forum signatures

[temi]

I was informed over the weekend that Google index forum signature and count it as a link, is this true? I have always assumed that only links in the body of a post is indexed and counted as a link by Google and other leading search engine. Please enlighten me.

[OldWelshGuy]

Indeed, depending on the setup of the forum, signatures are counted as links. I have just checked a cached version of one of the pages here, and the sig links are cached.

[temi]

Thanks for that info OWG, this explain why some people register, create flamboyant signature but never post anything, so they have been getting free links. I will put a stop to that.

[OldWelshGuy]

Originally Posted by temi

Thanks for that info OWG, this explain why some people register, create flamboyant signature but never post anything, so they have been getting free links. I will put a stop to that.

LMAO

that is why I have a rugby forum with under 500 members but almost 200,000 posts We NUKE the buggers as they come through the door.

You also need to keep watch to make sure no one is linking to bad neighbourhoods. the odd one or two will not hurt, but if you get a handfull bvad linking then it can drag you down.

[temi]

Thanks for that OWG, I will be more vigilant now. Ovi, please read this thread and help me mop up whatever I miss.

[OldWelshGuy]

The easiest way is to go intothe memberships panel, cort by post order, and only look at those with a website link to them. Any that have registered with no link are not a problem. they are probably genuine.

[temi]

Thanks for that tip OWG, that is precisely what I will do, doing it that way will save me lot of time.

I thought all sig links were indexed by the SE's. They just don't really do much for your PR as you'd need 1000s of PR0 links to get a PR1 !!!! But they are good as a way of getting the SE's to index your new websites.

[OldWelshGuy]

On Vbulletin as standard option and as an add on to PHPBB, you can cloak the signatures. IE show them to the browsers but hide them from the spiders. Many people do this on their forums.

[temi]

In VB do you know exactly where I can find this option? I have had a look in all setting but no luck. I found the option to disable BB code which I really do not want to do. That will get all signatures displayed as text.

Ideally I will like to enable signature for members who have contributed 30 posts as I think its a good benefit for active members to have their links indexed from this site.