obviously, my question is does anyone think there is any value in this sort of link building in this day and age? I really think our greatest value will be in guiding their content strategy and looking for content creation opportunities on high authority sites.
Thoughts?
-
You might be able to get some highly relevant referral traffic from forums, so forum links aren't completely useless.
But as Logan and Martijn said, if you are doing this type of link building purely for SEO reasons, then your time is definitely better spent elsewhere.
Cheers,
David
-
Can only confirm this, are there even forums out there still where you can get links without a nofollow? Then I'll start spam... OK nevermind ;). It's dead.
-
Thanks, Logan.
I always wonder why tools like SEMrush tout themselves as DIY 'all in one' solutions and then mislead by providing these sorts of 'false opportunities.'
Thanks for confirming my instincts!
-
David,
This type of link building has been dead for a long time. I'd definitely recommend spending your time elsewhere. Your time will be better spent creating great content.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
UK Times Pay wall effect on links?
Hi all Our PR agency has obtained a few inbound links from the UK's Times website. This is a great website with a very high DA, however they have a pay wall. My question is does the paywall counteract the efficacy of the links into our site? It would be good to know because if they aren't having the desired effect on rankings then I'll ask our PR agency to focus their efforts on other national newsapers. Thanks
Link Building | | gavinr
Gavin0 -
Link building
I keep sending personal emails to website asking for a link form them but every one says no how do other website get so many links to there website whats the best software to use
Link Building | | homesandindustrial0 -
What is the best white hat seo link building strategy?
My goal is to build links that comply with Google's Quality Guidelines. I am wondering what is the best way to approach webmasters or bloggers about submitting guest posts or writing content. I have done a competitive analysis, and have a list of potential link sources, but I am not sure what approach to take next. Any advice or strategy would be appreciated.
Link Building | | djlittman0 -
Link Detox and Link Removal
I have a question about which links to remove after running a link detox from Link Research Tools. First a little back story. I had had an SEO company link building for one of the websites I own. But I have recently stopped working with them. In the last month my rankings have near dropped off the charts. I have just recently gotten access to Google webmaster tools and noticed an unnatural link warning from back in March. So yesterday I ran link detox and it reported 19 toxic links, 120 suspicious links, and 24 healthy links. It's rather obvious that I should remove all of the toxic links. They all from sites that have been deindexed by google. But my question is a about the suspicious links. What should my criteria be for removing them? Am I better off removing them all and leaving my site with only 24 healthy links or should I personally comb through them and remove only the worst of the worst so that I leave my site with a few more links? I'd really like to get the site ready to resubmit to google as soon as I can. Thoughts? yyCOf.png
Link Building | | CobraJones950 -
Links Building from contractors on eLance.com
Hi, I never hire somebody to create link building to point to our sites. On eLance.com you can hire a SEO contractor to build link our your domaine. New to SEO, is worth it to do so? Is there things I should should be careful about? Things I need to clarify before hiring somebody? Things I need to confirm or ask before hiring such contractors? Most of those ''SEO Expert'' are from India and some have perfect ratings on this site. I have 2 eCommerce sites and we only have a average of 3 sales a day. I can't afford price companies are asking in North America. For a lot less, eLance maybe the solution for our home base business. What is your advice on this? Thank you BigBlaze
Link Building | | BigBlaze2051 -
Link building for eCommerce website (Software Products)
Hi. We have two websites, where we develop extensions and templates for various CMS. Thats like , we have around 500+ specific products pages now and we have optimized each and every product page with natural SEO techniques. No over at all. Im very specific about it. But I want to know, how to make a link building plan for those sites. Can anyone help ?
Link Building | | mageclub0 -
Which link should I use for link building?
I have an article which have high rank on Google. But recent, I use mod rewrite url so this article have new url. old: mywebsite.com/c1/p-1 new: mywebsite.com/c-e/p-1 Now, google is indexing old url. I want to ask when I build linking to my site, which link should I use for link building? I should build linking for new url or old url. Thanks
Link Building | | sonzin13040 -
Link Building Management Tool That Syncs Sweetly With Google Analytics
Hi, I would like a link building management tool that syncs with Google Analytics, so that I can Easily see traffic referrals from link acquired sites Easily see traffic from keywords that were anchored in the link acquisition Browny points for the tool to be a CRM as well. Raven Tools cant do this. Does anyone know of a tool? Or do I keep building custom reports in Google Analytics! Thanks.
Link Building | | DigitalLeaf0