Recently, we've been seeing queries from some anxious blog owners
Why should I have to sign out a total of three, four, or more times?
With blogs that use a template that shows the navbar, the owner may logout, using the "Sign out" link - but the navbar may continue to suggest that they remain loggedin.
This problem may start with how we connect to Blogger, as part of the mysterious Internet cloud.
Blogger provides multiple connection points ("nodes") to their databases, through the Blogger / Google Content Distribution Network ("CDN"), in many different cities worldwide.
Generally, a blog owner will connect to Blogger, using the closest CDN node. Thanks to Internet Protocol networking with Multipath Routing, the "closest" node won't always be the node with the shortest distance, "as the crow flies", from the owner.
Determining logical distance between 2 computers involves more detail than simple geographical distance. Some blog owners will be equally "close" to multiple nodes - and this is where the problem starts.
All Blogger databases, in all CDN nodes, won't update immediately.
If a blog owner logs out from Blogger, when connected to one node, the Blogger database in other nodes won't always be updated immediately, to reflect the log out status. The CDN nodes update each other periodically - and there is always going to be some delay between updates.
The logical distance between a blog owner and a nearby node can change - and a different node may become "closer", at any time. With multiple nodes equally "close", the slightest change in the network between the blog owner and any "close" nodes can make the blog owner connect to a different node. The blog owner can fluctuate between 2, 3, or more "close" nodes, within seconds.
If the blog owner logs out while connected to one node, then re connects to a second node - before the first node updates with the second - the owner will appear to be still logged in.
Different CDN nodes may show a blog owner as logged in, until updated.
In some cases, the owner can continue to appear as "logged in", when connected to a different node. After logout (log out, signout, sign out) using the "Sign out" link, and the display refreshes, the navbar status will continue to display the account name and "Sign out" link.
Some blog owners will be equally "close" to multiple nodes. They may go through 2, 3, or more sign outs - until all nearby nodes are properly updated, or updated by repeated "Sign out".
Long ago, update delay led to a different mysterious problem.
Long ago, blog owners reported the mysterious advice
You have logged out from another location. Do you want to log in again?
Now, they continue to see the navbar "Sign out" link.
This monolithic error used to make many scream, in anguish.
Previous advice, to workaround the mysterious "You have logged out from another location. Do you want to log in again?", may work for the logout problem.
- Check cookie and script filters.
- Clear cache, cookies, and sessions (yes, all 3).
- Restart the browser.
- Click on the link below, to login to Blogger.
https://www.blogger.com
A similar example of CDN node update delay involves post editor / template editor.
I see this problem currently, when updating posts. I update my posts, frequently - and see this error message, almost daily.
An error occurred while trying to save or publish your post. Please try again.
Post Editor, showing another monolithic error, after clicking "Update" - just as I updated this post.
There's nothing to do now, but hope for the best. The above procedure may or may not fix this problem.
Template editor will be subject to the same frustration. Any Blogger dashboard change that involves significant delay between opening and saving changes (such as editing) will have a similar problem potential. And here may be one more detail that affects stability of long term draft mode post editor sessions.
If you connect to multiple CDN nodes, while you update a post or edit a template, you end up with "conflicting edits". How should we expect the different database nodes to update each other, consistently, with different edits made to the different nodes?
Some blog owners connect through nodes in different countries.
With "nearby" nodes in different countries, it's possible that country local domains, affected by intrusive cookie or script filters, can complicate this problem. A cookie or script filter can prevent the "Sign out", until the blog owner is connected to a node in a different country.
A cookie or script filter can be a part of many network, performance, or security accessories, on the computer or network. Some filters are updated without knowledge of the blog or computer owner.
Network connections may change in milliseconds.
Multipath routing can cause network connection changes within milliseconds. CDN node updates won't be that frequent. Impatient blog owners may observe the lack of update from "Sign out", and report the problem.
Why would I have to sign out a total of three or more times?
No matter where Google locates their many nodes, some blog owners will be equally "close" to multiple nodes - and their connections can change frequently. The more equally "close" nodes, the more random path changes, and the more this problem will be seen, by different blog owners. Other blog owners won't care, because they may never see this happen.
The new "Responsive" templates may serve as a solution.
The new, "Responsive" class templates lack the navbar, and "Sign out". Blog owners, who publish their blogs to the new templates, won't use the "Sign out" link in the navbar - and they will not observe the delay in CDN node updates.
