[RayB]

As some of you know I'm an "ex-member" of another very prominent Business Forum

When I "left" about 2 months ago my signature links were removed - that was 3 links x approx 6500 posts - so nigh on 20,000 links disappeared in an instant.

Now, here's the interesting thing - guess what effect it had on my SERP's?

The answer is - zip, zilch, nada, nought

Well, that's not strictly true - my SERP's have shown a slight upward tendency in the same period.

What does that tell us about the value of sig links for SEO?

It just confirms to me the theory I've always had - namely sig links are invaluable for delivering relevant traffic - and that's about it.

Thoughts?

[Kent Tiger]

Originally Posted by RayB

It just confirms to me the theory I've always had - namely sig links are invaluable for delivering relevant traffic - and that's about it.

Hi Ray,

Out of curiosity, do you have any idea how much of that traffic converts?

[RayB]

Originally Posted by Kent Tiger

Hi Ray,

Out of curiosity, do you have any idea how much of that traffic converts?

Sure - in my case organic SE traffic results in a 3% conversion and forum related traffic a 3.5 to 4% conversion.

Before I "left" the other forum it was delivering 25 to 40 visits per day, depending on how active I was - this place is delivering about 8 visits per day - which I'm over the moon with for a brand new Forum

[Inzvestor]

An even more accurate way is to have links from forum sigs going to a unique landing page on your site and/or a voucher code that needs to be quoted by either phone or via the web to track conversions.

I have had a greater conversion rates when a code has been advertised than without - perhaps people are afraid to say where they come from? and simply require a little prompting (or bribing with a discount code)

[RayB]

Good point Glen - I'm going to be making more use of voucher codes moving forward....

[RedEvo]

Those links are still showing in a view of links to your site. Although U**F have removed them they are still showing as inlinks in Yahoo.

d

[RayB]

Originally Posted by RedEvo

Those links are still showing in a view of links to your site. Although U**F have removed them they are still showing as inlinks in Yahoo.

d

But they are are gradually filtering out out of the system - Webmaster tools shows very few now

[RedEvo]

Personally I think forum sigs should carry no PR value at all. I think click traffic is their reason for being

d

[RayB]

Originally Posted by RedEvo

Personally I think forum sigs should carry no PR value at all. I think click traffic is their reason for being

d

The point of this thread was to put forward the suggestion that they carry no PR value at all anyway

[RedEvo]

Yup, and I'm saying in my view that's a good thing

d