Are you struggling with WordPress trackback spam? WordPress trackback spam can become a serious problem for many site owners. In this article, we will show you how to stop WordPress spam. If your spam solution isn't working for you, then one of the tricks below will help you get rid of trackback spam.
Pingback and trackback spammers are generated by spammers who use automated scripts to send millions of trackbacks to websites around the world. Like comment spam, trackback spam is not directed at your site personally.
What these spammers hope to achieve is that they can leave their links on a website where trackbacks are not monitored. Most of these spam links point to illegal activities like selling drugs, running scams, distributing malicious code, etc.
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The easiest and fastest way to deal with trackback spam is to completely disable it in WordPress settings. All you need to do is visit Settings »Discussion page and below the default article settings, uncheck the box next to 'Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks)' .
This will disable trackback and pingback spam on your new articles. However, you still need to disable trackbacks on existing WordPress posts. You can do this by following this tutorial on how to disable trackbacks and pings on existing posts.
If you don't want to disable trackbacks and pingbacks, here's how you can combat trackback spam.
Akismet is one of two default plugins that come bundled with every WordPress site. The plugin actually connects your website to the Akismet anti-spam service.
This is a massive spam filter that monitors millions of sites for spam comments and trackbacks. We use Akismet on WPBeginner to monitor comments.
It is generally thought to be just a spam comment moderation tool, but it is also very effective against WordPress trackback spam. If you are not already using Akismet, you should activate it immediately. See our guide on Akismet and why you should start using it.
The Simple Trackback Validation plugin allows you to stop trackback spam by running simple tests on every incoming trackback. At first, it automatically blocks any trackback originating from topsy, which is a social search tool used for trackback spam.
It then checks to see if the trackback actually originates from the site it claims to be from. Lastly, it checks to see if there is a real link to your site in the trackback source.
This plugin is not a spam protection plugin, but it does provide a feature that some site owners may need. As the name suggests, it completely hides WordPress trackbacks and pingbacks from appearing in comments on the front end of your website.
It is particularly useful for sites where hundreds of spam trackbacks are accidentally posted. You can activate this plugin to hide all trackback spam from the public and then go to the comments section in the WordPress admin area to remove all trackback spam.
That's all we hope this article has helped you to block WordPress trackback spam. You may also want to take a look at these 12 vital tips and tools to combat WordPress comment spam.
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