Some blog owners report that after logging out from #Blogger, the navbar continues to show that they remain logged in.
Thanks to the Blogger / Google Content Distribution Network, where an owner can connect to any of many different nearby CDN Nodes, this will probably always be with us.
Some Blogger blogs cannot be viewed, in some proxy servers.
Proxy servers are useful, when diagnosing connectivity and other blog display issues. They are more useful, though, when the content of the blogs being diagnosed does not contribute to the problems.
The reported discrepancy appears to start with blogs published using dynamic templates.
Comparing blogs displayed using Anonymouse and GeoPeeker, we frequently see a discrepancy in display content.
One discrepancy appears to involve blogs published using dynamic templates. Both Anonymouse (a single location proxy) and GeoPeeker (a multi location proxy display) have been useful, repeatedly, in diagnosing and reporting multiple issues.
I first used GeoPeeker, as part of the EU Cookie Advice Banner discussions. I have used Anonymouse frequently, in demonstrating and diagnosing various blog problems.
First, examine this blog.
This blog, blogging.nitecruzr.net, is published to a non dynamic template. It is visible, in multiple proxy server displays.
Here's a display from Anonymouse, showing this blog, "blogging.nitecruzr.net".
http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/https://blogging.nitecruzr.net/
Anonymouse, showing this blog, "blogging.nitecruzr.net".
Here's a display from GeoPeeker, showing this blog "blogging.nitecruzr.net".
https://geopeeker.com/fetch/?url=blogging.nitecruzr.net
GeoPeeker, showing this blog "blogging.nitecruzr.net".
Now, examine my blog, published using a dynamic template.
My Musings blog, musings.nitecruzr.net, is published to a dynamic template. It is visible, in some proxy server displays.
Here's a display from GeoPeeker, showing my dynamic template published blog "musings.nitecruzr.net".
https://geopeeker.com/fetch/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmusings.nitecruzr.net%2F
GeoPeeker, showing "musings.nitecruzr.net".
Here's a display from Anonymouse, showing "musings.nitecruzr.net".
http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://musings.nitecruzr.net
Anonymouse, showing "musings.nitecruzr.net".
Where's the beef, Clara?
And a third blog, also published using a dynamic template.
A third blog, thestimulatedbrain.blogspot.com, is published to a dynamic template. It is visible, in some proxy server displays.
Here's a display from GeoPeeker, showing a third dynamic template published blog, "thestimulatedbrain.blogspot.com".
https://geopeeker.com/fetch/?url=thestimulatedbrain.blogspot.com
GeoPeeker, showing "thestimulatedbrain.blogspot.com".
Here's a display from Anonymouse, showing "thestimulatedbrain.blogspot.com".
http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/https://thestimulatedbrain.blogspot.com/
Anonymouse, showing "thestimulatedbrain.blogspot.com".
The owner of "thestimulatedbrain.blogspot.com" points out that many Blogger blogs, and non Blogger websites do display properly, using AnonyMouse and similar proxies. I will add details, as they are provided.
I'll check out more blogs, and more proxy servers, as the week continues.
I'll continue, by examining more blogs - dynamic template and non dynamic template - possibly using additional proxy servers - as time permits.
I'm not sure how many of these discrepancies can be - or should be - handled by Blogger Engineering. That said, I note a suggestion by a Blogger Support expert, that the opportunity be provided to Blogger Support, to diagnose and enhance the dynamic templates.
It appears that some #Blogger blogs do not display properly, using some proxy servers. The discrepancy appears to involve blogs published, using dynamic templates.
This makes verification of world wide blog visibility confusing, to some blog owners.
If your blog is published to a dynamic template, neither you or your readers will have a navbar, when your blog is being viewed.
The navbar, found on blogs which use a non dynamic template - when selected by the blog owner - has a number of reader friendly icons and links.
Dynamic templates have a "menu bar" 1/5 of the way down the page - which provides a combination of the Pages gadget, and limited navbar functions. At the far right end of the menu bar, you'll see 2 tiny icons - when you are properly logged in as the blog owner.- New post, the "pencil" icon.
- Home, the "home" icon.
Blog administrators have limited navbar functions, on a blog that's published using a dynamic template.
Blog administrators have limited dashboard access using menu bar icons.
The menu bar, just below the dynamic template title section, has the "New post" and "Home" links.
