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Spammy Trackbacks - Why?

by EllesBelles
6 replies
This might be a really stupid question

I started a blog website a few weeks ago. I've been posting new content daily (when I can!) and its slowly getting more popular.

I posted something yesterday which got 30 views - not great, but not terrible, I suppose. Last night, over the course of an hour, it got 42 trackbacks. Most of them were from completely unrelated websites.

Today, it's got 36 more. I'm spending forever picking up emails asking me to moderate them, and then going through clicking spam.

I've put a Captcha on comments which seems to have stopped most of the comment spam, but where do the trackbacks come from? Is it something I've done wrong?

I'm not accepting any because the websites look pretty bad and are completely irrelevant. I don't want to be linked to them. The last one just had "usfhjisfjiskfn sfpijsifjsnfis" written where the comment was supposed to be :confused:

Thanks

E x
#spammy #trackbacks
  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    A trackback happens when some other blog mentions your post, then pings your blog to let it know this post is out there. The original intent was to make inter-blog discussions easier to manage and follow.

    As usual, a useful feature has been pretty much spoiled by spammers looking for links any way they can get them. As your blog grows in popularity, it becomes a more attractive target for this scum.

    This link should prove useful for you...

    Combating Comment Spam « WordPress Codex
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  • Profile picture of the author EllesBelles
    I'll check that out, thank you!
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    Social Media Strategist. Digital Storyteller.

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    If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.
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  • Profile picture of the author eibhlin
    I've seen a similar trend, and I think part of the backlinks are from cheap, autoblogging "content curation" plugins.

    Some of those plugins go looking for phrases -- often out-of-context -- that relate to their target keywords. Then, they automatically add those links and blurbs to their posts. Bingo! You have a spammy backlink at sites, and some with the most appalling content.

    The previous comment (with link) about comment spam is a good one. You'll find a lot of advice online if you search for "comment spam" and related phrases.

    Don't take the trackbacks personally; it's likely that no one was personally involved in them.

    Many of us have seen a dramatic increase in this kind of silliness, and -- like most other trends -- I'm confident this will go away, or at least our spam filters will adapt and trash the garbage before we even have to see it.
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    Artist, blogger, and author of a bazillion books, more or less. Find me at Eibhlin.com
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  • Profile picture of the author sonicadam123
    I get these all the time on my sites, it's pretty annoying and does ruin it for everyone else, would be a great tool to use if nobody abused it though.
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  • Profile picture of the author webfighter
    Are you on wordpress?

    WordPress › Simple Trackback Validation « WordPress Plugins
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    Generate Long Tail Keywords!
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