Hints and tips on using this site - permalinks and trackbacks [BT broadband office]

Hints and tips on using this site - permalinks and trackbacks

Posted 15 September 2006 at 7:10AM by Martin Faux in Hints and tips

Whenever you come across something new, terminology can often be confusing. Blogging is no different.

You may have noticed that at the bottom of each post we have links to trackbacks and permalinks. But what are they and when and how should they be used ?

As with my explanation on XML feeds, wikipedia provides a good overview on both trackbacks and permalinks.

But in essence ...

A trackback is a tool used by bloggers to highlight to their readers where their posts are being referenced. The blog that is being referred to receives an automatic notification of a trackback request and normally has to approve its publication on their site - like a comment.

For example, if you click on trackback at the bottom of the post you want to link, the trackback url will be shown. Use this within your blogging software to request a trackback to the entry.

An example of where we have approved trackbacks look at "Welcome to the blog". Listed after the comments are all the weblogs that reference the post.

A permalink or permanent link, is a url that refers to a specific blog entry and is used when one blogger wants to refer to a post written by another. Unlike trackbacks no approval is required and the blog being referenced is unlikely to be aware of the link.

So, if you wanted to reference this post in an entry, simply click on permalink. You will see in the browser address area the full url for this article. This can be used within your blog entry.

Tags: permalink, trackback, wikipedia

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Comments

1. At September 15, 2006 12:41 PM, Michael Kenward wrote:

At last, a brief explanation that I can understand. Thanks.

Now can you turn your attention to the threat if spam and blogs? Some people complain that they spend hours every day cleaning out the rubbish. Do trackbacks and stuff make this worse?

2. At September 15, 2006 12:44 PM, Michael Kenward wrote:

Er, you have broken your own links with this item.

I cannot read "Hints and tips on using this site – Using our XML feeds" because it brings up this message. Is there a cue for another tip buried in there somewhere?

3. At September 15, 2006 4:58 PM, Martin Faux wrote:

Thanks Michael for pointing out the problem with the link to "Using our XML feeds". This has now been corrected.

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