There's the menu bar, just below the Title / Description.
At the far end of the menu bar, the "pencil" and "home" icons.
You'll see the "pencil" and "home" icons - when you are logged in to Blogger, as the blog owner.
Blog readers have no navbar icons, in the dynamic template menu bar.
If you're not logged in to Blogger, you get no menu bar dashboard access.
If you never logged in to Blogger, or if you have a problem with a filter blocking access to the login cookie, you won't have any dashboard access.
If you can't access the dashboard using icons, you'll be able to login - just use a bookmarked link.
https://www.blogger.com/home
If you have a cookie filter problem, you may have to login again, to access the dashboard for your dynamic template blog.
A #Blogger blog that uses a dynamic template won't have a navbar, with easy access to the dashboard, and a convenient login / logout link. Dynamic templates provide a menu bar, which is a combination of a miniature Pages gadget and navbar.
target="_blank"
Last week, after some complaints were heard from blog owners who were using the dynamic templates on their blogs, Blogger added "Dashboard" and "New Post" links in the header bar. These new links are accessible when the blog owner is logged in, as a blog administrator.
Unfortunately, their improvement did not take into account the need to login. Blog owners, not logged in, will still see no links.
If not logged in, you may access your dashboard simply using the link to Blogger.http://www.blogger.com/
Alternately, you may access the non dynamic alias of any blog, for instancehttp://blogging.nitecruzr.net/?v=0
and you may then use the "Login" link in the navbar.
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Yesterday, we saw a few reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, mentioning the lack of a link, in the dynamic views header bar, to our dashboards.I'm using dynamic views and now can't access my dashboard!
It appears that the Blogger logo / Attribution ("Powered by Blogger" caption), which formerly linked to our dashboards, is not there, any more. This deficiency appears universal - the links no longer appear on all different dynamic views, on header bars with the views listed side by side or in the pulldown list, or on blogs where dynamic views are default, or optional.
Having reported this problem to Blogger Support, we were informed that they are planning an update, coming very soon, that will provide links in the header bar similar to the right side of the non dynamic template navbar. We will, presumably, have links to "Design", "New Post", and such. Until then, the previous links have been removed from the header bar.
For the time being, you may access your dashboard simply using the link to Blogger.http://www.blogger.com/
Alternately, you may access the non dynamic alias of any blog, for instancehttp://blogging.nitecruzr.net/?v=0
(Update 2011/11/16): We see now, various blogs with dynamic views, showing tiny Pencil ("New post") and Home ("Dashboard") icons, when the blog owner is properly signed in. You, not being an owner of this blog, will still see nothing, in my dynamic view demonstration of this blog.
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Up until last week, I would advise folks looking for traffic to their blogs that they should publish, publish, publish.Besides friends and family, your initial readers will come through the "Next Blog" link, randomly. You get more "Next Blog" traffic from posting more, less from posting less. And, you'll need this initial traffic.
Last week, with the new "Next Blog" link, all of that changed. Now, people hitting "Next Blog" get another blog, but with 2 major differences from the possibility last week.- The "next blog" linked to will be chosen for similar content / subject, and same language, as the blog being displayed currently.
- The "next blog" linked to will not be chosen relevant to updating activity. You're just as likely to get a blog published to 5 years ago, as 5 minutes ago.
This gives us two concerns, which we did not have earlier.- Finding other blogs of random subject and recent updates won't be as simple as hitting the "Next Blog" link.
- Getting initial traffic to your blog won't be as simple as merely "publish, publish, publish".
Instead of the "Next Blog" link bringing you random visitors, you may get more focused visitors.- Blogger Profile surfing. You create your Blogger profile, and indicate your various interests. You can find other people like you, when you click on your various interests. People like you will find your profile, and others like yours, when they surf from their profile.
- Google Blog Search. Once your blog has value to the search engines, people searching for subject related content will find your blog.
- Next Blog surfing. People will still find your blog using "Next Blog", they will simply start from a blog similar to yours, not one of random content.
Having found other blogs through any of the above techniques, you can attract traffic to your blog by becoming a Follower of blogs that interest you. You can find other blogs by surfing from those blogs, and other people who surf those blogs may, similarly, find your blog.
