Trackbacks vs Links: What's the Difference?
-
Our Google Analytics social pages report isn't showing several of our links. And several links are from high quality sources, such as about.com. Does anyone know why this may be?
-
Well said: "a trackback is essentially a notification of a link to your content from an external source." hear hear
-
Michelleh - while you got insight into what trackbacks are, I can offer this regarding why GA isn't showing some of those links.
Unfortunately, no analytics system is 100% accurate or complete, not even Google's. It's possible that if they're new or recent, they will eventually show up in GA reports, however it's not guaranteed.
That does NOT mean you don't get SEO linking value for them, only that reporting systems are imperfect AND Google's intent is to show " a sampling" even though they don't make that abundantly clear in a way most people would even know that's their stance.
If you want to get more insight into Google's Sampling methods, you can read about theme in the Google Developer site here.
-
I was just about to type that! Beat me to it Keri : )
Michelle - a trackback is essentially a notification of a link to your content from an external source. Hope that helps!
-
Hi Gigs20,
It looks like what you wrote is directly from Google's announcement at http://analytics.blogspot.com/2012/05/expanding-google-analytics-social.html. In Q&A, please list your sources, and make it clear when you're saying something from your own experience versus quoting someone else.
Thanks!
-
The concept of trackbacks, a protocol by which different sites could notify each other of referencing links, first emerged back in 2002. Since then, the blogosphere has grown in leaps and bounds, but the requirement for each site to explicitly implement this protocol has always stood in the way of adoption. Many are not familiar with Trackbacks, just think of it as automated Google Alerts for all of your pages: you publish new content, Google scour the web for pages that link to it and build automated reports for you right within Google Analytics - simple as that.
These reports provide another layer of social insight showing which of your content attracts links, and enables you to keep track of conversations across other sites that link to your content. Most website and blog owners had no easy mechanism to do this in the past, but Google see it as another important feature for holistic social media reports. When you know what your most linked content is, it is then also much easier to replicate the success and ensure that you are building relationships with those users who actively link to you the most.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Is there a tool to check the SEO performance of articles from different websites?
Is there a tool to check the SEO performance of articles(like 100+ articles) from different websites in one place? I am looking for a tool where I can put several URLs of the articles we have published in bulk for many of our clients, and it can show me how those articles are performing. This way, we can check the performance of these articles at any time; there is no need to add URLs every time.
Reporting & Analytics | | Foxxr0 -
In Google Search Console: Total Clicks differ from the sum clicks on search queries
Hi.This may be a google technical question, but I've searched a lot and I couldn't find any certain information about that.The problem appears when you look at two stats in Search Console ( WebMasters Tools, some months ago), particulary in the Search Analysis.1- Total clicks2- Sum of clicks at every search query.I attached an image to make me clear.8IZsxs6.png
Reporting & Analytics | | NachoRetta2 -
Why doesn't Google seem to care about referral spam?
In researching the issue of referral spam, there is no shortage if info, both on MOZ and beyond. But, neither the Google Analytics Blog or Help Forums seem to mention the issue at all. I'd think it is something that they would want to get rid of, yet it seems like they don't even acknowledge that it exists. Anyone have insights into this? Am I missing something, or is Google strangely silent on an issue that is becoming more and more annoying for anyone trying to use GA data?
Reporting & Analytics | | irapasternack1 -
Links from PA/DA of 1
My immediate thought is that a link from a website that has a PA/DA of 1 for both or either metric would be absolutely worthless, but I just wanted to make sure. Could this also be from it being recently indexed? Also is there a rule of thumb that anybody knows, or tries to follow at least? Obliviously the higher the better, but for example; A PA/DA of 15 and below is SPAM A PA/DA of 30 and above is GOOD A PA/DA of 50 is GREAT PA/DA of 80 is AMAZING PA/DA of 100 is GODTIER
Reporting & Analytics | | HashtagHustler0 -
Wordpress SEO vs Regular Site SEO
Hey Mozzers I'm building a Wordpress-powered site (self hosted on different domain). I know there are different plug-ins and whatnot for Wordpress SEO, but what exactly am I getting myself into? Am I required to use these plug-ins even if I already know how to do regular SEO on-page coding, or are they mainly dumbed-down tools for mom-bloggers to use? Am I still able to use Google Analytics as I am with a regular site?
Reporting & Analytics | | Travis-W
What else is there to think about? Thanks!0 -
Number of clicks / organic traffic - different data in Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools
Hi. I have a little problem. When I open Google Webmaster Tools I see 3000 clicks (in Traffic - Search queries - Clicks). But when I open Google Analytics I see much more visits from search engine (Google) - it´s 4-5 times more! It´s a huge difference, don´t you think? Do you know, where is the problem? What causes this diffence? thanks a lot
Reporting & Analytics | | mysho0 -
Linking domain dropped followed by significant decrease in Domain Authority
A relatively high ranking site disappeared from the linking root domains of a client site, and the site dropped significantly in domain rank, authority, and trust. Oddly enough, traffic is almost double the previous week, and search results for keywords remain strong. I checked OSE and the linking domain is not listed. There are also several other linking root domains that have never shown in the domain analysis, but we'll leave those for a later topic. I visited the linking root domain that disappeared from the analysis and found everything to be in order. The site is a major local forum with a relatively high domain authority. All links are still there, and there hasn't been any change to the site as far as links are treated according to the owner. The only thing that has changed since the last site analysis is an event campaign ran with unpaid ads posted throughout the forum. The site being analyzed is a catering company that is cooperating with the forum owner and local bar to host a local celebratory event. Of course I'll wait for the next indexing to see if things change, but what could be going on here? This is more of an SEOmoz question, as we're talking over 10 point deduction in domain authority, although search results are still strong.
Reporting & Analytics | | kwoolf0