Make Your Blog Searchable - Where To Start

Making a blog searchable is the first step in getting search traffic, and readers, for our blogs - when we want them visible to the public.

Not all blog owners want their blogs visible to everybody. Complementing the ability to publish a blog, and have it visible only to invited readers, Blogger gives us the ability to make the blog invisible, to the search engines.

If we want readers for a blog, and do not have a private reader audience in mind, we first make it visible to the search engines.

The Privacy wizard, on the Blogger dashboard, lets us choose whether to make a blog visible to the search engines.

Start with the dashboard Settings - Basic page, and Edit the Privacy setting.

Select "Yes" for both options - if you want the blog indexed.



Select "Yes" for both options, if you want the blog indexed. This is how you start getting search traffic, and readers, for your blog.

• Add your blog to our listings?
• Let search engines find your blog?

And click "Save changes".

Having made the blog visible to the search engines, continue by publishing lots of informative, interesting, and unique content. Make it a blog that people will read - and that search engines will index.

If you prefer the blog to be invisible or private, on the other hand, select "No" for both options. Then continue by developing your private audience, as you like.

There are more settings - for owners who want to fine tune search engine access. Both the Blogger dashboard Settings - "Search preferences" page, and the "Google Search console" (previously known as "Webmaster Tools"), have a rich collection of settings, complementing "Privacy".

If you really want to fine tune these settings, look at the Settings - "Search preferences" page, and the "Crawlers and indexing" section - but read and heed the serious advice.

Warning! Use with caution. Incorrect use of these features can result in your blog being ignored by search engines.

You can read more advice in Blogger: Help people find your blog on search engines - and Webmasters: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide. And you'll find Webmaster Central: Crawling, Indexing, and Ranking and Webmaster Central: Search Console useful for personal advice, complementing Blogger Help Forum.

Since Webmaster Forums supports owners of static websites, as well as owners of Blogger blogs (and other blogs), not all Search Console / Webmaster advice and tools will be useful for Blogger blogs. Be selective when considering Webmaster instructions - and ask questions in Blogger Help Forum, any time you feel the need.

The "Privacy" wizard is where you start - and similarly where some blog owners should stop.

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The Blogger "Privacy" wizard, on the "Basic" Settings page, provides the start to getting a blog indexed by the search engines - when we want a blog indexed. Not all blog owners want their blog indexed - and that need makes the "Privacy" settings relevant.

Blog PageView Counts, And Social Sharing Activity

Ever since 2009, when Blogger introduced the Stats visitor activity counter, blog owners have been reporting inconsistencies between Stats and other visitor activity counters.

Recently, Google+ changed their +1 counter. Now, we wait for Blogger Engineering to update their +1 per post display counters, which use the +1 counts from Google+.

Blog owners continue to report various Stats inaccuracies - such as discrepancies between Stats pageview counts, and the various social sharing counters. They fail to observe the functional differences between the various activity counters - and similarly, between Stats counts and social sharing metrics, such as Google+ +1 counts.

Stats pageview counts and Google+ +1 counts compare no better, than Stats and various other visitor activity counters.

Social sharing contributes to your blog reputation, in a number of ways. Some social sharing relationships, compared with blog activity counters, may lead to confusion.

Social networking activity counts will resemble blog visitor activity counts - with the activity mentioning the blog.


There will be differences, between the two, however. The differences will contribute to perceived blog visitor activity count inaccuracy.

• You will have Followers - in asymmetrical and symmetrical relationships.
• You will have Followers - in direct, and indirect relationships.
• Not all Followers will read your blog posts.
• Some folks who do read your blog posts will be invisible, to you.
• The bottom line is reputation, for you and for your blog.

You will have Followers - in asymmetrical and symmetrical relationships.

Social sharing helps to connect people, through their interests.

You may read some posts in your Google+ stream, which will interest you. Some people will contribute many posts that interest you - and you will decide to Follow them. Those people may observe your activity, and decide to Follow you, in a symmetrical relationship.

You won't Follow everybody, symmetrically. Nobody can Follow everybody - or even everybody who Follows them.

Some people will share few interests with you, and have many interests that you don't have. You won't Follow those people.

Similarly, some people who you Follow won't Follow you, because you don't interest them.

You will have Followers - in direct, and indirect relationships.

If you use FaceBook or Google+ enough, you will see random posts in your stream - and decide to Follow some authors. Similarly, some of the people who see your posts, in their streams, will decide to Follow you.

You will +1 / Like / re share some posts from your Followers - and some of your Followers will do the same, with your posts, directly. Some folks who Follow your Followers - not you, directly - will +1 / Like / re share your posts, indirectly.

Not all Followers will read your blog posts.

If you spend time reading your activity notifications, you may observe that some Followers may +1, like, and / or re share, your various stream posts - including some stream posts which reference your blog posts. You may also observe that some activity takes place seconds, or minutes, after you share or re share a stream post.

Your ability to observe, and to react, will depend upon your relationship with each Follower - direct vs indirect, and asymmetrical vs symmetrical.

When a stream post is liked or re shared shortly after you share it, it's possible that your Follower did not spend a lot of time reading the content of the post. If your share included a reference to your blog post, it's likely that they did not read your blog post - even though they contributed a +1 / like / re share of your stream post.

Even though your direct Followers may not all read your blog posts, their Followers (your indirect followers) may do so. These followers will contribute to your reputation, indirectly, with a +1 / like / re share of your stream post.

Some blog owners, not aware of, or interested by, these details, may believe the +1 counters to be 100% accurate - and this contributes to perceived Stats pageview counts inaccuracy - with Stats counts seen as "lower than reality".

Some who do read your blog posts will be invisible, to you.

Nobody who uses Google+ will Follow - or be Followed by - everybody.

Most Google+ publishers will have direct Followers, who they know - and indirect followers who they don't know. Google+ will protect indirect followers identities, by not displaying their activity to people who don't know them (you, for instance).

Since Google+ protects everybody's activity and identity, from people who they don't know, Likes and +1s against your posts will include people who you don't know. People who Follow your Followers will contribute likes and +1s against your posts, indirectly - even though you will not see their activity in your stream, directly.

In the 8 hours since I published this post, I've seen one Google+ notification about a "+1", from a Follower. Yet Blogger shows a "+4".


