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A trackback is a notification sent from one website to another when a link is made between them, especially in older blogging software. It's a communication method for authors to track who is linking to their content, with the receiving blog often displaying an excerpt of the referring post with a link back to the original source. For example, if you write an article that mentions another blog post, your website can send a trackback to that post to notify the author.

How it works

Notification: When a trackback is sent, the recipient website receives a notification, often appearing in the comment moderation area.

Display: If approved by the recipient's site owner, an excerpt of the new post and a link back to it can be displayed on the original page, often alongside other comments.

Benefit: It helps authors discover who is referencing their work and can lead to increased visibility and traffic for both sites.

Manual vs. automatic: While some systems automatically send trackbacks when a link is made, others require a manual submission.

Decline in use: Modern blogging platforms often rely on pingbacks or other methods, and manual trackbacks have been removed from some software, such as WordPress since version 5.0.

Spam risk: Like pingbacks, trackbacks have been a target for spam bots looking to generate backlinks.