What is a Pingback in WordPress?

Similar to a tag or mention on Instagram and Facebook, a pingback notifies you every time your blog is tagged or mentioned on the web. The main function of the pingback is similar to those two, but with a small modification. So what is a pingback?

WordPress defines a pingback as a special type of comment that is created when you link to another blog, as long as they enable the feature. I know, it’s not that simple. So let’s see how it works to better understand what a pingback is.

How does a pingback work?

Please note that a pingback is a push notification. The following illustration of two bloggers explains how this works, assuming both WordPress sites have pingback enabled.

1. The blogger A write a post and include a link to a post from the website of the blogger B.
2. The blogger A publish the post.
3. WordPress sends a pingback to the website of the blogger B.
4. The pingback will appear in the comments section of the post B.. This is what a pingback looks like:

It’s like you’re saying, “Hey, I just linked to this page in my post.” That is all!

Please note that pingback is a native feature of the WordPress platform. If you want to perform such an operation with another platform like Blogger, you must use a trackback. However, unlike a pingback, trackback does not work automatically. Take a look at this illustration:

1. A (WordPress user) writes a post and wants to link to a specific post on WordPress website B. (Blogger user).
2. A visit the post of B. and look for the trackback URL near the comments section. It usually looks like this:

3. A copies the trackback URL and inserts it into the WordPress visual editor.
4. A publishes the article and the pingback is activated so that it appears in the publication of B.. It usually looks like this:

The appearance of the trackback is slightly different, since it contains an excerpt of the content. You should also use a specific URL for the trackback, not the URL from the address bar. Other than that, pingback and trackback are pretty much the same thing.

Configure WordPress pingbacks

No technical skill is required to use pingbacks. In fact, you may have pinged many blogs without even knowing it. This could happen if both your blog and the linked blog allow this feature. If you want better control over this, use the following settings:

Disable or enable pingback

go to Settings > Comments and check or uncheck the activation box, depending on your needs.

WordPress will send you a one-time approval request when another blogger wants to pingback you. To handle this, you just have to scroll down inside Comment settings to find Comment Moderation > Moderation Queue. Here you have the option to approve or reject any pingback. Once approved, the blogger no longer needs your approval if they want to send more pingbacks. Everything is automated.

Disable auto-pingbacks

Oddly enough, you will receive the approval request every time you link to your own posts, which is called auto-ping. If you’re an avid writer who frequently includes references to previous posts, this is really annoying. However, there is no need to worry, as it is very easy to solve.

You just need to replace the full URL with the one of your post. Let’s say we want to link to our own article titled “”.

Instead of using the full URL:

use only the slug:

what-is-wordpress

This stops sending a new request. Sometimes your visual editor will automatically rewrite the full URL for you. To avoid this, simply switch to the HTML editor and the problem should be resolved.

You can also use certain plugins like and to avoid this. Or, if you’re familiar with PHP, copy this code into the file functions.php.

{code type=php}//remove pings to self function no_self_ping( &$links ) { $home = get_option( ‘home’ ); foreach ( $links as $l => $link ) if ( 0 === strpos( $link, $home ) ) unset($links); } add_action( ‘pre_ping’, ‘no_self_ping’ );{/code}

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In conclusion, do you need this function?

Pingbacks can be a powerful tool for the growth of your website. It can cause readers of the linked post to click on your pingback, potentially generating a lot of new traffic. Automated commenting can also help your engagement within the blogging community.

However, the downside is that your site could be the target of malicious attacks and spam. Disable the pingback feature to prevent such attacks, or take additional protective measures by installing plugins like and .

And whether you enable pingbacks or not, the important thing is that you stay safe!

Gustavo is passionate about creating websites. He focuses on the application of SEO strategies at for Spain and Latin America, as well as the creation of high-level content. When he is not applying new WordPress tricks you can find him playing the guitar, traveling or taking an online course.