The first "+1" came when I shared this post, to my Google+ stream. Where did the other 2 "+1"s come from?

These people will contribute to your reputation, even though they may be invisible to you. This is one of the reasons why the +1 counters are thought to be inaccurate.

Some of these invisible people, encouraged by your Followers, will read your blog posts - and contribute to your Stats activity counts. Some may decide to Follow you directly - and / or to subscribe to your blog, even though you don't see them, in your stream.

This, too, contributes to perceived Stats pageview counts inaccuracy - with Stats counts seen as "higher than reality".

The bottom line is reputation, for you and for your blog.

Higher or lower than "reality", it's all good - even when you don't always see the details, in FaceBook or Google+.

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People who use social sharing, such as FaceBook and Google+, with their #Blogger blogs, will find discrepancies between social sharing activity counters, and blog visitor activity counters. These discrepancies will be as intriguing as the differences between the many activity counters.

Act Immediately, When Invited

Some moments come fleetingly, and never again.

One such moment may be, when you receive a blog membership invitation.

The purpose of this message is to inform you that xxxxxxx has invited you to join their private blog "xxxxx xxxxx". To accept this invitation, click on the button below.

or

The purpose of this message is to inform you that yyyyyyy has invited you to contribute to their blog "yyyyy yyyyy". To accept this invitation, click on the button below.

Unless you know the blog owner, this may be your one chance.

If you get an invitation to be a designated reader on a private blog - or an author on either a private or team blog - decide, and act as soon as possible.

Any invitation that you get will be temporary. Blog membership invitations expire, after a fixed amount of time.

Accept the invitation, to view and note the URL.

If the blog is private, and you accept the invitation as a reader, make a note of the URL too.

Long ago, you might get a "preview link" in the invitation - allowing you to view the blog, and bookmark / copy the URL for later. The "preview link" feature was abused by too many owners - and appears to be gone now.

No preview = no URL until after you accept the invitation.

Become an author, on a team blog!

Become a reader, on a private blog!



There's a limited amount of detail, in the invitation.

How useful is either invitation, if you don't accept, when viewed later? You can get the owner name (as provided by the owner), and the blog title - and that's it.

• Invitations contain only the author name, the blog title, and a membership token.
• A reader invitation, for a private blog, may not produce an entry in the dashboard "My blogs" list.
• Both author and reader invitations will expire.

Act promptly, for best result.

If you get an invitation, and you file it away so you can "think about it", don't think about it too long.

Once the token expires - and if you don't know the owner - you'll not be able to contact the owner. And until you accept the invitation - and actually view then bookmark the blog - you won't find out the URL.

Act quickly - or never.

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If you get an invitation to be an author on a private or team #Blogger blog, or a reader on a private blog, act promptly. Invitations expire too soon - they contain few details - and won't be very useful later.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/z-lKeqO-ssA

Removing Author Information From The Blog

Not everybody likes to be known, everywhere.

Some folks prefer to publish a blog, without their name appearing. Anonymity is a goal, for many blog owners.

Blogs using both Dynamic and non Dynamic (Layout, Designer) templates can be made anonymous - but different tasks are involved. Fortunately, both tasks are simple.

We've been advising how to achieve anonymity, with blogs published to non Dynamic templates, for many years.

Both the Author Name, and Author Profile below the posts, are removed, using the proper selections in "Configure Blog Posts". In the "Post Page Options", the second option (has a modifiable caption, which by default is "Posted by") can be de selected, to remove the name. The twelfth option, "Show Author Profile Below Post", can likewise be de selected.

With a blog published to a Dynamic template, the solution for this need is not obvious - but it's not complicated, either. Use the "Add CSS" wizard, in the Template Designer "Advanced" menu, and add one CSS rule.

.publish-info {display:none !important;}

I advise people to include blank lines before and after the rules being added. If there are other rules, previously added using "Add CSS", with blank lines, you won't necessarily need a second blank line - but you do need one blank line, between each different rule.

There are other tasks needed, to publish a blog anonymously - but removing the name from the blog is one of the most visible changes that you can make.

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The Account / Blog Recovery Instructions Don't Work!

Every day we see the complaints, of the hundreds.

Your instructions, for recovering access to my Blogger account, don't work!

And alternately, we see the anguish.

I can't login to my Blogger account, because my account is locked!!

And the final complaint, which is the most heartbreaking.

I can login, but my blog is not on my dashboard - and someone has filled my blog, with spam!!!

These are all reports about the same problem, in alternate universes.

Any time Blogger Engineering changes their account / blog recovery options, and cuts down on the numbers of one of the three, the other two will surely increase in number - because all three are symptoms of the same problem. People simply refuse to remember their account names and passwords.

There is one solution, which would be 100% effective, and drive the numbers of each of the hundreds, to zero.

Everybody, without exception, would simply remember their account name and password.

Were that to happen, Blogger Security could remove all "backdoor" accesses and recovery tools, and blog thieves would have to go back to Barista College, or Hamburger University. There would be no more stealing control of peoples accounts or blogs - save maybe by watching somebody in public, as they login.

The recovery instructions do work, for people who make some effort.

The recovery instructions do not work, because you, the blog owner, simply don't make enough effort to remember / retain control of your accounts, or to protect your accounts. And in some cases, you simply have protected your identity, to make you completely anonymous - and can't identify yourself, because you are anonymous.

Remember your login details, and be one of the millions who work on their blogs.

If you remember your account name and password - and do not ever let your account name and password be known in public - you will never have to worry about account / blog recovery. You would then be one of the millions who do not care about account / blog recovery, because they never need to use the recovery tools.

Be prepared to re authenticate, when you travel!

And if you travel, be prepared! Setup Google 2-Step Verification before you step out the door. And whether you travel, or stay in the same place, use your account, and publish your blog, regularly.

Millions don't worry. Become one of the millions. Reduce the numbers of the hundreds.

If you're learning this concept too late - as many are, periodically - start a new blog, and combine the old and new blogs, in a blog cluster.

Clearing Cache, Cookies, And Other Website Data

Most of us, as we surf the Internet, are going to surf some websites, repeatedly.

Everybody has favourite websites. When we surf the same website, over and over, some of what we do and see may not change a lot.

