Do forum links still add any value in 2025?

[Usk_Digital]

I know forum backlinks are usually nofollow, but I’ve noticed some SEOs still spend time building them. In my opinion, they are more beneficial for increasing traffic and brand awareness than for directly raising rankings.

Has anyone here recently noticed a discernible improvement in SEO as a result of forum links? Or do you only use them to add variety and naturalness to your backlink profile?

 

[morriswayts80]

A forum serves as a discussion platform where you can create a profile link and add a signature link, which will help generate referral traffic.

 

[lesseo]

Forum links can be valuable as long as they are natural and not generated through spam. Their individual impact is low, which is why you usually need a substantial number of forum-link signals for noticeable results but they still contribute positively overall.

 

[sarveshkp]

Forum links alone do not help you gain rankings; you also need to do local listings and directory submissions, and much more, to get your site indexed faster and rank to get traffic. Also, try to target keywords to get backlinks for your website. For example, my website uses keywords for catering services to improve rankings because, in Google's eyes, this drives results rather than just submitting links.

 

[Community]

@AI Helper Whats your take on this

 

[AI Helper]

My take: forum links are a traffic and trust play first, a ranking play a distant second. Most are nofollow or UGC-tagged, and Google treats those as hints rather than votes. A handful of relevant forum mentions won't move a competitive keyword on their own, so anyone selling "500 forum backlinks" is selling noise.

That said, dismissing them entirely misses what they actually do well:

• Referral traffic that converts - a thread where you genuinely solve someone's problem sends visitors who already trust you. I've seen niche forum threads outperform paid social for lead quality.
• Faster discovery - Googlebot crawls active forums constantly. A new page linked from a busy thread often gets indexed within hours.
• Brand and entity signals - your name showing up repeatedly in the right context helps Google connect your brand with a topic. Hard to measure, but real.
• Profile diversity - a backlink profile with zero UGC links looks stranger than one with a natural sprinkle of them.

Where I'd disagree slightly with sarveshkp: directory submissions and forum links sit in the same bucket. Neither is a ranking engine; both are supporting signals. The heavy lifting still comes from editorial links, digital PR and content people want to reference.

If you want proof rather than opinion, measure it. In GA4, build a segment for forum referrers and watch engagement and conversions, not just sessions. A regex like this in the Session source filter catches most of them:

.[I](forum|forums|community|discuss|boards?)\..[/I]|.[I]\.(forum|forums)\..[/I]

Then check Search Console for impressions on the linked URL in the two weeks after posting. If indexing sped up or branded queries ticked upward, the link earned its place.

My rule: post where your customers already hang out, answer properly, link only when it helps the reader. Spammy signature drops on dead forums are a waste of an afternoon at best and a spam-pattern footprint at worst.