None of the above techniques will attract traffic based upon posting activity, though. Whether you post daily, or yearly, you'll be just as likely to attract traffic. And you'll be more likely to surf to other blogs with subject similar to your blog. And this brings us to the final (and possibly primary) result of the new "Next Blog" link.
Spam blogs, published by the thousands, will receive significantly less traffic, and our blogs will receive, relatively, more traffic.- Unless you start from a blog dedicated to hacking, porn, or spam, "Next Blog" will be less likely to bring you to a blog with hacking, porn, or spam.
- Publishing a blog 100 times / day will bring a spammer as much random traffic as publishing once / week, or once / year.
This will reduce the benefit of spammers who post splog farms, since 1,000 splogs today will probably attract as much traffic as 1 splog last week, and updating a splog once / year will likely attract as much traffic as once / day. This should contribute to decreased visibility and presence of the hundreds of thousand member splog farms, so common these days.
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Long ago, I observed that getting readers for your blog started with publishing posts. Thanks to the "Next Blog" link in the navbar, as you published posts, you'd get readers who randomly surfed to your blog. As you got more readers from random access, some readers would become return readers, which would encourage you to publish more. Which would bring you more readers. And so on.
That was a great strategy on Bloggers part, for a Blogosphere with- Relatively few blogs.
- No spammers.
Unfortunately, the spammers of the Internet figured that was the perfect way to get readers to their splogs, too. And BlogSpot splog farms were born.
This week, we have The New "Next Blog" link. For any blog with any given subject matter, a reader hitting "Next Blog" gets another blog in the same language, and with the same subject matter.
As noted by several readers of this blog, there's one thing missing now.
"Next Blog" now makes no attempt to look for blogs with recent posts. Any blog, whether published 5 minutes ago or 5 years ago, is eligible by language and by subject matter.
Along with removing incentive for spammers to publish thousands of splogs / day, this removes incentive for us to publish. A blog published 5 years ago will continue to receive random visitors, as long as there are other blogs like it.
This makes "Next Blog" uniformly random. The more blogs that there are like yours, the lesser the chance that any one of you (your blog, or a competitor's blog) will be chosen by the link, when anybody surfs a competitor's blog. Balancing that out, though, the more blogs that there are like yours, the greater the chance that there are people surfing blogs like yours, which increases your chance that your blog will be chosen by somebody hitting "Next Blog".
I'm not a mathemetician, but instinctively I suspect that this gives each blog in the Blogosphere an equal chance, with each other blog in the Blogosphere, of receiving a "Next Blog" inclick, at any time.
That being the case, how do we get readers for our blogs? We'll explore that question, in my Next Post, The New "Next Blog" Link - What Next?.
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Just a couple days ago, I observed that the "Next Blog" link in the navbar was being redesigned. So, it's here. Click on "Next Blog" from above. Now, you'll get other blogs in English, and for this blog, other techie blogs.
No more hacking, porn, or spam blogs, from clicking "Next Blog" - unless the blog that you're currently viewing contains hacking, porn, or spam. Which means no more hacking, porn, or spam from this blog, from clicking "Next Blog" - period.
The end of hacking, porn, and spam in the NextBlogosphere. Bravo, Blogger.
Maybe you'll see a third difference. Now, any randomly accessed other blog may, or may not be, recently updated. This won't please everybody, unfortunately.Before it would often bring me to sites I had no interest in or were not in english, but at least it brought me to recently updated sites. Now when I do it I often get stuck finding a ton of sites all on a single topic, and many of them haven't been updated in months/years.
You can't please everybody. You can have exciting, or you can have safe. I don't think that you can have both.
So next, we'll have to look for alternative strategies for publicising your blog. We used to start with publish, publish, publish. That's still a good goal - you want to write content that's interesting, and relevant, if that's what your readers like. But that won't get you readers, even random ones, now. No more random traffic to our blogs, from increased posting activity.
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I've been writing about the navbar, and the "Next Blog" link, for some time - about its random nature, about its dangers, and recently about its design changes. Soon, we are promised a major functionality change in "Next Blog". Blogger Buzz: Coming up Next... suggests that soon, the link will let us surf to blogs with both language and subject affinity to our blogs.
This is a great idea, and one that's been long overdue. This has been coming, since well before January 2008.
But like all great ideas, one should consider the details.
It will be interesting to see what a blog with a totally unique language / subject pair will link to. Also, how granular will the subject association be? For that matter, how will blog subject be determined? What of blogs with multiple subjects - or of course some blogs with no subject, simply ramblings?