To keep us from wasting our time, and generating unnecessary network traffic, our browsers keep track of the websites that we visit over and over, save records of what we do and copies of what we see, and note what has changed. The website content, stored locally, is known as "private" data.

There are times when we need to clear "private" data. Note the different browsers - and the different menus and selections, provided by each browser.

• If you have a problem when viewing your blog - or if you wish to immediately refresh your personal view of your blog, you should clear "cache".
• If you have a problem maintaining or publishing your blog - maybe when switching between Draft and Production Blogger, you should clear "cookies".
• Whenever you clear cookies, you should clear cache, also - so, if you have a problem when maintaining or publishing your blog, you should clear "cache, cookies, and sessions".

There are other reasons for clearing private data - but there are also reasons for not clearing private data, indiscriminately. It will be worth your time, to understand what and when you should clear - and not clear.

Normally, you would not, routinely, clear private data.

What if you use a publicly shared computer - maybe in a coffee shop or library? Or maybe, you carry your computer to a coffee shop or library? Do you want your private details - such as account names, passwords, even a list of what websites you surf - being available for other patrons of the coffee shop or library, after you leave?

Most of us do not want our private details, visible to any curious fellow patron - or maybe to our family either. But not all data is equally as damaging, if revealed to strangers, or to people who know us.

To help us keep our private lives private - yet not waste time or generate unnecessary network traffic, our browsers offer us the opportunity to save some content, and to delete other content - when we know what options are available to us.

• Cache.
• Forms.
• History.
• Passwords.
• Preference cookies.
• Session cookies.

Cache is simply locally stored copies of code and static pages, that you and other people, using the computer, might accumulate. Cache contains no sensitive, personally identifying material - other than (again) possibly identifying what websites you have visited.

If you share a computer with another person, identifying what websites you visited, and what websites the other person visited, will require knowing times each of you used the computer. There are no personal identifiers which indicate which of you visited a given website.

Forms contain online entered data, such as account names. Forms are slightly less sensitive than passwords, since they may contain large volumes of random data. Look at the boxes in the Blogger dashboard - those are all forms. Hidden in the forms, you may find an account name - or an email address. It's like asking how dangerous a needle may be, in a stack of hay.

History is a log, describing what websites, and website pages, that you have visited. History might be important if having people, other than you, know that you visit certain websites; other than the personal embarrassment possibility, history is relatively harmless.

Passwords are the most sensitive bit of data, that you can store on your computer. Someone extracting your passwords, on a per website basis, can use your account in each website, to operate as you. An online password is just as sensitive as the password (aka "PIN") that you might enter at an ATM.

Preference cookies (aka "cookies") are local storage of website relevant details. Preference cookies are miscellaneous settings, used to remember choices which you might make, when viewing a given website, repeatedly. Some browsers identify "preference cookies", and "session cookies", collectively, as just "cookies". Firefox, in various places, identifies "preference cookies" as "cookies", and "session cookies" as "sessions".

Session cookies (aka "sessions") are a cookie, designated by some browsers, as containing login identifiers, and other data relative to one website visit (but let you extend one "visit" to include multiple browser openings and closings). Firefox designates the Blogger login cookie as a session cookie. This is why, when I advise you to clear Blogger dashboard problems, I always specify clear "cache, cookies, and sessions".

In order of sensitivity, I would rank the above elements in a different order.

• Passwords.
• Forms.
• Session cookies.
• Preference cookies.
• History.
• Cache.

Look at cache, to start. Cache is locally stored copies of content, from remote servers. Other than inadvertently revealing our favourite naughty content, there is no danger in cache content being seen to other people. There are three scenarios, when we might want to clear cache.

• To clean up the computer, when it is running slower than normal.
• To provide an up to date copy of a website, immediately.
• When investigating a website login problem, such as a Blogger dashboard problem, which requires clearing cookies.

Cache takes up thousands as much space as cookies, and as passwords.

At the other end of the sensitivity scale, you find Passwords. My personal advice is to not store passwords, period. If you want convenience when accessing a website like Blogger, which offers long term login sessions - when you use a private and safe computer - simply don't log out, from Blogger. If you never clear session cookies, you never have to log out.

If you enjoy the convenience of online banking, on the other hand, you should always log out after an online banking session. If you never store passwords, for online banking, you never have to worry about clearing passwords.

In the middle of the scale, we find Cookies. A cookie is a small, encrypted file, which contains a single setting that lets us visit the same website repeatedly, without having to re enter something.

The Google login cookie (aka "session" cookie) lets us visit Google (and Blogger), and maintain our blogs, without having to login, over and over. This is the infamous "third party" cookie which we need, to use Blogger readily.

Cookies, since some provide login data, are encrypted. Open a cookie file, using a text reader, and see what is there (But do not use "Save" to close the text reader), if you wish to understand.

If you have a problem when viewing your blog - or if you wish to immediately refresh your personal view of your blog, you might clear "cache". If you have a problem with your Blogger dashboard - maybe when switching between Draft and Production Blogger, on the other hand, you would want to clear "cookies". Whenever you clear cookies, you should clear cache, also - so, if you have a problem when maintaining or publishing your blog, you will be advised to clear "cache, cookies, and sessions".

If you have inconsistent private data (cookies don't properly match cache or scripts), you may have to deal with one of the mysterious bX codes. When this happens, then clearing "cache, cookies, and sessions" may be one of the first things to try.

Note that not all problems involving "cache" or "cache, cookies, and sessions" may be solved by "clearing cache" or even "clearing cache, cookies, and sessions". Some problems may require corrected filtering. Also, not all problems, that involve cache, can be necessarily solved by clearing browser cache.

All of these are personal preferences, which I exercise - when using my own personal computer, in the privacy of my home. Other people may be more strict - or some computer owners may never clear anything. When using your computer outside your home - or maybe, when using a public computer - you may wish to be more careful.

My personal advice, for using a public computer, is simple.

• Never, except in an absolute emergency, use a public computer for online banking.
• Whenever finishing a session on a public computer, always clear all private data, and restart the computer.

Some short term use public computers, such as stand up terminals in libraries and shopping centres, are specially designed to reload the entire system configuration, and operating system, and wipe all "private" data, after each individual person has used the computer. If you must use a public computer, those would be the safest ones to use.

