Wikipedia describes a Trackback thus…

Trackbacks are used primarily to facilitate communication between blogs; if a blogger writes a new entry commenting on, or referring to, an entry found at another blog, and both blogging tools support the TrackBack protocol, then the commenting blogger can notify the other blog with a “TrackBack ping”; the receiving blog will typically display summaries of, and links to, all the commenting entries below the original entry. This allows for conversations spanning several blogs that readers can easily follow.

As a publisher, Trackbacks are a great way to add fresh new content on your own blog while actually making a comment about quality content written by someone else.

You should make sure that you are monitoring the top blogs in your subject area and identify

  • posts with a new slant on a topic which you agree with and which you think your audience would be interested to hear
  • posts which would allow you to make a comment which shows that you have expertise in the topic

Generally, you need to make sure that your comment is relevant, topical, supportive of the original blogger. Why? Because the original blogger will have to accept your Trackback link request.

The process is simple…

  1. Find a relevant post on another popular blog which supports trackbacks
  2. Write a post for your blog commenting on the original post — your comment, combined with the original post — should be of value to your target audience
  3. Include a link to the original post in your comment
  4. Find, and copy, the Trackback link (URL) on the original post
  5. Add the trackback link to the “Send trackbacks to” field (look for Trackbacks below your Wordpress post creation area)

Trackback request in Wordpress

When you publish your new post, your site will send a request to the publisher of the original post telling him (or her) that you have made a comment and requesting that he approves the Trackback. If the approval is granted, your comment, and a link to your post, will appear on the original site.

The results…

  • more content for your site
  • high quality links to your site
  • better Search Engine Rankings
  • more quality traffic.

SUGGESTION: Give yourself a weekly task to make at least one Trackback request to a quality site