Are Meta Keywords Useful, In Blogger Blog Posts?

Some blog owners do not completely understand the concept of meta description, vs meta keywords - and how blog search reputation can be affected.

We see occasional questions, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger.

I know how to enter meta info on each blog post under the Search Description field - but do I have to put all permutations of a subject in the Search Description?

Here, we see the possibility of unintended "keyword stuffing", and degraded search engine reputation.

We must be careful to not misuse the meta search description feature - and avoid keyword stuffing.

Well written meta descriptions can help search reputation.

A well written meta description can be part of a well designed blog and of well written posts. It can help search engines index a blog, or a post, properly - and in a SERP listing, can attract readers.

Contrarily, a collection of meta keywords can look like keyword stuffing. The latter can cause degraded search engine reputation.

Search engines are long past benefiting from meta keywords.

Search engines have long been made more introspective, than for a blog to benefit from meta keywords. Search engines now extract keywords from indexed content, automatically.

While it is possible to design blog or website pages to use keywords, keywords now are extracted from visible content. Google is quite blunt about meta keywords.

Google doesn't use the "keywords" meta tag in our web search ranking.

Write good posts, to get good SERP positions.

If you want good SERP positioning, write good posts, using informative, interesting, and unique content. That's the best advice, for Blogger blogs.

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Some #Blogger blog owners still try to use meta keyword tags, to improve search engine reputation. They don't realise that search engines now develop their own keyword lists, from visible content.

Good search list positions come from good content, to be read by people - not from jumbles of words, randomly strung together.

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html

https://moz.com/community/q/meta-keywords-should-we-use-them-or-not

http://cohlab.com/blog/stop-using-keywords-meta-tag.html

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/79812

FaceBook Is Aggregating BlogSpot CC Aliases

We're seeing a few questions recently, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about FaceBook, and their treatment of Blogger URLs that are subject to local country domain redirection.

When I share a post on FaceBook, the URL used for my blog ends with "blogspot.in" instead of "blogspot.com".

Some people in Europe observe a variation.

When I share a post on FaceBook, the URL used for my blog ends with "blogspot.nl" instead of "blogspot.com".

We've been observing, for a long time, that FaceBook and other Internet services should start using the canonical tag - and aggregate BlogSpot URLs, that are subject to local country domain redirection.

With aggregation done properly, all BlogSpot URLs would be listed as "blogspot.com" - and all Likes, and similar references to a given Blogger blog, would be later counted under the proper "blogspot.com" URL - regardless where a given blog reader gets Internet access.

Apparently, FaceBook is now aggregating BlogSpot URLs - but they are not successfully using the canonical URL, as provided by the tag in the blog header. FaceBook now uses "blogspot.in" - or maybe "blogspot.nl" or "blogspot.pe" - as the final URL for some Blogger blogs, when shared.

If you share your blog to FaceBook and observe this problem, try using the FaceBook Sharing Debugger. Select "Scrape Again", when you see "blogspot.pe", or another alias, in the debugger log.

Selecting "Scrape Again", enough times, may lead to the Debugger displaying "blogspot.com" - and your actual canonical blog URL will be cached. This will provide a work around until FaceBook corrects their sharing feature.

When Blogger first started using local country domain redirection, only Google services such as Google Search would reliably aggregate all local country domain references, to "blogspot.com".

Many non Google services did not use canonical aggregation, immediately. Like every other newly developed Internet feature, it takes time for every web service to update their code.

With only Google using canonical aggregation, every Blogger URL subject to country code alias redirection would be shared using the country domain, as seen by the person doing the sharing. People in France might share a Blogger URL as "blogspot.fr", people in India as "blogspot.in", and so on.

People in the USA, of course, would share a Blogger URL as "blogspot.com". The USA, and various other countries, is not subject to country code alias redirection.

FaceBook is now aggregating BlogSpot URLs - but they are not using the canonical tag, in the blog header. They are aggregating to "blogspot.in", "blogspot.nl", or "blogspot.pe" for some or all BlogSpot URLs, shared to their service.

Maybe, FaceBook is resolving "blogspot.com" from various countries that are subject to local country domain redirection - and generates the redirection themselves?



Right now, for some blog owners who share a BlogSpot URL to FaceBook, the URL will be modified, to "blogspot.in", "blogspot.nl", or "blogspot.pe". Every Like, and similar activity against that URL, will then be counted under the "blogspot.in", "blogspot.nl", or "blogspot.pe" alias. This is probably slightly better than having every different URL shared by country code alias - but only slightly better.

Blogger blogs published to custom domains are not subject to URL modification, because custom domain URLs are not subject to local country domain redirection.