Similarly, if you carry your own computer outside your home, you may be concerned with other people seeing what's on your computer, intercepting your network activities (if you use a public network), and / or stealing the computer. Depending upon which possibility concerns you, you might take any or all precautions, before carrying the computer out the door.

• Clear passwords (if you store passwords, locally).
• Clear history and cache (if you fear people browsing your computer).
• Clear all private data (if you fear theft).

Who knows what embarrassment (financial, and personal) you might save yourself, by thinking ahead?

If You Want To Keep A Secret, Don't Publish It

Have you ever heard the old saying

I had a friend, and I had a secret. I told my friend my secret - and now, I have neither a friend, or a secret.

Occasionally we see signs of naivete, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I have a private blog! Why do I see my blog listed in Google?

or

I distinctly set my blog to be invisible! Why is my blog being indexed?

Not all blog owners know that neither the "disallow" statement, in "Robots.Txt" - nor the "noindex, nofollow" directives, in our blogs - are mandatory.

If you publish content on the web, chances are it is - or will eventually be - indexed somewhere, by some search engine.

Obedient search engines won't index content, when instructed.

Obedient search engine robots will observe the Google privacy directives, such as "noindex, nofollow" directives in HTML code, and the instructions in the "robots.txt" file. Not all robots are obedient, however.

There are many search engines besides Google - and not all search engines observe privacy directives.

The various robotic processes, which scan for abusive content, scan all blogs and websites out of necessity. Some archiving robots archive everything - not just content that's provided openly.

Many search engines share indexed content - obedient, or not.

Many search engines share data with other search engines, and / or retrieve data from other search engines. Even Google will index some sites, indirectly, that are not intended to be indexed.

Ownership and privacy laws vary - from country to country, and between Internet services. What you consider private (personal data), if you live in Germany, may be treated as common knowledge, by someone in Russia, or the USA. And if you report someone publishing your private data to Blogger / Google, you may get different treatment than from WordPress, or from an independent hosting service in China.

If you publish content, expect that it will be indexed.

If you want to keep a secret, do not publish your secret on the Internet. Regardless of whether you publish it to a blog with designated readers, using the Blogger dashboard Privacy settings, or even using a custom "robots.txt" file, your secret may be visible on any search engine - even on Google.

If you think the Internet is your friend, try publishing a secret there. You will learn the truth, eventually. And hiding your secret, after it gets out, will not be an easy task.

Loss Of Ability To Let The Reader Choose A Dynamic View Or Non Dynamic View, When Viewing The Blog

When the Blogger dynamic templates were first introduced, back in 2011, they provided choices.

Besides letting the reader choose, on the fly, which dynamic view to use, it was possible to let the reader choose whether to view the blog using a dynamic view - or a non dynamic view.

When dynamic templates were first introduced, they offered a dynamic view of the blog posts - and little else. Popular features like static pages were added later, and in pieces.

As the various pieces of the dynamic views became better defined, the need to switch between dynamic and non dynamic views became less essential - and eventually, some choices were eliminated.

If you look at the menu bar for this blog, you'll see a selection "DYNAMIC".

If you click on the "DYNAMIC" menu selection, you'll get a link to the "sidebar" dynamic view of this blog. At one time, this would have actually shown you this blog, using a dynamic template. Now, it leads you to a blank screen.

We asked Blogger Support recently, about the recently discovered inability to allow the reader to switch from a non dynamic view to a dynamic view, and were told that option had been discontinued, for "privacy reasons".

Apparently, some portions of the posts, when removed using the "Configure Blog Posts" wizard, were still displayed when a dynamic view was used. This caused problems for some blog owners, who had intentionally used a non dynamic view with personal details like author name removed from the posts. When they viewed the blog in a dynamic view, they found their name displayed, for all to see.

If anonymity is your concern, there are other techniques, which you may consider.

Another possible problem involved the blogs being simultaneously published using a dynamic template, and a non dynamic template. Last year, many blog owners reported various problems encountered, when their blogs were viewed using a dynamic template. It's possible that solution of the various problems involved simplification of code - including the ability to use either a dynamic or non dynamic view, at will.

Whatever the details, it appears that dynamic templates, and non dynamic templates, are completely separate options now. And as Blogger improves the dynamic templates in general, this should be good for all blogs.

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Help Me! I Can't Access My Blogger Account!

Every week, we see the anguished cry of blog owners, who don't have access to maintain, or publish to, their blogs.

Help me! My email address changed last month, I dropped my phone into the sink, and now I can't sign in to my blog!

If you look at the fine print, you see the full story.

Ask enough questions, and the details will come forth.

Help Me! I never bothered to remember my password - I used the Forgot Password wizard to reset my password every time I wanted to sign in to my Blogger account. My email address changed last month, my phone number changed last week, I can't get the email from the Forgot Password wizard, or the new Blogger Account / Blog Recovery wizard - and now I can't sign in to my blog!

As I have repeatedly advised folks, and previously pointed out in 2010, Blogger lets us maintain our blogs anonymously, and promises anonymous access and ownership for eternity. There is no magic token attached to our blogs, that let us conveniently email Blogger and ask for a second (or a third) back door access to our accounts.

If you can't access your Blogger account, you can't maintain your blog. Use the Forgot Password wizard, when you have access to the email account - or the new Blogger Account / Blog Recovery wizard.

And learn how to use the Google "One account" login wizard, properly.

Blogger wants to protect us, and our blogs, from attacks from people who claim to be us, but are not. Help them to protect our accounts, and our blogs - don't require that they gratuitously allow you access to your blog when you forget the password, and have no second - or third - back door access to reset the password.

Privacy Concerns Over Posts Being Published, And Preview Mode

Some Blogger blog owners, as they develop a post, use Preview mode to periodically observe what the post looks like.

A few owners are confused about the privacy of a post, as it is Previewed. Some think that the temporary nature of the Preview window makes the content, as Previewed, intentionally unavailable for viewing by their readers.

Fortunately, the links - even though they may be clickable by the readers, lead nowhere.

Here is a Preview URL for this post.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/b/post-preview?token=yV1fKDYBAAA.ySUB0XKSvMXVATQkgsbJpQ.vf2Wk6Ed_TXX54XVpLn3uA&postId=1855542079708688719&type=POST

If you're interested, click on the link. Does it show you anything? How about another?

