Trackback Protocols

Links between blogs drive traffic and increase credibility.Trackback is a tool blog authors use to inform them when they have links coming in from other blogs. Trackback is a specific type of linkback protocol, but the term is also used colloquially to refer to all three of the linkback protocols. By informing blog authors of links referring to their posts, trackback enables blog authors to display a list of inbound links to their posts. The links give blog readers the opportunity to find more information on the subject of a specific blog post.Trackbacks from Legacy Blog SystemsThe term trackback is used for all three of the linkback protocols because it was the first. Many blog software options still use trackbacks, but automated systems like pingbacks have largely usurped trackbacks. When a blog references another blog in a post, the blogger often feels compelled to inform the original blog that it has been referenced. If the original blog has a link at the bottom of the page with the word "trackback," the second blogger can click that link and register a trackback with the original blog. As a result, the readers of each blog are exposed to the other.Pingbacks for Automated LinkingBlogs with pingback enabled will perform linkback functions automatically. Each link in a blog post is pinged so that the linked website can be informed that it has been linked. If the website that is being linked has pingback enabled, it will deal with the pingback according to the configuration options of the blogger. Pingback configurations usually deal with pingbacks in three ways: add a trackback link automatically, disregard the pingback or inform the administrator of the pingback. If the blog that was pinged does not support pingback, the blog will not know that a linkback was requested. In such a case, the blogger will have to use other linkback protocols to inform the blog it has been referenced.Refback Vintage LinkbacksRefback is not automated like the other two linkback options. Instead, blog authors access traffic logs of their blog articles. Each article has a list of sites that referred traffic to the blog. The blog author can then visit the websites that provided them with traffic and acquire information needed to link back to that site. The refback method will only discover links that have actually provided traffic to the site; it will not see unused links. References Hixie: Pingback 1.0 Specifications Six Apart: TrackBack Technical Specification BlogBuildingU.com: Trackback, Pingback and Refback - The When and How