Title: Refback
Author: David Shanske
Published: <strong>August 13, 2018</strong>
Last modified: December 26, 2020

---

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This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**.
It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when
used with more recent versions of WordPress.

![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/refback.svg)

# Refback

 By [David Shanske](https://profiles.wordpress.org/dshanske/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/refback.2.0.1.zip)

 * [Details](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/refback/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/refback/#reviews)
 * [Development](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/refback/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/refback/)

## Description

Refback is a linkback method that works using the standard HTTP Referer header. 
Like pingbacks, trackbacks, and webmentions, it attempts to present links of other
sites that have linked to you.
 Unlike other methods, the other site requires no
additional support. The implementation works exactly as the other linkbacks do in
WordPress.

## FAQ

### Why not use Webmentions?

[Webmentions](http://www.w3.org/TR/webmention/) are preferable, however, webmentions
must be supported by the sender

### How can I send and receive Refbacks?

On the Settings –> Discussion Page in WordPress:

 * Activate receiving refbacks by checking the “Allow link notifications from other
   blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks) on new articles” option.

### How do I supporting refbacks for my custom post type?

When declaring your custom post type, add post type support for refbacks by either
including it in your register_post_type entry or adding it later using add_post_type_support.
This will also add support for receiving pingbacks and trackbacks as WordPress cannot
currently distinguish between different linkback types.

Refbacks will also respect the webmention plugin settings for which post types to
support. If you enable webmentions for that type, it will also enable refbacks.

### Do I need the Semantic Linkbacks Plugin?

No. This will work independently. However, if you have that plugin, it will parse
refbacks for Microformats.

### Do I need the Webmentions Plugin?

No. This will work independently. However, it will use the options in the webmentions
plugin, if enabled, specifically to accept refbacks to different post types and 
route homepage and other archive page mentions to pages if configured.

## Reviews

There are no reviews for this plugin.

## Contributors & Developers

“Refback” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this
plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ David Shanske ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/dshanske/)

“Refback” has been translated into 1 locale. Thank you to [the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/refback/contributors)
for their contributions.

[Translate “Refback” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/refback)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/refback/), check out
the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/refback/), or subscribe to
the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/refback/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/refback/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

Project and support maintained on github at [dshanske/wordpress-refback](https://github.com/dshanske/wordpress-refback).

#### 2.0.1 (2020-12-25)

 * Improvement after a few hours of testing.
 * Improved deduplication.
 * Allow display of avatars by default.
 * Store a referer count for future, which will increment during each referral.

#### 2.0.0 (2020-12-25)

 * Rewrite of plugin based on webmention code improvements through 5.X
 * Removal of old dependencies
 * Update to hook into Semantic Linkback using a filter. Previously, refback support
   was enabled by default in that plugin

#### 1.0.0

 * Initial release based on the Webmention plugin

## Meta

 *  Version **2.0.1**
 *  Last updated **5 years ago**
 *  Active installations **10+**
 *  WordPress version ** 4.9.9 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **5.6.17**
 *  Languages
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/refback/) and [Norwegian (Bokmål)](https://nb.wordpress.org/plugins/refback/).
 *  [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/refback)
 * Tags
 * [comment](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/comment/)[linkback](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/linkback/)
   [response](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/response/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://pcd.wordpress.org/plugins/refback/advanced/)

## Ratings

No reviews have been submitted yet.

[Add my review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/refback/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/refback/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ David Shanske ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/dshanske/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/refback/)