Some Blogger blogs will continue to appear to have at 3 URLs - "blogspot.com", "blogspot.in", "blogspot.nl", or "blogspot.pe", and any others under which FaceBook was sharing, originally. The search engines may index blog content, accessed from FaceBook shares, as "blogspot.com", "blogspot.in", "blogspot.nl", or "blogspot.pe".

If this is not acceptable, you may need to report this to FaceBook Support. Please, resist the temptation to install malicious code on your blog, that will later leave you asking for advice on having the blog unlocked, cleaned and reviewed.

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https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/2UXBv3Q21YY/discussion

What's The Canonical URL Of My Blog?

This blog is (for those of you not familiar with it) "The Real Blogger Status".

The URL of this blog is currently "http://blogging.nitecruzr.net". As long as I publish the blog properly (as "blogging.nitecruzr.net"), I am allowed to advertise the blog using any combination of lower case and upper case letters, that I like. This blog can be accessed as "blogging.nitecruzr.net", "Blogging.Nitecruzr.Net", or even "BlOgGiNg.nitecruzr.net". We say that Blogger URLs are case insensitive.

Even with my readers allowed to use any combination of lower and uppercase letters, to access this blog, I don't want the search engines to index (and determine page rank) my blog using the exact URLs, as typed by each different reader. Even with this blog being addressed as "blogging.nitecruzr.net", "Blogging.Nitecruzr.Net", or even "BlOgGiNg.nitecruzr.net", the search engines index this blog as "blogging.nitecruzr.net".

To help this happen, Blogger uses the "canonical" tag, in the blog header.

The "canonical" tag is not unique to Google.

The "canonical" tag is a cooperative standard.

It was developed as a standard in 2009, jointly, by Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

Every Blogger blog, which has a standard and up to date header, contains a "canonical" tag.

A Blogger "canonical" tag is used to convert the blog URL to lowercase characters.

The "canonical" tag provides the base URL of the blog, in all lower case letters, so the search engines know how to ignore various syntax variations.

• Case variations.
• CC TLD aliases.
• Any other reader generated variations.

All links are indexed under one unified URL, providing better SERP positioning, and more search engine generated traffic.

Look at the source for this blog home page, in the header. Note that you have to look at the online "source code" - not at the raw HTML, using the Template Editor!

Here's an excerpt of the header for this blog, with a few line breaks added - and some lines removed - to make it more readable.

<head>
<meta content='IE=EmulateIE7' http-equiv='X-UA-Compatible'/>
<meta content='width=1100' name='viewport'/>

...

<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/favicon.ico'
rel='icon' type='image/x-icon'/>
<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/' rel='canonical'/>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - Atom"
href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - RSS"
href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss" />
<link rel="service.post" type="application/atom+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - Atom"
href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24069595/posts/default" />
<link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml"
title="RSD" href="http://www.blogger.com/rsd.g?blogID=24069595" />
<link rel="openid.server" href="http://www.blogger.com/openid-server.g" />

There it is.

<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/' rel='canonical'/>

My test blog, "Nitecruzr New Template Laboratory", is still published to "nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com".

<link href='http://nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com/' rel='canonical'/>

The "canonical" tag is essential for the country code domains.

These records are essential, for blogs published to "blogspot.com", now that Blogger is aliasing our blogs using country code TLD URLs.

My test blog, for instance, published to "nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com", will be accessed as "nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.in" in India - but the search engines, which observe the Canonical tag, will still index any links as "nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com".

BlogSpot Published Blogs Being Accessed Using Country Code TLDs

Recently, some blog owners outside the USA have been asking about mysterious redirects which they (or their readers) are seeing, when accessing their blogs.

Why is "xxx.blogspot.com" now redirecting to "xxx.blogspot.com.au"?

and

Why was my blog address recently changed from ".com" to ".in"?

Blogger will host our blog content using country code relevant aliases, according to the unique laws of each different country.

The local country domain URL is determined using geolocation.

The relevant CC alias will be accessed automatically, according to the network location of the reader in question. These aliases are being added on a country by country basis, with Australia ("blogspot.com.au") and India ("blogspot.in") apparently recently deployed.

This will let Blogger remove content, that's illegal in one country, without having to remove that same content for all of your readers, worldwide. You benefit, because your blog won't go offline, for the entire world, when you publish something that's illegal in one single country.

A BlogSpot blog, with a standard header, will be indexed under "blogspot.com".

With any BlogSpot published blog containing a standard Blogger header, the blog will have a canonical reference to the "blogspot.com" alias. The search engines will index the blog, using the "blogspot.com" alias - even when following a country code specific link.

The search engine ranking of your blog won't be affected - except that a blog, left online in most countries, will get more traffic than one taken offline worldwide. When you check the Page Rank, you should continue to check the "blogspot.com" URL, because all search engine reputation will accumulate under the "blogspot.com" alias.

