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On the Right Track! Understanding Trackbacks

By Elmar Sandyck

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 16Dec2010 Word count: 408 Viewed: 299 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Let's backtrack a bit.

All this talk about trackbacks and pingbacks and all other types of linkbacks to a blog site has got my mind buzzing over the weekend. I couldn't stop myself from thinking about it! Had I not read Josh Garcia's blog about this, I would not have really taken a serious thought about it, engrossed as I was with Facebook and its potential uses for marketing. I didn't even realize that I was already benefiting a lot from trackbacks and pingbacks in my site! As the famous saying goes: ignorance is bliss. Well, perhaps, yes, but definitely not when you're in the Internet!

Well, for starters, I know now that the ultimate purpose of a trackback is referencing. It's actually a fun way of letting two blogsites communicate in such a simple and orderly fashion.

Let's say I am Blogger #1.

I read an article by Blogger #2.

I liked it!

I mentioned the article and posted a link to it in my blog as a reference site.

Assuming that we both have trackback protocols, a tool used to keep track of this activity between our blogsites, Blogger #2 will now be notified that I mentioned his/her blog in my site.

This officially links both our sites together!

Ain't this such a nifty way of linking?

Furthermore, what is so great about this trackback feature is that it now allows all followers and readers of Blogger #2 to actually come across my site as well. Of course, the favor is also always returned to the other blogger. This time around, it is my set of visitors, readers, and followers who could also be directed to the other blogger's site, too.

Now, how did this all started?

Apparently, it all started in 2002 from a company called Six Apart. Six Apart came up with the concept called "TrackBack" as a way of letting blogsites communicate with one another. It was originally intended as a peer-to-peer communication tool that would link all bloggers through exchange of content. Unfortunately, some years later, it would be subjected to abuse by some users who would loosely use it for spamming purposes.

Since then, Six Apart's TrackBack has spawned similar tools that facilitated a good exchange of content between and among bloggers and providing the best way to link to one another. Needless to say, this has drastically changed the blogging landscape for the better.

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