Is this something people have tried? I have a forum, but the backlinks from other forums seem to have a lot of value. Do people try and get backlinks from these people, even if they are operating a similar forum? normally every forum has its own website and there must be a link page. Try to consult with their webmasters and request for a backlink. Otherwise you can join some related forums and do posting using your signature. That may be case of any category of websites. However, it is the quality or ranking of the site you get link from. It may be a similar site and irrelevant site with high page ranking. That's a part of marketing and promoting your own forum. From other forums, you can also get visitors to your forum... there's no problem with that. you get more backlinks just by inviting more members.. they help to get your forums more active and popular, from there you can get alot of natural links.. There is no problem with promoting your forum as long as you are not spamming it all over the place. Be active in the forums related to your niche by posting quality answers or giving helpful information. With linking with the other forum, you can promote your site, you can get the traffic and back links for your site. So it is good to do linking with the other forum. If you really want to do linking with other forum the best idea is do login and add your links and try to posting every day in most of post. This way you can get maximum link without any charge. by creating links with other web sites..you site gets promoted and your web page will be visible in top search results..