In simpler language: Take the word "footprint" the literal way.
When you walk down the beach for instance your footprints are easy to spot to you. To a tracker it is a bit more than that though.
A trained eye can see if you are male or female, your weight, if you have a limp and so forth.
To avoid being tracked you may want to change your shoes and to you wearing stiletto's for instance might look like a woman's print. You won't be fooling the tracker on your trail though. He would still know it is you by seeing the limp, the weight and now he notices you twist your left forefoot too. This will help him gain more and more information on you.
After a few miles you make it to the pavement, he may not see the prints in the sand but he now has enough information to spot you if walking by.
Taking that into account, have a look
here.
Do you now understand better what the others were saying?
Avoiding footprints is an art but most have the talent to learn, mostly on a "need" basis. It is recognizing patterns and avoiding them if needed, creating them in other circumstances. In SEO you normally want to avoid small footprints while creating a bigger one. lol
Disclaimer: I took the example of wearing women's shoes for arguments sake, didn't want to imply anything. Furthermore: I am no expert. Also, I recognize your pattern of building an account, it works. Keep it up.