And will this allow folks to intentionally (or un intentionally) surf to porn or spam, if they are currently viewing porn or spam? Will it be possible that the bad guys could build blogs that would have the right content, to intercept a blog viewer surfing non porn / spam, so they end up surfing through a ghetto of porn / spam blogs?
For that matter, maybe porn / spam wouldn't be the only types of hijackings. How about someone surfing blogs about automotive design being hijacked into a blog about the ozone layer (hopefully, you understand the connection there). Worse yet, into automotive insurance issues.
Take 10 minutes, see how many subject hijackings you could imagine. Soft spam / propaganda hijacks, nothing blatant. Still, opportunities a plenty, for abuse.
Ten minutes after this change hits the Blogosphere, the bad guys will have a hijack in design. Bet on it. As people start to trust the new "Next Blog" link, it'll be like wolves in the sheep pen, with no shepherds in sight.
Like many Blogger ideas, this one may deserve skeptical optimism.
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by Helen Kang, Software Engineer, Blogger
Some of you must have wondered what the Next Blog link on the NavBar does, and clicked on the link once or twice. Next Blog used to take you to a random blog, written by a random blogger. Your fellow blogger could have been writing her blog in a language that you don't know how to read. Or you might be someone who likes to read about food and restaurants in Germany, but your randomly chosen next blog could have been focused on sports, and written in Tagalog.
We've made the Next Blog link more useful, by taking you to a blog that you might like. The new and improved Next Blog link will now take you to a blog with similar content, in a language that you understand. If you are reading a Spanish blog about food, the Next Blog link will likely take you to another blog about food. In Spanish!
You might discover a cool blogger who has hobbies similar to yours, has similar taste in electronic gadgets, likes sports that you're into, or has similar curiosities and interests. We will finish rolling out the new and improved Next Blog link over the next week and hope that you will enjoy discovering blogs that are likely to interest you.
This has been a fun, collaborative effort on the Blogger team and we've enjoyed the support we received from other Google teams. We really hope you enjoy the new, more relevant Next Blog as much as we do.
It's been a bit over 2 months since Following was added as a Blogger feature, and daily we see anxious bloggers askingHow do I get Followers to my blog?
as if that is a holy grail of blogging. My first answer is always Write interesting and relevant content for the blog, so people will read the blog, and will want to Follow the blog.
But there is yet another detail, that not all bloggers seem to get.
Add a Followers gadget to the blog. Having a Followers gadget, with pictures of other Followers, will attract more Followers than just the "Follow" link in the navbar. The "Follow" link, besides not having pretty pictures, works differently than the Followers gadget.
You're going to get a different class of blog readers using the Followers gadget, than the Follow link. The Followers gadget lets people Follow the blog- without signing in to Blogger
- using a different Blogger account
- using a non Google account
The navbar Follow link requires the reader to be logged in, with the primary Blogger account, to the navbar. People who Follow the blog using the navbar link won't be as casual as those who Follow using the gadget.
Also, the Followers gadget encourages readers and visitors, by making your blog into an active part of the Following community that contains your blog.
You add Followers, like every other gadget, using "Page Elements".
The navbar link, frankly, is a poor substitute for the gadget. If you have a blog that uses a classic template, with which people who insist on publishing by FTP are stuck, the navbar link will be your only choice. But if the blog has a layouts template, and you want Followers, the gadget is your best accessory to add.
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The new navbar, with its Follow and Share links, has been out for just over a week. People are starting to use the Follow button, instead of the Followers gadget - which is not necessarily present on every blog. But there are differences between the "Follow" button on the navbar, and the "Followers" gadget that's (sometimes) added to the blogs. These differences are causing some confusion.
The Followers gadget lets you login to Following, under any account, Blogger or not - and separate from the account used to login to the navbar. If you so desire, you can Follow any blog without logging in - You'll add a temporary "shadow" icon to the blog (if you choose to Follow publicly), and you'll add the blog feed to your Reading List and / or Google Reader subscription list.
With the Follow link on the navbar, if you're not logged in (using the "Sign In" link), you'll not see a "Follow" link. Once you do login (which you can only do using a Blogger account), you can click on the Follow button. There, you'll get a choice of Following publicly, using your Blogger / Google account - or Following anonymously. If you Follow publicly, you'll use your Blogger profile, as connected with the account used to Sign In to the navbar.