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/b/post-preview?token=zx9iKDYBAAA.ySUB0XKSvMXVATQkgsbJpQ.r_B4NGbmR453Nsa2tYZPKg&postId=1855542079708688719&type=POST

See anything interesting?

This post, being edited.

This post, being previewed. See the preview URL?



The preview URL:

https://24069595_d291cd04e6207d111fa5388b4e8893fada5ac690.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=xZUz-VoBAAA.O0Vfemj-2Qck1xmWN_at645qjM-E809UONHYWYK-IbP8yGx0F6eRm-z3UxF8qMPs.HwrOVypOYd44GQ-D0znhaw&postId=1855542079708688719&type=POST

Click on the URL, above - and see what you get.

Presumably, the tokens attached to the URL make the visibility of the post temporary - and the previewed post becomes secure by obscurity. That is, if anybody cares enough to view this.Why did I see evidence that 5 people had already read the Preview (and now, said evidence is gone)?

But like every Blogger feature, there are always ways to complicate the issue.

Similar to people who, years ago, published web sites, with the web site access logs published as part of the web site (and became the original target of referer spam attacks), we have Blogger blog owners who publish a real time access log on their blogs.

A popular blog accessory, Feedjit, provides a real time list of blog pages, as read by various people. Similar to a visitor log, but displayed in real time, and shown to the public in general, Feedjit shows everybody what blog content is being viewed.

And here is the complication, of the Preview content. Some blog owners are concerned that the public can view their Previwed content, because Feedjit displays the URLs of the Preview displays, as they (the blog owner) develop a new post.

Please examine the URL quoted below - does any component of that URL contain any tag, suggesting to you that the content is treated as private? It's simply obscure, because (without the involvement of Feedjit, or a similar access display log), the Preview post is not visible. To check it, here's the latest Preview URL for this post.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/b/post-preview?token=PYh8KDYBAAA.ySUB0XKSvMXVATQkgsbJpQ.6T7Xf_PcgR7nXI_xZCq_Kw&postId=1855542079708688719&type=POST

Personally, I don't use Preview mode that much. I like to Publish my posts over a period of days - if not longer. None of my posts are actually static, I call this Progressive Publishing. You're welcome to view any of my posts, any time you feel the urge.

Watch this post, and see what changes. To start, I'll now observe that, with the post Published, all of the Preview links (above) all appear to load the finished post - until the token (in the URL) expires. If you just clicked on any of the above Preview links, you are probably now seeing

Invalid security token: Error 403

since the Previews, for this post, have long expired.

The conclusion would be that Preview content is only visible until the post is Published. Until the post is Published, the Preview is available to everybody - if you choose to publicise the URL of the Preview.

Recovering Your Account Information - Improved

Blogger has long promised us that our blogs will be ours, forever, and that we are free to publish our blogs in privacy, if we so desire. Based on those promises, not all Blogger blog owners have made the right decisions, in retaining access to their Blogger / Google accounts.

Many problem reports. from frustrated owners, are seen, daily, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

My email address changed some time ago, and now, I can't login to Blogger and update my blog!

Last year, Blogger made several changes to their account recovery policies and procedures, which made this subject, for many blog owners, a critical and painful issue. Now, Google is making an organised effort to reduce the pain, by improving their account recovery tool.

There are two tools which you may wish to try, when you cannot login directly, to your Blogger account.

• Blogger: Forgot your username or password?
• Google: Having trouble signing in?

Google re designed account recovery, in 2012.

Recognising the frustration caused by some recent changes to the Blogger / Google login, and to various account recovery procedures, Google recently improved the design of their account recovery tool. Formerly labeled

• Account Recovery: Forgot your password?

We now have

• Google: Having trouble signing in?

The newly designed wizard covers both Google account un deletion, and account recovery, transparently. It won't provide recovery of all Google services lost when the account was deleted, however.

The wizard has three initial selections.

• I forgot my password
• I forgot my username
• I'm having other problems signing in

I forgot my password

Immediately when selecting "I forgot my password", you'll be asked to provide the username of your Google account, labeled "Email address". As noted, this may be either a GMail address - or any non GMail email address.

To reset your password, enter the username you use to sign in to Google. This can be your Gmail address, or it may be another email address you associated with your account.

Having hit "Continue", expect to see a CAPTCHA. Successfully solving the CAPTCHA, you'll be presented with three options. Each of these options requires proper advance registration, by the blog owner.

Choose how to get back into your account.

• Get a verification code on my phone.
• Answer my security question
• Get a password reset link at my recovery email

I forgot my username

Immediately when selecting "I forgot my username", you'll need to provide the account recovery email.

Please enter the recovery email address you provided when creating your account.

Having entered the right email address, you'll next (surprise!) get to solve a CAPTCHA, and then receive the welcome news.

An email has been sent to xxxxxxx@yyyyy.zzz containing all Gmail usernames associated with that address.

Please make sure xxxxxxx@yyy.zzz is your recovery email address. If it is not, you will not receive an email containing your username.

Here, once again, we see the advantage of not remaining completely anonymous.

I'm having other problems signing in
Immediately when selecting "I'm having other problems signing in", you'll be asked for your Email address.

Enter the username you use to sign in to Google. This can be your Gmail address, or it may be another email address you associated with your account.

Having provided an email address (big surprise!!), you'll be asked to solve a CAPTCHA. Finally, you'll be provided the Google Accounts: Problems signing in to your account article, with additional selections.

Please select your issue:

• I forgot my password
• I think someone else is using my account
• I forgot my username
• I know my username and password, but I can't sign in
• I can't reset my password via SMS
• I use a Google Apps account
• I'm having trouble with 2-step verification

Here we see a wide assortment of options, all carefully provided to allow genuine Blogger blog owners to recover access to their Blogger / Google accounts, while preventing malicious hijacking. This should complement the separate Blogger blog access recovery wizard. You'd be wise to try at least some of these options, before asking for assistance, in a public forum.

The automated tools are necessary, to protect our accounts and blogs from people seeking to misuse the recovery process, and steal control of our accounts and our blogs.

