There are a lot of backlink building techniques in the arsenal of your typical SEO company. A lot of gurus will tell you that every technique has it’s place and time, and that none should be discarded out of hand. At one point, that may have been true, but is it still?
First, let’s make it clear what we’re talking about here. By forum posting, we’re talking about going onto a forum, joining conversations, becoming a valued member, and then laying out some subtle links to your landing pages. By blog posting, we’re not talking about your own blog — we’re talking about going onto other people’s blogs and commenting on them in a way that results in a backlink to your website.
Why Forum Posting Takes Too Much Time
Forum posting involves a lot of community involvement. It’s like social media, only without all of the pretty ‘+1’ buttons — and also without the extraordinary volume of people participating. When you start posting on a forum, you’re investing time and energy into something that might not pan out.
If you start laying your links out only to have the community reject you for marketing on their message board, you’re completely SOL. On the other hand, the forums that have a policy of allowing marketing tend to be frequented almost entirely by marketers — or people who are so inured to marketing techniques that you’ll never get a click from the boards in the first place.
Why Commenting on Blog Posts Takes Too Much Time
There are two similar problems with posting blog comments. First, you have to find a blog that has a decent PageRank, is relevant, and will allow you to comment in the first place — and then on top of that it has to have an administrator that won’t can your comment for being a backlink. Usually you can get around that last point by making your comment cogent and interesting, but that takes time in and of itself.
But the real problem with commenting on a blog is anchor text. Most blogs won’t let you put hyperlinks in the meat of your blog, which means that if you want the right anchor text for your link, you’re going to have to claim that your name is “ninja throwing stars” or whatever your site’s keyword is. That’s a giant red flag to the blog admin, and will almost certainly get your comment canned.
In short, these two forms of backlink building are dead and best left that way. Don’t waste your time.
