What are Trackback/Pings?

[housetier]

Yes you heard right!

I don't really know what Trackback/Pings are. 


Come on, you gotta be kidding!

No I am not. For years I have heard of them. Once hadez even tried to explain it to me, but I still don't get it. I know they have got something to do with articles, news, blogs posts, that sort of thing. And I know they are meant to "report back", or notifying.


So, what don't you know?

What I don't know how to use them; how they work; how they are technically realized; what's in it for site showing off "trackback url here" and what's in it for another using (how?) said url.

So could you guys explain to me in simple terms with examples what trackbacks/pings are? I might be missing out here, you know! Maybe this is why only a handful people ever write comments on my site; who knows... YOU DO! So please let me in on the secret of these trackback/pings.

[mouser]

house i know you wont be surprised when i point you to wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trackback

the most common definition i know of is that a trackback is used to keep track of people who link to a blog story.

so your blog will be notified when other people refer to your blog story, and keep a list of such referals so that you can easily see who links to your stories.

[housetier]

So how do I use it?

Assuming I have a trackback url, how do I tell my blog thingie to notify someone else's blog thingie? Would I see an extra input field for my post?

edit: "have" is now spelled correctly

[app103]

Pings are to a service like Weblogs.com which post a page of recently updated blogs.

It is a way of letting people know when you have made a new post...and people that frequent that site can discover your blog by seeing a link to it there.

It's a publicity & marketing tool.

[f0dder]

I'm confuzzled too!

[pfflyer]

I posted about this on my site just a few weeks back:

http://www.recommendedwebtools.com/index.php/477/what-does-it-mean-to-be-pinged/

[housetier]

I think "trackbacking" involves a concept I am mentally unable to cope with: I still don't get it.

Assume I have a blog system that can send backtracks to another blog. On that other blog I find a post I want to write about on my blog. So I take this trackback URL and do what with it? How do I use it?

[pfflyer]

Housetier,

Sometimes all it takes is simply linking to that blog post from your own blog post.  But that doesnt work all the time.

I am most familiar with WordPress so I will explain how to use the trackback in that context.

1) you find a post you want to write about
2) link to it from within the post if you want
3) below the posting textbox there is are several additional "boxe": one for images, another for excerpts, then one for trackbacks.
4) if trackbacks has a PLUS(+) sign on the far right of its title bar, click it. This opens up the trackback "box"
5) enter the trackback URL into this box
6) publish your post

This effecitively goes out and lets the OTHER post know "hey, someone wrote about you". It adds a comment to that OTHER blog post. This comment generally looks like the following:

[…] “Here, take these Ten Essential Tools for Beginning Web Developers, 14 Accomplishments of a Newbie Blogger, and Comments that have Fertilized the Inadvertent Garden. You’ll need them.” […]

(I took this example from my own blog)

The comment is usually some excerpt taken from your own post and the bracket ellipsis bracket is placed on the front and the end.

In practice, I don't often use the trackback function. I just link.  However, like I mentioned above, SOMETIMES (if things are working right and it is a link to another WordPRess blog) the trackback occurs automatically.

[housetier]

thank you very much pfflyer. I have a clearer concept of these trackbacks now.

Thanks a lot for your patience 

[Jammo the OrganizedFellow]

As the newb on these forums, I'd like to contribute to a further elaboration of usage?!

Let's pretend that John writes an article about CarWax on his blog. He explains the pluses and minues, etc. the brands, makes, techniques, etc.

Mike, who also has a blog, reads the article on Johns blog. So Mike writes about his new car, and how he loves to pamper and baby it with CarWax. Mike writes his own blog article 'inspired' by the one originally written by John. Mike is kind enough to use the trackback URL provided by Johns blog.

On Johns blog, he receives the PING from Mikes blog associated with his CarWax entry.
He is delighted (quite ecstatic) that someone sent a trackback ping. He is glad someone found his article useful. Now, whenever a visitor to Johns blog reads the CarWax entry, they come across the comments section, and read that Mike uses a similar but different style and method to waxing his 2005 Hyundai Accent.
Now, thanks to pings and trackbacks, Mike has a new visitor that he would have never had.


... fast forward X amount of months later ...


Mary, Josh, EvilRedEye, WikiWilly, and RobitussinRobbie all have written a blog entry of their own discussing the DOs and DONTs of carwaxing, washing, detailing, etc.

Thanks to their blogs, trackbacks, and pings, John & Mike are in the higher echelons of the 'food chain of the animal kingdom' cause they get all the traffic based on ONE blog entry.


<< i hope i was able to explain in a real-world type scenario how this works. >>

[jgpaiva]

First of all, wellcome jammo!
I'm glad you decided to do this post, it sure helped understanding exactly how that system works. Looks like an enginious idea, now i only need to get myself a blog Thanks!