Recovery works best with "lost access" accounts - "stolen" accounts will differ.

Now, you'll want to note that these wizards help you recover control of a Blogger / Google account that you simply have lost access. If your GMail / Google account has been successfully hijacked, you're going to need different corrective measures, for recovery and future protection.

Please note that both tools provided by Blogger / Google will work more reliably, with a blog that was not transferred improperly, from one Blogger account to another. And plan the recovery process, don't be caught unaware of the new recovery verification procedures.

Your Blogger Account: Anonymity Vs Security

One of the most frustrating problems with Blogger accounts involves the conflicting goals of anonymity and security.

1. We are allowed to publish a Blogger blog in complete anonymity. Blogger acknowledges and supports that need.
2. Anonymity comes at a price. Should you succeed in intentionally becoming completely anonymous, then forget the account name or password, there will be no way for Blogger to help you to recover access to your Blogger account.

Every week, we get reports from people who can't access their blogs because they changed their email address without proper planning, or they don't know which account owns a given blog. And some time ago, we dealt with a small flood of reports from people whose Blogger accounts - and blogs - had been stolen, using some devious hacking techniques.

Blogger and Google have added additional options for account authentication.

Considering the need to prevent account and blog hijacking, yet allow people to be able to recover account access after changing email address, this is a righteous advance. The options may not please people who value anonymity, though.

Blogger / Google has added an additional account verification option, Two Step Verification.

2-Step Verification improves your chance of successful account recovery.

Two-Step Verification will improve the chance of your being able to recover account access, if you forget the account name or password.

For those unable or unwilling to accept 2-Step Verification, and where tracking cookies are not regarded as a devious plot, Blogger uses demographic authentication. First seen by people who travel being asked to prove identity, demographic authentication appears to be used when you need to recover account access, or when you login from a different computer.

2-Step Verification may not be acknowledged by everybody as a major advance.

For people who have had their Blogger account hacked and blogs stolen, or people who fear this fate, demographic authentication may be seen as a positive direction for Blogger / Google to take, For people who fear "big brother" and the never escapable cameras and total lack of privacy, an authentication process which tracks each of us, as we login, may be seen as privacy violation.

We will be recognised, demographically, by computer, by geographic location, and by Internet connection. This may substitute for, or enhance, 2-Step Verification.

Two Step Verification - which uses your cell phone or home phone as a verification token - will not work, for everybody.

• It requires advance action. By the time you realise that you have forgotten the account name / password, and you cannot use the backup email address to reset the password, it's too late to register your cell or home phone.
• If you value anonymity, you may not want your activity tracked.
• If you value anonymity, you may not want Google to have your cell or home phone number, stored in their databases.

For people who understand the risk of having ones Blogger account hacked - or who want to provide an additional option for account recovery when necessary, however, this is a solid option.

Your Blogger Account: Privacy Vs Account Recovery

Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, we see questions about publishing a blog, anonymously.

How do I publish a blog, without having my identity revealed?

One of the best techniques for keeping yourself anonymous is to use different Blogger / Google accounts, for different blogs. But, there's a downside to that technique.

I can't regain access to my blog, because I don't remember the email address!

Sometimes, it's a bit more embarrassing.

I can't regain access to my blog, because I don't remember the GMail address!

And here, we see blog owners who took the need for secrecy a bit far.

Regardless of whether a Blogger account is based on a GMail, or a non GMail address, backup access - should one forget the account name or password - uses the email address.

You can't maintain anonymity, if you ever have to reveal your email address.

If you want to publish your blog without revealing your identity, that's fine - Blogger permits this - and even supports your need. In order to support this need, though, you have to allow them to refuse to disclose any personal details.

Neither the account name - or email address, should you forget either, can be disclosed, without revealing your identity.

If you maintain email account access, you can always recover Blogger access.

One of the reasons for using one's email address (Gmail, or non GMail) as your Blogger account name is so you won't forget the account name. If you forget your email address, you'll have worse problems than just inability to publish your Blogger blog.

You need your Blogger account based on an active email address.

Unfortunately, if you choose to use one "email address" to read and send your email, and a second "email address" (whether bogus, or genuine) to publish a Blogger blog, you are not as likely to remember your Blogger account name. That's a decision that you have to make. If you want to publish your blog anonymously, don't expect Blogger to gratuitously break your anonymity, later.

If you forget an identity detail, you must break anonymity.

In this case, you're going to have to hope that you can supply your email account hosts - either GMail, or non GMail - with enough personal details (anonymity not possible, now) so they can restore your email account, and / or recover access to your Inbox - and you can open the Blogger account recovery message, and regain access to your Blogger account.

If you'e forgotten the backup email address of the active account, again, don't expect Blogger to tell you what you need to remember. Now, you'll have do do some research, and hope that you can find the forgotten email address mentioned in email, in one of your remembered accounts - or maybe in a friends email account.

You'll have problem with a deleted / locked account or blog, without email.

This scenario will be intensified, when a blog is deleted for any of several different reasons - possibly including accused DMCA Violation.

There is one valid reason to have multiple email addresses.

There is one reason to maintain two (or more) email addresses. If you have a small business, or you communicate through your blog using email, don't use your Blogger account email for casual contact with the public.

Here, using two (or more) email addresses makes sense - but maintain Blogger account names and email addresses, constantly.

Use Google Two Step Verification, for extra protection.

At any rate, if you're able to recover access, this time, consider using Two Step Verification, for future protection. Especially if you travel.

Account Recovery, Authentication, Contact, Privacy, And URL Availability Are All Related

Every day, we get various impassioned pleas from blog owners (active, former, and would be), in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, requesting assistance.

How do I get access to my blog, that I published 10 years ago?

and

How do I keep my blog from being visible in Google?

and

How do I contact the owner of a blog that was published 10 years ago (and never updated)?

All of these are valid concerns - and answering one question sometimes involves referring to various other concerns.

Blogger Support, some time ago, confirmed our right to privacy, as blog owners.

Our policies aren't pro-stalker, they are pro-respecting the privacy of user information. We simply can not release information without due process.

Effective use of the Internet requires some amount of ownership privacy.
The concept of Internet privacy in general, and blog owner privacy specifically, has legendarily been part of some major world political events. If we as blog owners are going to retain our rights to privacy as blog owners, we have to be aware of the limitations, and the results.

