More threads by Ben Bowen

Joined
Oct 27, 2013
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First of all, I apologize if this is the wrong forum.

I have a local business with a website that is doing well. I have a healthy and diverse link graph. However, for several years (before I knew or cared about SEO) I had my website in my signature on a forum totally unrelated to my business. I was quite active. I know that forum links are useless, so they probably can't do much harm either.

Would you consider using "disavow"? Thanks in advance for the input, I have been enjoying reading comments here for several months now.

H/t Tony
 
Hi Ben... or Tony? (Which one?)

If concerned, why not just change your forum sig and all the links will go bye bye.
 
Thanks for the (really quick!) response Linda.

I did change my signature, but the links have stayed- in fact more have been indexed. Maybe I just need to be patient.

- Ben
 
So the link is no longer in sig? Just in G search? That should clear up.
 
How many forums are your links in? If it is only one, I would not worry about it. But someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
I would not worry even if it was off-topic from your niche.

I'd worry if it was a 'bad' neighborhood type of forum (like adult or black hat SEO). Or if it was tons of forums, enough that it could look like forum spam. But otherwise no worries.
 
There's no notification that your disavow has successfully been "processed" or anything like that, correct? Just gotta look for evidence in analytics?
 
If it is optimized anchor text, I would definitely consider removing it (contact the webmaster) or disavowing it. In fact, I would do it anyway even if it wasn't optimized. The link probably isn't helping at any rate and could be a potential issue later on down the road.

No help & it's a liability.

Unless you think it's responsible for a significant amount of your ranking for whatever reason. If that's the case, if it's an optimized anchor text, I would definitely weigh the pros and cons of removing it, leaning more toward removing it. If it's not optimized, I might would consider leaving it if I really thought it was helping. You have to be careful though.

---

As far as the disavow, I don't believe there is a process message. I've never heard of that at least. But it doesn't mean it's not out there.
 

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