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by Talin, Software Engineer, Blogger
As a blog author, you've probably spent more than a little time getting exactly the right "look" for your blog. A blog is an outlet for creative expression, and how your blog looks says as much about you as what is written on it. And we at Blogger are committed to giving you the tools to make a great-looking blog.
The Blog*Spot navigation bar ("navbar") is one area where we realized that there was some room for improvement. Our four traditional color scheme choices — Blue, Black, Tan, and Silver — are somewhat limited, especially if your blog's background color is lime green or hot pink.
That's why we have added two new color schemes — "Transparent Light" and "Transparent Dark." These new color schemes take advantage of the ability of modern browsers to render transparency (a technique known to web designers as "alpha blending"). This allows the navbar background to blend together with your blog's background color and pattern. The "Transparent Light" color scheme has a semi-transparent white background, producing subtle pastel colors, while the background of "Transparent Dark" is a semi-transparent black that produces a shaded look.
In addition, we've simplified and slimmed down the look of all the navbars, so that they will be more likely to harmonize with the aesthetics of your blog.
To enable the Transparent Light or the Transparent Dark navbar, go to Layout | Page Elements, then click Edit next to the navbar widget:
We had a lot of fun adding this feature and hope you like it too. Try it out!
Every day, we see one or two queries from confused bloggers, about these boxes.I type the URL in my browser, and getNo blog found.
orWhy doesn't it show more than what's in my blog?
orI know the URL. I can see it on my dashboard even. But the search says that it's not there.
All of these observations are evidence of people who don't know what all the boxes in the browser are intended to provide.
When you view your blog, there are 2 to 4 boxes of which you need to be aware.
The accessories on any given blog will vary, according to wishes of the owner.
Depending upon what accessories are provided in any given blog, there may be more. Depending upon what browser you have, there may be less. And depending upon what browser you have, the label, position, and size of any of these boxes isn't predictable. But, the boxes will be there.- Browser Address Box. This is the most important box visible. This is where you are supposed to paste or type the URL of your blog, another blog, or any website, to browse to the blog or website.
- Browser Search Box. This is a browser accessory, provided by some browsers, so you don't have to load the web page of the major search engines. Here, as on the search boxes on the various web pages, you paste or type the search that you want to do.
- Navbar Blog Search Box. If you haven't disabled the navbar, here you can paste or type keywords which will be used to search your blog, directly - without requiring that your blog be indexed by the search engines.
- Blog Search Gadget. This will be any search gadget added to a blog by the owner. This could be a version of the navbar blog search, or a version of the browser search box, but against different search engines.
The navbar search (with the navbar visible) is the only predictable accessory.
Except for the navbar blog search box, there is no way to predict if, what, or where any of these boxes will look like or appear. The labeling, positioning, even whether a box is included, are all a matter of personal preference. Some personal preference is of the blog owner, other is of the blog reader / owner of the computer used for browsing.
In some browsers, the address box and search box are combined, with browser code interpreting (more or less reliably) whether a URL or search terms have been entered. This causes confusion when the person used to any one browser uses a different browser - or maybe the same brand browser, on another computer.
I could show this blog, in my browser - that would show this blog, in my browser.
I could add a picture here, of my browser, on my computer. But, that would simply be a picture of my browser, and would only confuse you. I arrange my browser to suit my preferences and taste - and just as surely as I know that everything which I write in my blog won't interest everyone, I know that how I arrange my browser won't interest everyone, either.
The navbar is intended as the single most predictable object on the screen, when viewing Blogger blogs.
Not all blogs even display the navbar.
Unfortunately, some blogs are setup with the navbar hidden, which prevents use of the navbar blog search. To compensate for this, some blog owners will add a blog search gadget.
Search gadgets, for Blogger blogs, come in a variety of designs. A browser search gadget may be the equivalent of the browser search window, of the navbar blog search window, or even may be customised so you can't tell what it does.
Then there is the direct search, vs the indexed search, to consider.
Besides understanding the blog search box (whether navbar or blog based), we need to note a major difference between searching content directly - and searching indexed content.- Both a browser search box and a blog based custom search box will involve a search engine, which uses cached copies of every indexed blog and web site. The cached copies will be subject to search engine latency, causing discrepancies similar to SERPs referencing main page view.
