Are forum backlinks still worth building in 2026?

I think forum links can still be useful when they come from genuine, relevant discussions, especially for referral traffic and visibility. I wouldn't build them mainly for ranking manipulation, though—Google specifically lists optimized links in forum comments or signatures as an example of link spam.
 
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yeah they can work really well when the link fits naturally in a relevant post and actually adds something useful as long as it not get removed by the mods it can also be useful for aeo
 
I am assuming you are asking about “forum discussion links” and not “forum profile links.”

Forum profile links are useless.

Forum discussion links are good and can help with ranking in AI search ( now known as SI (Super Intelligence now coz of Donald Uncle :-) ).

All AIs/SIs literally quote text from Quora, Reddit, and other discussion websites, so yes - niche forum discussion links are golden stuff to have, as you are getting links from highly niche - relevant websites.

What could be better?
 
masood.seo said:
I’m learning SEO and I’ve seen mixed opinions about forum backlinks. Do they still provide any SEO value, or are they mainly useful for referral traffic and getting your site in front of people?
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Forum backlinks can still be useful, but I wouldn’t build them just for SEO value. They work best when they’re relevant, natural, and can also bring referral traffic or put your site in front of the right audience.
 
They can still have value when they’re relevant and come from genuine discussions. I wouldn’t build forum backlinks just for volume though; relevance, context, and a natural link profile matter much more.
 
masood.seo said:
I’m learning SEO and I’ve seen mixed opinions about forum backlinks. Do they still provide any SEO value, or are they mainly useful for referral traffic and getting your site in front of people?
Click to expand...
Most of them are nofollow so the direct ranking value is close to zero. Where they do earn their place is traffic, and getting a fresh page crawled quickly since forums get spidered constantly.

Dropping links into posts just to build them is a waste of time though. You get deleted, nothing moves. Being genuinely active somewhere your buyers already sit is the part that actually pays.
 
Pure link equity from forum posts is pretty minimal nowadays since most are nofollow. However, contextual forum backlinks in active, relevant discussions still pass valuable trust signals, diversify your link profile, and bring highly engaged referral visitors.
 
Forum links matter primarily for referral traffic, entity mentions, and keeping your link attribute profile (******** vs nofollow) balanced. Pure PageRank transfer is minimal, but the user signals generated from direct clicks are extremely valuable.
 
Forum backlinks can still be useful, but I wouldn’t build them just for SEO value. The ones I find worthwhile are from relevant discussions where the link genuinely helps people, especially when they can bring targeted referral traffic and build some visibility.
 
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