How To: Trackback For Traffic
This is post 5 of 5 in a series called, “5 Tips to Increasing Blog Traffic“.
Trackbacks are a blogs response to being linked to. For example, I post a snippet about your blog and in Wordpress, I put your trackback URL in the “Trackbacks” field. When I publish my post, my blog will tell your blog that I wrote about you. Your blog will then link back to my blog because I’ve mentioned you in a post.
Here are some basic “How To” trackback guides:
Trackback in Wordpress (bottom part of page)
So how can this work to get you more traffic? It is easier than comments and surrounding the link can be some great eye candy.
When linking in a trackback, make sure that you follow these 3 simple do’s and don’ts:
1. Don’t state the obvious.
Here is an example of the obvious at a post titled, “Click Distance Matters“:
This guy basically just recapped what he read. Would you click his link and go to his blog? Of course not, it is boring and old information.
Here is one other boring trackback:
In a post titled “Forward Links - Because who you link to matters” we find this:
Thank you Captain Obvious.
2. Do be honest.
Just because someone is well respected and a guru doesn’t mean they are right or that you have to agree with them. Todd Malicoat left a comment (sorry, can’t find the comment) about 2 years ago that I disagreed with and posted my response as a trackback. That trackback earned me a lot of readers and some good traffic.
In the same way, when you agree, post a trackback that creates continued interest in the conversation. For example, “I agree with what Malicoat says about breaking up with clients. I just broke up with my first client and would add to Malicoat’s list by saying, ‘This will be my last bit of contact with you. I wish you well.’ That tells your client that it is over permanently and he can no longer expect a response from you.” By the way, that’s true, I just did that last week.
Remember that you can disagree in a polite way without being offensive and putting a foot in your mouth.
3. Don’t trackback spam.
Trackback spam is one of the fastest ways to make sure nobody reads your blog and that your quality content doesn’t get the respect it deserves.
Before Guy Kawasaki changed his trackbacks, I would get about 300 visitors per month from about 2-3 trackbacks per month. That is just from one site. I left trackbacks for every post I wrote! You can too.
Find someone talking about something similar and leave them a trackback, you’ll get a great relevant link, you’ll create value for their website and possibly acquire a new reader!
Other Links: Buy Traffic Buy Traffic
BittBox said
March 22 2007 @ 9:46 pm
Awesome. I’m new to blogging, and I have constantly been wondering what a trackback is.
1 Question though, if you have time Brandon:
So by sending trackbacks to the specified URI’s in Wordpress, this creates comments on that particular blog page? Without ever visiting the blog and leaving a comment?
Probably a stupid question, but hey, like I said, I’m new.
~BittBox
Friday Favorites 3/30/07 - Stuntdubl - Search Engine Marketing Consultant said
March 30 2007 @ 11:58 am
[...] Hopkins on trackback traffic and 63 ways to build links in [...]
Brandon said
April 10 2007 @ 9:09 pm
BittBox, that is correct. You leave a comment on another blog by linking to it. Wordpress will do it automatically if it can. For MT you have to insert the trackback url.
Marco said
April 28 2007 @ 11:39 am
And the result will then look like the second “comment” on this post, which actually is a trackback.
Hur ökar man antalet besökare till sin blogg? | Webmastern.se said
May 28 2007 @ 9:59 pm
[...] How To: Trackback for Traffic [...]
Outward Bound Links to Other Blogs- Good or Bad? : Yeepage said
November 4 2007 @ 7:59 pm
[...] way is by trackback, whenever you link to another blog from yours, a trackback will show within the comments section of [...]
Todd said
November 29 2007 @ 8:40 am
Hey Brandon -
Very good points on disagreeing with people. There’s really not a whole lot to being an “expert or guru” than writing a whole lot and having valid points on your topic. There’s rarely a RIGHT answer in internet marketing - just great discussions.
>creates continued interest in the conversation.
This is a huge one that most folks don’t get. After a while, the conversations get increasingly old and boring, and it’s tough to keep up and stay interested.
Judgint by the date on this post (and when I finally approved the trackback) it sometimes takes a while to get the desired effect.
Glad to hear you got some great traffic from a good conversation - I’ve definitely stopped by from time to time since then, and you have a real knack for writing about the topic.
Congrats on getting rid of a PITA client:) Life is too short to work with people you don’t like.
seoreef said
March 16 2008 @ 3:03 pm
In my opinion, trackbacks manages to pull of a small revolution and they are one of the main reasons behind the blog platform’s popularity.
Jonathan@Friends&Money said
April 29 2009 @ 10:14 am
I find that there are a lot of sites out there that basically just scrap your hard work content and then post a trackback on your own site back to the content they have stolen from you. It’s carzy and very very annoying