You may not know it but a few months ago I had an embarrassing problem with trackback spam. I searched around in anguish and finally settled on this wonderful WordPress plugin as the solution:

The Trackback Validator Plugin

Here’s the description from the homepage. The logic makes sense to me:

The TrackBack Validator plugin for WordPress performs a simple but very effective test on all TrackBacks in order to stop spam.

Legitimate TrackBacks are sent by people commenting on your weblog, accompanied by a URL that points to that commentary. Spam TrackBacks are accompanied by a URL that points to a pay-per-click affiliate website or other irrelevant material. The Validator exploits this key difference:

1. When a TrackBack is received, the plugin retrieves the Web page located at the URL included in the TrackBack.
2. If the page contains a link to your weblog, the TrackBack is approved.
3. If the page does not link to your weblog, the TrackBack is flagged as spam and rejected.

Because TrackBack spammers do not set up custom Web pages linking to the weblogs they attack, this simple test will quickly reveal illegitimate Trackbacks.

We are actively developing additional heuristics to add to the plugin; if you observe TrackBack spam that makes it past this plugin, please let us know.

Note: I waited 3 months + after installing this plugin to post about it because I wanted to make sure it truly worked. And it has, I haven’t gotten a single trackback spam since.

Tags: Trackback, trackbacks, trackback spam, trackback spam prevention, wordpress, wordpress trackback

Posted by Greg Pinero (Primary Searcher) in WordPress, Meta