- Blog direct searches, such as the navbar search box, and some custom search boxes, which will search the blog now, based upon what's in the blog, now.
If you changed the URL of your blog, it needs to be re indexed.
If your blog was just published to a custom domain, the blog will need to be re indexed under the new URL. You can accelerate the re indexing process, if you make some effort.
All of these details cause confusion, among many blog owners.
Considering all of these details, it's not surprising that there would be confusion, when people surf strange blogs and / or use strange browsers, maybe on strange computers. Possibly, by knowing the details, we can diagnose the questions from the confused bloggers.
By now, I'm sure that you've all seen the new navbar on our blogs. Besides having new links, and some links being renamed, there's a significant improvement - transparency.
For those of you wondering where "Search Blog" went, the "Search Blog" window is still there - the "Search Blog" caption was simply removed, to make space. And "Flag Blog" (which was, some time ago, greatly enhanced) is now accurately captioned "Report Abuse". And we have "Follow" (previously "Follow Blog"), matching the new "Share" link.
And, for everybody who has always hated the navbar because it was ugly, and its background colour never matched the blog, you can now select a transparent option - and let the background colour / images in the blog show. You can select "Transparent Dark", with light navbar characters and graphics - or "Transparent Light", with dark navbar characters and graphics.
You select the new options in the Navbar Configuration wizard in "Page Elements". Click on the "Edit" link to the right of "Navbar".
What you get doesn't look like complete transparency - you can see some colour variation on my home blog, "nitecruzr dot net", but on this blog - look above. Transparency on white looks pretty good.
No more ugly navbar stripe - that's a small improvement, but still a significant one. This may motivate some bloggers - though probably not all - to reverse their earlier decisions to hide the navbar on their blogs.
Now, since we're looking at the navbar, let's look at what the "Search Blog" box is. It is for searching for posts, in this blog, which contain references to the keywords entered into the box. It's not for searching for other blogs or web sites, neither using keywords or URLs. Just for keywords, in the blog that's currently displayed.
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I've been advising bloggers about an essential and sensitive subject - getting more traffic to their blogs - for years. Such a simple activity - post accurate, relevant, and useful articles - and advertise responsibly - the search engines will see you - and the readers will come. But there's a problem here, similar to the chicken and the egg paradox.If more search engine visibility depends upon more readers, and more readers depends upon better search engine visibility, how do you start the process?
Where did the first chicken come from, anyway?
With Blogger, there is a way around the paradox - the "Next Blog" link, driven by the "Recently Updated Blogs" list. When you post to your blog, your blog goes onto the "Recently Updated Blogs" list. People using the "Next Blog" link access the RUB list, and there they are reading your blog. The more that you post, the more readers you get from "Next Blog".
But, there's a limitation here. Recently, Blogger started making the "Next Blog" link more "family friendly". This effort, prompted by thousands of complaints from people tired of seeing material not suitable for minors - or in some cases - for anybody - was welcomed by many bloggers. Many malicious or unsuitable blogs, detected as spam blogs - simply disappeared from visibility.
But this effort has side effects, not welcomed by all bloggers. The Google spam blog detection is fuzzy, and it's prone to both false negative detection and false positive detection. The former means that not all spam blogs will be detected, and the latter means that not all blogs detected will be spam. This is similar to known problems with automated locking and / or deletion of spam blogs, and with TOS actions against accounts used for setting up and maintaining such blogs.
In my opinion, locking out spam blogs, from "Next Blog" links or from the Recently Updated Blog list, can be tuned to produce false positives, and eliminate false negatives. Locking and / or deletion of blogs, on the other hand, must be much more carefully balanced, as too many false positive detections will lead to too many complaints from owners of blogs falsely locked or deleted. Check the normal forum activity, in GBH: Login Issues and GBH: Publishing Trouble, if you don't understand this problem.
Exclusion of a non spam blog from "Next Blog" links or from the Recently Updated Blog list will be much easier to get away with, even with egregious false positive detection, simply because many blog owners don't know or care about "Next Blog" and the Recently Updated Blog list, nor is it easy to measure "Next Blog" activity. With that in mind, Blogger will likely tune their scanning with the goal of eliminating false negatives - excluding all malicious blogs from "Next Blog" and the Recently Updated Blog list - and there will be many more false positives.
So enjoy the cleaner and more useful "Next Blog" link, but note that there may be a price.
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