I'm trying to build my PR.. well actually I'm just trying to get my site indexed then I will start building my PR. I've been reading that backlinks are the way to get your site indexed and also build your pagerank. I've submitted to about 500 free directories so far (in about 3 days). I'm not sure how many of these are google indexed, but I'm sure a few of them are.

Does forum signatures on forums (such as mine here) count as google backlinks? I'm active on about 5 web development forums and was wondering if google would take my signature into consideration when building my pagerank/indexing my site or if it was just a source to get traffic from those particular websites.

I have heard that to get your page to PR5+ you need to have your links on PR5 sites. If the signatures on on PR5+ sites, would they consider that when determining my PR?

I have heard that to get your page to PR5+ you need to have your links on PR5 sites. If the signatures on on PR5+ sites, would they consider that when determining my PR?

Yeah! I am too

Can I ask why you are pursuing PR?

Yes, signature links have the potential to get your site indexed but they usually only pass a small amount of PR.

Yes, signature usually only pass a small amount of PR.

count the number of links on this page.

then take the useless imaginary number shown on the useless "PR display" on your Google toolbar. ( have no idea what it is as mine is turned OFF!!) divide that imaginary number by the number of links, multiply the result by 0.85 and that is the useless "value" that is sort of passed on.

NOW is it really worth it????????

Originally Posted by gringo

Can I ask why you are pursuing PR?

Yes, signature links have the potential to get your site indexed but they usually only pass a small amount of PR.

I'm not necessarily pursuing PR, but am trying to get my site indexed. If my site is not indexed I will be getting no traffic from search engines whatsoever.

I understand that PR does not = traffic, but in google's eyes, it definitely means something.

Having the site indexed doesn't mean you will get any traffic either.

Traffic comes from search engines, not just backlinks. I'm just wanting to know if forum backlinks will help with indexing and pagerank. Backlinks are a great way to let people know about something... but when someone wants to know about something NOW, they arent going to go to a specific forum and find my signature in order to get to my site, they're going to find it through a search engine more than likely.

PR means higher ranking for competitive keywords.

yes,... that is the main reason I joined here

yes forum backlinks will help. they sometimes appear if you check in google via link:www.example.com so they are indexed and noted.
how much if any page rank or 'value' they pass along is a matter of debate and question, of course depending if the page is no follow there's no pr passed on...

I think so.

Originally Posted by 3dileep3

yes,... that is the main reason I joined here

Thanks for that.

Goodbye

They do, but their value is extremely weak due to the amount of signature links that can be shown (example of someone with thousands of posts).

Hi,
If the forum is a do-follow forum, you will get backlink for your website if it is used as signature. Backlinks are helpful for PR.

Again, There is no such thing as "dofollow"

And PR is of absolutely no use for anything.

count the number of links on this page.

then take the useless imaginary number shown on the useless "PR display" on your Google toolbar. ( have no idea what it is as mine is turned OFF!!) divide that imaginary number by the number of links, multiply the result by 0.85 and that is the useless "value" that is sort of passed on.

NOW is it really worth it????????

Thank you! If I could make the words thank you any bigger, I would. He is 100% correct. It is funny how every time I visit here after not being here for a while, it's always a post about PR and then chris explaining to everyone that it is useless.

Come on people, PR does not affect rankings at all. All it is good for is selling people overpriced links from the few sites I have that do have a high PR.

Having high PR means absolutely nothing when it comes to traffic. I have a PR5 website. Its been PR5 for over a year. Traffic? Maybe one or two visits a month. I have a PR1 site that gets plenty of visitors everyday.

Sig links will not give you any PR. Submitting to directories will not give you PR. They will help in your SERP efforts.

you should know that pr!=traffic or rank.

Check your Google webmaster tool for backlinks. I have hundreds of backlinks from forums only.