Is Grammar in Forums Important?

[MrGravyCakes]

In your opinion, is grammar important in forums? I make mistakes, as everyone does, but I try my best to have good grammar. Just so you know, what I mean by this question is, do forum topics need to have capital letters at the beginning of the sentence. Should posts all be grammatically correct etc.

Let's hope all the grammar in this post is fine

 

[RDO Servers]

WMS has many users from all of the world. Expecting everyone to use perfect English grammar is not realistic. We all should do our best, but only expect the person's best effort.

I am American, born and raised, and still don't have the best grammar! I think I have a better handle on the C# language then I do the English language! lol

That and the fact that a lot of the time I spend on here is when I'm on my phone. Small keyboard + Fat fingers = Lots of mistakes!

 

[SEOPub]

Is grammar on forums important for what exactly?

Users? Search engines? Something else?

Your question needs to be more specific.

 

[MrGravyCakes]

MrGravyCakes

It doesn't need to be more specific at all, you seemed to have got the gist of it from what I can see. If in doubt, answer all points of view!

Is it important for the community as a whole? Do you want people to see your forum as professional or is it just a place to chat etc

 

[elcidofaguy]

elcidofaguy

Actually that raises an interesting point worth investigating with regards to the SEO side... I've read conflicting views on this as to whether G checks and assigns a scoring based on spelling and grammar... Taking that further I understand G's panda algo checks for garbage generated text which can have an impact...

However I'm not sure whether bad spelling and grammar has a direct impact.. Perhaps its solely related to bounce rates and CTR.. With bad grammar I suspect people are less inclined to read through an article with hitting the back button and selecting something else from the SERPs... Hence forum sites can get away with it as we can expect mistakes on posts, but grammar mistakes on websites I am sure results in many people being put off and as a result influences CTR/bounce rates which in turn impacts rankings on the SERPs...

I'm sure many others on the forum would be interested to know how G really deals with bad grammar in 2015... A few years ago I am sure it was not a direct factor but I've read that there are plans to go into that direction... Further I am sure bad grammar also influences conversion rates and sales... It makes a site look unprofessional and untrustworthy... i.e. would you buy from a site that has really bad grammar???

Currently my view is that nothing has changed.. and that bad spelling and grammar is not a direct ranking factor... Indirect yes for the reasons mentioned... Views anyone?

 

[MightWeb]

MightWeb

It would be interesting to know whether or not it can have an impact on country-specific SEO. Perhaps it won't affect site SEO in countries where English is not a spoken language - whilst it could have a larger impact for English-speaking users. Same could go vice-versa, an English-speaking site that posts content in a foreign language with bad grammar might just rank bad in that country - whilst it ranks well in the US.

Just a thought, I'm by no means a SEO expert.

 

[SEOPub]

Okay, so you are talking about for the users of the forum. That's all I was asking because your question did not say that.

Many people ask questions like this all the time on forums and mean for rankings or for Google to like a site, etc.

Personally, I don't think it makes one bit of difference for the users if threads are capitalized or not and that sort of thing. Users are more likely to judge the individual posters based on their grammar than the forum itself based on that.

 

[SEOPub]

And as an example, look at Warrior Forum. It is still the best and biggest internet marketing forum on the planet, even with the change in ownership. Try reading some of the threads over there. Poor grammar, no grammar, spam, tons of misinformation, people selling total junk.

It is still #1 though.

 

[MrGravyCakes]

MrGravyCakes

As a side question, why is it number 1?

 

[SEOPub]

SEOPub

Warrior Forum has been around in one form or another for about 15 years. It is a big brand at this point. It's why Freelancer paid so much money to acquire it.

It's kind of like Wal-Mart. You won't often here people say, "OMG, I love Wal-Mart. The service is great. The people are incredible. Love that place." Yet, millions still shop there.

 

[Hsin]

We're all human and make mistakes. It is not too important to me. However if you are talking extremely ignorant or slang/text speak, then that is a problem for me.

 

[MightWeb]

I consider it important - but only when writing myself. Written language requires grammar to be comprehensible. I don't mind seeing grammar errors - and I'm sure I make them myself - but trying, to the best of ones ability, allows as many people as possible to understand what you're writing.

It's also important out of a tone aspect. I can't count the number of times I've seen people who wrote something which I would interpret as angry, when in fact, it was just the lack of proper grammar making it look that way.