Forum Ping Back Links

[paj1979]

Hi all,

This will probably be a fairly simple question, however I'm unsure of the correct terminology to get a good answer via search.

Some of my competitors have links in the comment section of highly respected websites, example of one occurrence on the mighty Wired:

http://www.wired.com/bodyhack/2007/07/good-green/

Since Panda and Penguin I know Google has attempted to disregard any sort of link juice from such comment/forum spam - is this the case with comment links in sites such as Wired, as above?

I'd like to hear that such comment spam actually harms the ranking of competitor sites..is there any truth to this also?

I want to avoid all sorts of spammy approaches to SEO such as this - I've always been an ethical marketer, and would rather not stoop to these levels...but if they work and there is no chance of ranking penalisation..

Thanks for your time, dudes!

[dot-B-dot-B]

I would think that if you make a comment that is relevant to the conversation and it is appropriate to include a relevant link to your site will provide some value  Questions that arrise on blog comments and forums might even provide the inspiration for new content on your site that you can include a link to.

"Drive-by" link bombing is not cool though and Google is right to crack donw.

[paj1979]

Thanks for your response Joel.

Its always been a grey area for me. Some forums seem to only exist for links, which I clearly try to disregard, but I wonder why such a high profile website would allow this in a comment section. Oversight on the behalf of the webmasters perhaps?

[dot-B-dot-B]

Not sure - i actually didn't see any comments on that post.  But I agree it is a gray area and I too would love to hear if anyone else has any thoughts.