Owners of blogs with custom templates should check the template.

Owners of older or uniquely developed blogs, possibly using Classic or highly customised templates, may want to check the headers in their blogs, and make sure that they have a "canonical" tag referencing their "blogspot.com" alias.

Blogs published to non "blogspot.com" URLs, using properly setup and fully operational "custom domain" publishing, will not be affected - as the default "blogspot.com" URL is already redirected to the domain URL. While a newly purchased custom domain is "In Transition", the domain redirect will not be in effect - and the "blogspot.com" URL will be subject to CC alias redirect.

Any reader using a browser or computer that's affected by domain based filters will need to check all filters. Add "blogspot.com.au", "blogspot.in", "blogspot.jp", or any other relevant country, wherever "blogspot.com" is specified.

Note that geolocation will produce anomalies in odd cases.

Note that the redirect uses geolocation, to identify a relevant country code. Readers in small countries, or located near the border of other countries, may be using an ISP located in a different country, and may find their personal redirect reflecting the other country.

Any reader wishing to bypass the local alias can access a "no country redirect" alias using the URL of "blogspot.com/ncr". Similar to the "ncr" URL modifier used to bypass local language redirects of "blogger.com", this will give access to the U.S. English alias of the blog of your choice.

What's The BlogID Of My Blog?

This blog is (for those of you not familiar with it) "The Real Blogger Status".

The URL (name) of this blog is currently "http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/", and it was previously "http://bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com/". Subject to the details involved in the renaming process, I am entitled to rename this blog anytime that I wish, and the name (URL) can change, anytime I do so.

There is another "name" for the blog, that does not change (unless I should perform a blog / URL swap).

The BlogID is the internal name, that's setup when the blog is first created. Look at the source for the blog, in the header.

<head>

...

<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/' rel='canonical'/>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - Atom"
href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - RSS"
href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss" />
<link rel="service.post" type="application/atom+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - Atom"
href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24069595/posts/default" />
<link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD"
href="http://www.blogger.com/rsd.g?blogID=24069595" />

There we see two places to find the BlogID.

If you are a blog member, you can also find the BlogID in a few links in your dashboard. In some cases when asking for help in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, you may need the BlogID, as well as the URL.

Since the BlogID is easily visible in the blog source code, you'll not hide it with any useful result. The BlogID, when known, won't provide a hacker or blog thief access to the dashboard. Any URL which contains "blogID" can only be used by a blog owner or administrator.

If I were unlucky, and this blog was to be locked as suspected spam, the BlogID would become the LockedBlogID. In this case, the LockedBlogID may be the only thing useful in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Blogger Magic - Detecting The Blog Feed

Ever see a magician take a pack of playing cards, shuffle the deck, wave his wand over the deck, and make the Ace of Spades rise into the air? Pretty mysterious.

How about I wave my wand over my blog, and make the blog feed URL rise into your browser? You've seen a BlogList wizard - you add a blog to your bloglist. Just type in the blog URL, and it pops up the feed. How did it do that?

The answer isn't hard to see, just look in the template header, for the live blog.

You can find the feed URL, by viewing the template header.

Use View - "Page Source" with the blog displayed in your browser, or use an HTTP text proxy, to examine the blog code. There, you will find the auto discovery feed URL.

Here's the header for this blog.

<head>

...

<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/' rel='canonical'/>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - Atom"
href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - RSS"
href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss" />
<link rel="service.post" type="application/atom+xml" title="The Real Blogger Status - Atom" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24069595/posts/default" />

...

</style>

There it is

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default

You won't see anything from the template source, in "Page Elements" - "Edit HTML". You have to look at the live, rendered HTML.

Here's what you may see, in "Edit HTML".

<head>
<meta content='IE=EmulateIE7' http-equiv='X-UA-Compatible'/>
<meta content='width=1100' name='viewport'/>
<b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/>
<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>

Not all third party templates will include the crucial code snippet:

<b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/>

If your template is missing that line of code, no magic for you.

Enable the blog feeds from the dashboard Settings page.

To enable the newsfeeds, use the dashboard Settings - Other - "Site feed" wizard. The choice of setting for "Allow Blog Feed" affects the use of dynamic templates, and successful search engine indexing of the blog.

Now, consider possible additional details which some blogs have. Both a custom domain redirect, and a custom feed (ala FeedBurner) redirect, may provide more challenge.

You can't change the native feed URL, without a feed redirector.

Also note that the URL shown in the header displays the native URL of the feed - and reflects the value of the internal feed URL variable. If you change this header record, that won't change the internal variable. To change the URL, you need to setup a redirected feed (such as a FeedBurner feed) - then use the Post Feed Redirect setting, to point to the redirected feed.