Not all blog owners are aware of the complex natures of Blogger authentication. We have two long used authentication options - account name / password (primary), and backup email access (secondary).

Some blog owners refuse to remember their account name and password, routinely.
Some owners routinely ignore the primary option, and use the secondary, regularly. When their email address changes because they change employer, graduate from college, or change ISP, we see the plaintive cry from former owners

I need Blogger to send the recovery email to my new address!

or

I can't use my previous email account!

To prevent the latter issue, Blogger / Google recently introduced a tertiary authentication option - SMS / Voice Recovery. This allows us to use a text message (SMS transmitted), or a voice message ("home" phone transmitted), to the "cell phone" or "home phone" of our choice. This approach, not universally popular, causes another privacy concern.

• It requires advance action. People currently unable to use the primary or secondary authentication options are not going to find a solution here.
• It requires the blog owner to register a "cell phone" or "home phone" number. People with privacy concerns don't appreciate this.

  I'm not giving Google my phone number!

  as if Google intends to add us to another phone spam database.

There is no Blogger required minimum publishing level.
Another privacy issue involves people who think that blog ownership involves some minimal publishing activity, and who require use of the Blog URL to match their blog subject and title.

I need contact to the owner of blog xxxxxxx!

Here, the would be blog owner ignores the owner's right to privacy, in requiring contact information.

Some people request that Blogger monitor posting level, and contact inactive blog owners.

Can Blogger just email owners of blogs with no posts for a year, and ask them to confirm their intention to continue? Those who don't respond can have their blogs taken away, so somebody else can make better use of the URL.

These would be owners seem to think that all Blogger accounts are based on active and valid email addresses, and that all URLs should be universally monitored.

Blogger can't satisfy everybody - you may have to pick an available URL!
The bottom line here is that there are several limitations, that we may have to learn to live with.

• Blogger won't disclose blog owner details, gratuitously.
• You, and you alone, are responsible for maintaining control of your blogs.
• If a given URL is not available, find one that is available now, and start your blog, today.

Compromise, and move forward. Remember, blog content is the value, in your Internet presence. Don't require that Blogger compromise security, to give you improper access to your blog.

The Need To Comment, Anonymously, Has To Remain A Possibility

Not all blog owners understand the need for people to post anonymous comments, against our blog posts. Periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, we see the naivete expressed by some.

How do I find out who is posting anonymous comments to my blog?

These people do not understand the need for anonymous commenting.

You, as a blog owner, have the ability to select the level of authentication, to be required of anybody preparing to post a comment to your blog. For "Who Can Comment?", we find the selection list

1. Anyone - includes Anonymous Users
2. Registered Users - includes OpenID
3. Users with Google Accounts
4. Only members of this blog

People who wish to comment anonymously, yet provide a "Name" / "URL" to link back to their Blogger profile, or their blog / website, may do this at their discretion. Anybody doing this provides no guarantee of being genuine, however.

If you allow "anonymous users" to comment, then people who wish to comment anonymously need to be assured that their privacy will be respected. You can gather demographic data about your blogs visitors - and you may infer specific details about individual commenters - but the relevance of that policy will be limited by the precautions exercised by your commenters.

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Our Ability To Blog Anonymously Is Confirmed

In a recent statement in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, Blogger has confirmed our right to publish our blogs anonymously.

Our policies aren't pro-stalker, they are pro-respecting the privacy of user information. We simply can not release information without due process.

Since this is a legal issue, you'll have to follow appropriate legal channels. Sorry we don't have an easier answer at this point, but I hope you can understand where we are coming from in terms of the importance of respecting privacy.

The promise of anonymity is an important reassurance for those who wish to publish blogs, without fear of being identified.

Anonymous blog owners can only be identified based on proper court order.

Only properly issued governmental court orders will result in blogger identification. We also note a previous advice.

we do not give out contact information for the owner of a blog

If you require the identity of any blog owner, get a lawyer, and / or an order from a judge. Or, do some detective work, on your own.

Blogger Support will not contact an owner, based on your request.

Blogger Support cannot unilaterally take your word as justification of your need to contact the other party. In addition, they cannot consistently contact all blog owners, when necessary.

You may publish a blog, in complete anonymity - but prepare for the risks.

And if you, as a blog owner, desire complete anonymity, there are more ways to protect your identity. However, please recognise that anonymous blogging requires that we accept responsibility - and always prepare for challenges, if the blog is ever deleted.

Help Me! I Can't Access My Blogger Account To Publish My Blog!

Every week, we see the anguished cry of blog owners, who don't have access to maintain, or publish to, their blogs.

Help me! My email address changed last month, and now I can't sign in to my blog!

But, if you look at the fine print, you see the full story

Help Me! I never bothered to remember my password - I used the Forgot Password wizard to reset my password every time I wanted to sign in to my Blogger account. My email address changed last month, I can't get the email from the Forgot Password wizard, and now I can't sign in to my blog!

As I have repeatedly advised folks, Blogger lets us maintain our blogs anonymously, and promises anonymous access and ownership for eternity. There is no magic token attached to our blogs, that let us conveniently email Blogger and ask for a second back door access to our accounts.

If you can't access your Blogger account, you can't maintain your blog. Use the Forgot Password wizard, when you have access to the email account.

Blogger wants to protect us, and our blogs, from devious attacks from people who claim to be us - but are not. Help Blogger Security to protect our accounts, and our blogs - don't require that they gratuitously allow you access to your blog when you forget the password, and have no back door access (or even second back door access) to reset the password.

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Blogging Anonymously Has A Price

Blogger supports anonymity - both in our ability to maintain and to own a blog anonymously, and our ability to comment on blogs anonymously. But this anonymity comes with a price.

I need to contact the owner of "xxxxxxx.blogspot.com", but there is no contact information and the blog is private.

or

How do I find out who left an anonymous comment on my blog?

or

I can't access my blog - I forgot the password and the email address doesn't exist any more.

or

I deleted my account, and they won't give it back to me!

All of these are queries by bloggers who do not understand the price of anonymity.

If Blogger is going to preserve our anonymity as blog owners, and as commenters (on blogs where anonymous comments are allowed), they cannot give out any information, to anybody, that might disclose our identity.

