Over the last several months I’ve noticed a huge increase in trackback spam being directed at my blog and I’m sure I’m not the only one. One thing we are sure to be dealing with for some time to come is spammers, whether it is comment spam, trackback spam, referral spam, email spam, or any other spam you can think of.
We’ve chosen blogging as a way to earn either part or all of our income, and as such we have to get used to dealing with the many challenges that face us on a day to day basis. Like they say, “whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger!” Learning and adapting to obstacles such as these are a way of life for us, and while I hate dealing with any type of spam I do love this industry immensely, and don’t mind finding new ways to deal with it.
The WordPress plugin I’m using is Simple Trackback Validation, and the way it works is:
“When a trackback is received, this plugin
- Checks for topsy.com trackbacks and marks this as spam.
- Checks if the IP address of the trackback sender is equal to the IP address of the webserver the trackback URL is referring to. This reveals almost every spam trackback (more than 99%) since spammers do usually use bots which are not running on the machine of their customers.
- Retrieves the web page located at the URL included in the trackback. If the page doesn’t a link to your blog, the trackback is considered to be spam. Since most trackback spammers do not set up custom web pages linking to the blogs they attack, this simple test will quickly reveal illegitimate trackbacks. Also, bloggers can be stopped abusing trackback by sending trackbacks with their blog software or web services without having a link to the post.”
The download page from WordPress – http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simple-trackback-validation-with-topsy-blocker/
It’s a very simple plugin to install and setup and should help you to eliminate these unnecessary outgoing links to websites that simply do not deserve the “juice”. It’s important to have outgoing links on your site (some people don’t realize this), but It’s also important that these outgoing links are to valid non-spammy type websites or blogs!
(Click to enlarge)
The important thing is not to get discouraged, keep writing, and know that as both blogging and the internet continue to evolve we’ll have access to stronger, more powerful tools to protect ourselves, and our blogs.
Incoming search terms for the article:
- trackback spam (2)
- disqus trackback spam (1)
- wordpress blog trackback spam (1)
- why blogs are not using trackbacks (1)
- what is a trackback in internet marketing? (1)
- trackback spam plugin (1)
- trackback email spam (1)
- spam increasing (1)
- mark topsy com as spam (1)
- how to deal with trackbacks (1)
- disqus trackbacks (1)
- disqus trackback spam wordpress (1)
- wordpress trackback spam (1)
About Warren
Warren, thanks for sharing that plugin. I’ve started to see a large increase in trackback spam as well. If it’s not spam comment, it’s this. I guess it’s part of the game. Like you said, it will make you stronger for it. Thank goodness for some smart programmers out there to help with plugins like this!
Thanks again! -Adam
Wasn’t even aware of the problem of trackback spam. I’ve been getting comments with links to strange sites. I don’t mind sharing link love, and my site is set on Do Follow, but looking for legitimate connections. Have installed!
AstroGremlins recent post ..Failure
I’m with you Astro!
Hey I noticed that when I go to your url I get taken to your RSS feed rather than your homepage. Is that on purpose? Anyway thought I’d let you know in case it’s just a redirect error that you need to fix!
Thanks for stopping in!
Spammers are now better equipped than at any other time in online history. The tools available to them are more powerful, and readily available making it harder for the rest of us for sure.
Thanks for this post. I’ve seen a SHARP increase in trackback spam. I use Disqus for comments and I guess I assumed it would also be filtering trackbacks. Let’s see how this works out.
I’m glad that you see the positive part of it. It will definitely make you stronger. The plugin can somehow decrease efforts in managing spams so thanks for sharing it. Others are doing it manually and I think it’s more frustrating that way when you wake up each day and have to manage all those spams.
So encouraging things are provided here,I really happy to read your post,I was just imagine about it and you provided me,I really bookmark it,for further reading,So thanks for sharing Pretty information.
You have done really nice job. There are many people searching about that now they will find enough sources by your tips.
Hey, Really nice Post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Having a Unique title and a content too!!!!!!!!!!!!
Looking forward for more post like these!!!!
Thanks for sharing!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Peter, really appreciate the feedback and support!
omfg lol jw http://p2.freepicshare.com/m.php?0r2r6l1-Picture35.JPG
I found the simple trackback validation plugin on the wordpress website but was really looking for some ‘validation’ that it worked. I really want to fill the spam gaps left open by wordpress because who has time to deal with the constant spam. Thanks for the heads up.
Fast Downloadss recent post ..Review of the Biggest File Sharing, Cyberlocker and Torrent Sites
Mine effectively stopped when I installed it.