Do you approve pingbacks?

[AFI]

Sometimes I get pingbacks to my blogs, especially if I submit an article myself and it gets picked up and the link is back to my blog. Should I approve these comments or not?

[MrWonton]

I always trash them, as I prefer the one way link.

Not sure what convention is though.

[yukon]

I always turn them off in WP.

[AFI]

Originally Posted by extremeweightloss13

hi can you elaborate what do you mean ping back?

I know how to ping by submitting your url website and ping but I really don't have an idea what is ping back...

Please help thanks!

It just means a link back to your blog post. I'm not really sure the difference between a pingback and a backlink though.

UPDATE: Wait I know the difference. The pingback is a link to one of your blog posts. A backlink is a link to your front page only.

[AFI]

Originally Posted by yukon

I always turn them off in WP.

How do you turn them off? In "settings > discussion > Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks." You just uncheck that box?

[AFI]

Originally Posted by MrWonton

I always trash them, as I prefer the one way link.

This makes the most sense. Good thinking.

Silly me!

[Dele]

Originally Posted by AFI

It just means a link back to your blog post. I'm not really sure the difference between a pingback and a backlink though.

UPDATE: Wait I know the difference. The pingback is a link to one of your blog posts. A backlink is a link to your front page only.

First of all, a backlink can be to any page of your website whether front page or inner pages.

A pingback creates a one-way backlink up until the time the receiving webmaster decides to act on it either by scrapping it or approving it. If approved, it turns into a reciprocal link i.e. two-way link where both webmasters are linking to each other. If disapproved, it remains a one-way backlink to the receiving webmaster's site for as long as retained on the originating webmasters site or no backlink at all if then removed by the originating webmaster.

I normally leave the feature on in my blog to see the no. and types of sites linking to my site through my re-published articles but once i see this i thrash such pingbacks only with the exception of high authority sites. It involves more work though. Approving the pingbacks will create reciprocal links which is not favored by Google and where it is from a "bad neighborhood site" can even be detrimental to your rankings.

[Dele]

Originally Posted by extremeweightloss13

hi can you elaborate what do you mean ping back?

I know how to ping by submitting your url website and ping but I really don't have an idea what is ping back...

Please help thanks!

This feature - pingback is quite different from pinging of your post/url that you mentioned.

In this case, no action is taken by you to originate this. Rather, it is originated by another webmaster who mentions something about your site in his blog, supported with an hyperlink which based on the pre-programming of both his and your blog, forwards a ping to your site notifying the receiver of such a commentary about his site on another blog. This feature must be enabled on both blogs for this feature to work.

It is usually rampant in cases where a webmaster takes your published article from an article directory and re-publishes it on his blog leaving your links in place. The hyperlinks on your article now placed on his site, then spontaneously generates the ping referred to.

Some webmasters use this feature for spamming by inserting hyperlinks of the title of your blog posts on their blogs with the hope of you approving the trackback/pingback thereby turning into a reciprocal link and they thus having a backlink, albeit reciprocal(two-way linking)

This post is quite relevant

=> Turning Trackbacks On : It's Gains And Pains

[OnlineMarketingSys]

Originally Posted by AFI

How do you turn them off? In "settings > discussion > Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks." You just uncheck that box?

Bingo! You got it Gal

[John W.G.]

I don't see how approving them sets up a two way link.

I'm not linking to any other sites (because I have comments turned off) on any of my posts but I approve them all the time.

What am I missing?

[faceblogger]

I just moderate them. If I think they are spammy I trash them and if it seems legit I approve them. It's always nice to display who re-published our articles.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by AFI

How do you turn them off? In "settings > discussion > Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks." You just uncheck that box?

Yes,

I also remove the comment template code from my single.php page on most of my sites.

I have sites that I don't want to look like a blog (comments). I use WP as a CMS since it's so easy to work with, & customize.

[rachwrites]

Thanks Dele, for the wee lesson; I was a little foggy on some points, but have been moderating pingbacks as I suspected the "good" ones were just that.

Personally, even with a static-type WP blog - one that you don't want to look like a blog - I would keep the pingbacks feature turned on. It's a good way to see who's mentioning your site and you can always trash them.