Forum signature links and SEO

[ChristopherGlaeser]

Regarding this article on forum signature links, is this good advice?

http://searchtempo.com/forum-signature-links-and-seo/

Doesn't Google suggest a nofollow on these types of forum links?

On a related matter, is it a good practice to add a Google Plus link in forum signatures?

Best,
Christopher

[FedeEinhorn]

Usually forums are so spammed with links that they are really worthless. Those links will likely help the users but not your SEO.

[vahidafshari45]

The forum link must be nofollow, because the link on signature side is worthless .Forums are a great place for inexperienced people who want to increase the number of links .But they don't attention to authority of domain& page

[cbielich]

There is no definitive answer to that question from what I believe, as in Matt Cutts specifically saying "Don't do that" but there is a great sentence in the Google Quality Guidelines that can totally answer that question.

In the Google Quality Guidelines it says

"Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you, or to a Google employee. Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"

Now ask yourself that same question regarding Forum Signatures and spammy anchor text links.

If Matt Cutts himself asked you "Why did you add those links on your signature? for the users for for SEO? If you can truly answer that question "for the user" then do it. If you even hesitate or find yourself justifying your answer then don't.

Adding nofollow to those links? I personally would suggest it

[TakeshiYoung]

Forum links don't tend to carry a lot of value, but they can still help. Post-Penguin it's probably not a good idea to stuff these signature links with keywords, but a few links from relevant, high quality forums can provide some value. Besides the SEO value, which is minimal, links from relevant forums can actually drive qualified traffic to your site and help get your brand out there.

[siteoptimo]

There's no relevance nor context for these links. It's linkbuilding instead of link earning, so I wouldn't do it.