Google’s recent ’show options’ addition to the SERP’s have provided additional search filters and I would like to continue this series of posts by looking at forums.
Online Forums and SEO
Online forums have been around for a number of years and were arguably the forerunner of social media and it’s many applications. Forums are basically online message boards, creating platforms for discussions around particular topics between people who share common interests – a place to connect with others online.
From an SEO point of view, forums represent relationship marketing opportunities as well as a chance to create and distribute valuable, topic specific content (and in some cases links). Subject authority and online profile are additional benefits of forum participation and most market and interest categories are covered by the many that are widely used.
Google Forum Search Filter
It is not entirely clear as to what Google classifies as a forum within it’s SERP’s but indications are that not only large, specialised, dedicated forums that are listed but also forum pages that are included as part of a site, or are added as a sub domain or blog, associated with a site.
In any event, the development in the SERP’s indicate that many businesses and organisations should probably consider adding a forum in order to make full use of the this search filter option, especially ones that are particularly active in social media marketing.
As a direct result of this, posting to forums on other peoples sites is now even more important than ever. While links within many forum posts may be subjected to the ‘nofollow’ attribute, the new filter makes the content of posts and thread more powerful and therefore a more effective traffic driver…
…What do you think?
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