Active Rain is a top notch social networking platform. But as an SEO engine, I think it’s a bit of a gamble.

There’s no shortage of bloggers who have commented on how Active Rain has helped them rank better. For those who consider this icing on the cake, I agree. But for those on AR who are their primarily for SEO, I think you’re talking a huge risk. As competition for AR’s Google juice rises, the number of bad actors will rise with it. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to conceive that they could find a way to play the system that eventually garners Google’s attention.

It doesn’t even have to be the bad guys. How many bloggers post duplicate content on AR? Google apparently doesn’t have a problem with duplicate content today. But what if they change their mind? Just something to think about.