Trackback (Ping) Spam

   It's nothing new...but its the first time its happened to me.  Yes, I have finally been effected by Trackback Spam (or Ping Spam).  For those of you that are still unfamiliar with some of the concepts and terminology associated with blogging, Trackback is a method by which a web publisher can reference another site or post by providing a link to it on their site. It acts to notify a blogger owner that someone has commented on that post in another blog. In this way, readers can see an aggregated list of which sites refer to the post and can read additional comments on that post.

Not only is a Trackback a good method to provide appropriate reference to original thoughts/ideas, its also used to establish link authority in many search engine's natural ranking algorithms.

Trackback Spam is a method where someone (insert: unsavory, bottom feeding, white trash, jackasses) submits a TrackBack URL to a bloggers post that links through to a site that has nothing to do with the post (generally hawking MP3 ringtones,  male erectile enhancements, college degrees for cheap etc.).  In my inaugural experience with this annoying trend, I had a trackback url submitted to a post that I had written in my personal blog about a club in Boston called Sanctuary.  The title of the Trackback was "Ringtone for Motorola"-click on image above.  It linked through to a site site offering...you guessed it, RINGTONES!

Since I require any Trackbacks to be approved by me first (instead of being automatically posted), I was able to delete it before the link was published.  Since that time, I have caught two more incidents of Trackback Spam on OTOinsights. 

Thankfully, I am using Six Apart's Typepad to manage both my personal and professional blogs.  They have been very committed to ensure that their platform helps bloggers stem the tide of Trackback/Comment Spam.  To that end, I see this trend as a minor annoyance, but nothing to get too worked up about.

Jeremi Karnell-President, One to One Interactive

Comments

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I absolutely agree