Blogger / Google must protect anonymity diligently, to be trusted.

If Blogger / Google starts disclosing identity information, to people who ask casually, nobody will be able to trust our - or their - intentions.

If you let people comment anonymously on your blog, people will comment with the expectation that you won't be requiring any personal information, other than demographic information that's obtained through a visitor log. If you don't like anonymous comments, you either disable anonymous comments - or you moderate comments, and discard what you don't like.

You - and only you - must maintain your anonymous, multiple identities.

If you setup a new Blogger account, and then create a new blog, and you include no personal details in either the account or the blog, you will wind up with a Blogger account that cannot be recovered, if you ever forget the account name / password - or if the account is ever locked for "suspicious" / "unusual" activity.

Don't demand that Blogger break someone's anonymity, without legal need.

If someone publishes a blog without a Profile gadget, or publishes a blog privately, without including contact information somewhere, don't expect to casually write to Blogger and demand contact information. And don't try claiming to own the blog in question, and that you forgot the password - or that you cannot remember the many different email addresses that you may have used.

Blogger cannot disclose the identity - including the email address - of the owner, if anonymity is to be preserved. This includes if your blog is deleted, and you don't know the owner account.

You may have to find out owner identity, on your own.

It's possible that you can identify a contact, on your own. If you require contact information provided by Google, you'll need legal assistance, and a court order.

Blogging Anonymously

We know that Blogger allows us to blog anonymously, by promising to never reveal our identity as a blog owner.

This policy leads to mysterious scenarios, like when someone forgets the account that they used to create a blog, that they do own. And, it leads sometimes to tragic scenarios, like bloggers who don't have access to the back door email account, and can't prove blog ownership.

Even though Blogger allows us to pursue our anonymity, though, that doesn't guarantee absolute anonymity without effort.

There are things that we still need to do, to ensure that our name / identity isn't connected with a given blog.

• Setup a new Blogger account, with no personally identifying details.
• Start a new blog - published as private.
• Don't provide any visible biographical content.
• Watch how you follow other blogs.
• Use separate, multiple Blogger accounts.
• Be aware of the risks involved, when anonymising yourself.

Setup a new Blogger account, with no personally identifying details.

If you want true anonymity, make a new Blogger account, and put no personal details into the new account. "No personal details" includes no links to any existing Blogger accounts, or blogs - in either direction.

If you want to go through life with a second (or third, ...) account, please understand the risks. If you truly anonymise your new account, and blog, you will have no way to identify yourself as the owner, if you ever forget the account name, or password.

Start a new blog - published as private.

If your current blog(s) have been published for a while, you may think of making your blog(s) private.

• This change won't take effect, immediately
• Even after the blog becomes private, cached copies of the blog can be retrieved - and your personal details can be extracted from the cached copy.

The next possibility, then, would be to start a new blog - and publish your blog(s) as private.

With a blog published privately, we then disable indexing of the blog(s). This won't be 100% effective.

• Not all search engine spiders will respect the "NoIndex, NoFollow" directives.
• Not all bloggers want their blogs to be private, even if they don't want a personal and permanent connection with the blogs.
• Private blogs are not completely hidden from public view.
• RSS feeds may contain information which we do not select for appearance in the visual blog copy.

So, look at additional techniques - but be aware of techniques that will have no effect.

Don't provide any visible biographical content.

First, remove the "About Me" gadget from the blogs. Either publish blogs without a native Blogger "About Me" gadget, or make up a custom one.

Second, remove the blogs from the "My Blogs" list in your Blogger profile, or don't share your profile at all. And setup a second owner for your blog, so your Blogger profile number isn't visible, in the blog header.

Watch how you follow other blogs.

Third, and not the least of your concerns, is what blogs interest you? Be careful how you Follow blogs - both your own, and those published by other people.

Visibility of other blogs in your profile, as well as your visibility in various Following communities, may tell a lot about you.

Be aware of what profiles you use, as a Follower. For maximum anonymity, don't Follow at all - just subscribe to the blogs that interest you, using the newsfeed reader of your choice.

Use separate, multiple Blogger accounts.

If you're truly paranoid, you could transfer control of the blogs, to a secondary account that you own.

If you use a second account, it would be wise to use a non GMail account, so you can avoid a Google cookie clash caused by trying to use two Google accounts simultaneously. And please, if you want to retain control of your blogs, use a valid non GMail email address, and keep control of the email address.

And you can always Follow other blogs using a different identity.

Finally, check behind yourself, carefully. Comb the contents of your blogs, and make sure that you don't inadvertently reveal any personal details. This may be an ongoing concern, as you publish any blog, anonymously or not.

Protect yourself. These are things that you have to do, for yourself. But at the same time, remember that anonymity, when achieved, may have a price.

Be aware of the risks involved, when anonymising yourself.

Successful anonymity can mean problems identifying yourself - when you travel, or when you change computers, or especially when you forget your account name or password.

Consider setting up Google 2-Step Verification, if you want long term public anonymity - and want to continue publishing a blog.

(Update July 2001): To let us selectively share information about ourselves with some people (as we choose), Blogger / Google is giving us Google+, which lets us replace boring unshared static information with exciting selectively shared dynamic information.

Following - The Implications

As we all join the global community of Blogger Following, we should bear in mind the old adage

You are judged by who your friends are.

In the case of Following

You are judged by what blogs you follow.

If bloggers can see you, they can see what blogs you Follow. And, they can see who Follows those blogs. Did I hear someone mention "Nineteen Eighty-Four"?

So, it bears thinking that you might want to resist the temptation to Follow the kinky lifestyle or blatant abuse blogs, if you hope for a lot of friends at your church to Follow your blog. Similarly, folks who Follow kinky lifestyle or blatant abuse blogs might present a problem, if a lot of that type choose to Follow your blog. Remember, Following provides 2 way links, between the Followed and the Followers. Does anyone remember "Six Degrees Of Separation", a few years ago?


This blog should probably be hidden, using the Edit User Profile wizard "Select blogs to display" link. It's private, so the public has no need to know about it.


My Humble Opinion, anyway.

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(Update 2010/05): In a little over 18 months, a number of selections have been added, to let you control your security and visibility as you Follow each individual blog.

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