SEO Forums: How to find a good SEO Forum

Online forums for search engine optimization have been coming and going or years. Finding them is not hard. Simply searching "SEO Forums" will get you a vast array of discussion boards right at your fingertips. But when you're a newcomer or even if you're just wanting to switch, how do you tell which ones will work for you?Of course you can try before you buy with most, but jumping from forum to forum can be tiring and time consuming, especially if some land you with a bad experience. This article provides guidelines you can follow to formulate the best types of SEO Online Forums for your needs.How do you fit into the SEO scene?Firstly, you need to consider what and who you are. Are you an expert consultant for a company? Are you a home business owner, clueless about anything SEO related? Or are you looking to find clients by offering good advice? If you're a newbie on the SEO front, you will want to find some laid back open communities. Smaller SEO message boards are good at providing that community feel.Expert SEOs generally join online discussion sites where other old-timer search engine optimizers live. It's a means for them to stay in the forefront of SEO techniques and breaking news. Many experienced SEOs stay away from those which contain heavy advertising and a large number of superfluous 'I'm also having this problem' kinds of posts.Of course, if you're soliciting clients, you will want to join both newbie and expert SEO Forums. You can market yourself on smaller beginner online message boards by offering your expert knowledge and advice. Conversely, you can find some quality guidance on expert discussion websites to use for your clients' projects.What features are you looking for in Online Forums?Are you interested in marketing, site development, usability, design or all of the above? Most large SEO message boards delve into the marketing side of search engine optimization. Others cater for webmaster coding and website development discussion.Some forums expressly prohibit discussing SEO techniques if such methods are not favored by the search engines. Whether you wish to discuss or be made aware of search engine unfriendly techniques is another factor to consider when choosing an appropriate SEO forum.Remember to examine the posting guidelines. Are they strict or lax? How well is the information classified? Are there many link drops or members asking irrelevant trivial questions just to get a link to their website. How much is membership? Do you want a small, mid-sized or large forum? Larger forums lose their sense of community.Read some reviews about the forum you wish to join. See whether their signal to noise ratio is acceptable or too high. This term is used informally by webmasters, moderators and members to show the amount of useful information as compared to false or irrelevant materials. Some people even look for message boards with a high page rank.Whatever your goals, SEO discussion sites can provide a rich source of information, tips and advice about any aspect of search engine optimization. Whether you're interested in design, usability, marketing, web development or coding, look up a list of online SEO forums and search through them using the above criteria. There is sure to be one, if not several, out there for you.