Set the "Post Feed Redirect URL", to point to the redirected feed.



You do know, I hope, that if your blog is private, it will not publish a feed. And finally, be aware that not all online services accept a redirected feed.

Any blog with a standard header will provide the feed URL, as auto discovery.

But once you understand the details, you can Follow any blog which has the auto discovery feed URLs, defined in the blog header. Just use the "Add" wizard in "Reading list", in your dashboard - and provide the URL of the blog.

Identifying Yourself, As The Owner Of Your Blog

Occasionally, somebody in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? wonders

Why don't I have a Layouts (or Template) link in my dashboard?

or

How do I setup additional team members, without the right link in Permissions?

and the first question is

Are you logged in as the blog administrator / owner?

It's not difficult to verify the owner of your blog, if you have a public profile, and a standard template.

In your browser, select View, then "Page Source" or "Source". Or, use an HTTP text proxy. Look at the code for this blog, heavily trimmed and broken, for 'link rel="me"'.

<head>

...

<link rel="service.post" type="application/atom+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - Atom"
href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24069595/posts/default" />
<link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml"
title="RSD" href="http://www.blogger.com/rsd.g?blogID=24069595" />
<link rel="me" href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/08069634565746003311" />

There it is!

https://www.blogger.com/profile/08069634565746003311

or maybe you'd see

https://plus.google.com/114025756997654559499

That's my profile. Click on either link.

Find the Profile URL, and follow the link - and look at the Profile.

So, look at the header code for your blog, locate the "me" link, extract the attached URL, and follow the link- either for a Blogger Profile, or for a Google+ Profile.

If there's no "me" link - which is normal, for blogs under team ownership - look carefully in the sidebar - if the blog has a Profile / "About Us" gadget, you may be able to find a "www.blogger.com/profile/ ..." or "plus.google.com/ ..." link there.

With some team blogs, you may find a list of each individual profile, for the whole team. Each individual profile should have a different Profile ID in the attached URL - again, "www.blogger.com/profile/ ..." or "plus.google.com/ ...".

Then, find the Profile URL from your dashboard - and compare the two.

Take each available "www.blogger.com/profile/ ..." or "plus.google.com/ ..." link, paste it into your browser, and take a look - or click on the link, if possible. Then, go to your dashboard, and find the Profile URL, from the dashboard. Compare the two profiles - are they the same?

If not, you probably inadvertently created a second (or third) Blogger account, possibly as you incorrectly transferred a blog from one Blogger account to another.

Learn to login to Blogger properly - and avoid multi account confusion.

When you login to Blogger, first clear cache, cookies, and active login sessions - then make sure that you login using the proper Blogger account. If necessary, recover the account information, and start over.

Remember that when you login, Blogger will not select the account for you. If you have FeedBurner, GMail, Picasa, or any of the other many Google services under another account, you'll need to use two different browsers - or a different computer.

Note the limitations of the procedure, when the owner wants privacy.

Note that this procedure works only for blogs and profiles that are properly made public. If a blogger has chosen to not make the profile public, or if the blog in question is published as private (with designated readers), you won't get the details needed here. And if the blog has multiple administrators, it probably won't have the "me" meta tag in the header.

In extreme cases, you'll need assistance from Blogger, using the Having trouble signing in? wizard. Now, you have to hope that your account isn't intentionally based on a bogus email address.

Identify The Template In Your Blog

My preferred policy in Information Technology starts with

Everything has a name.

Having worked with Blogger for several years, I have compromised that, and now say

Everything should have a name.

Unfortunately, there will always be things that have no names, they are just there.

When you work on the template in your blog, and especially when you ask for help with the template, the first thing that you must provide is the URL of the blog.

The first thing that I do, when providing template help, is look at the blog, and determine.

• Is the template classic, or layouts?
• What is the make and model?
  • Is it a Blogger standard template, or third party?
  • If Blogger, what "model" is it?

While you're reading this article, do "View page source" or "Ctrl+U" (for Chrome), "View", then "Page Source" (for Firefox), or "View", then "Source" (for Internet Explorer). Alternately, use an HTTP text proxy. That will give you a display of the code behind the page. You'll find a couple relevant and useful clues, in the display.

At the top, and since this blog uses a Blogger standard template, you will find the template "model" information. Third party templates may, or may not, have this. Likewise, highly customised templates may, or may not, have this.

/*
-----------------------------------------------
Blogger Template Style
Name: Simple
Designer: Josh Peterson
URL: www.noaesthetic.com
----------------------------------------------- */

That tells me that I am looking at a blog that uses the Blogger standard "Simple" template. It's "Simple" - but somewhat customised.