new blogger help: August 2014

Friday, 15 August 2014

Add Meta Tags to Blogger for Better SEO

In this Blogger tutorial I will show you the best way to add meta tags to your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog) to improve the SEO of your blog and work around the limitations of the Blogger platform.

I have observed that there are many Blogger help blogs out there telling you to just add meta tags however this will very likely achieve the opposite result from the one you are after. Whether you are yet to add meta tags or you have added meta tags already make sure you read and follow the methods contained in this article to get the best results.

What are Meta Tags?
Meta tags are HTML tags that provide additional information about your blog that is unseen by visitors but available to search engines. The meta description tag, for example, provides a short summary of the page content. The keyword meta tags show the keywords and keyword phrases a visitor might use to find your blog. Because of abuse of meta tags search engines have become smarter and most no longer place emphasis on keywords to establish page ranking however keyword meta tags are still used by some search engines so it is a good idea to include them.

Limitations of Blogger and SEO
One of the disappointing aspects of Blogger is that it is not properly optimized for SEO. Meta descriptions and keywords are not supported by blogger.com by default. Title tags are also not optimized. This means that you will miss valuable opportunities to attract visitors to your blog.

However meta tags and meta descriptions can be inserted into your Blogger template (Blogspot template) to good effect. Fortunately these work arounds will go a long way to improving the placement of your blog in search engine results. Please refer to adjust Blogger title tags for improved SEO for help with title tags.

Simply placing a meta tag description in your Blogger template is problematic because Blogger will use the same meta tags for all pages in your blog. This means that every entry that Google has for your site will show in search results with the same description. This solution would result in reduced traffic rather than increased traffic. However there is a way to add meta tags to the home page of your blog only which will not affect post pages in your blog. In this way visitors will find the home page of your blog in search engines by the use of appropriate keywords and a site description.

How to Add Meta Tags to a Blogger Blogspot Blog Home Page
1. Login to Blogger if not already logged in

2. Navigate to Design > Edit HTML

3. Back up your template as a precaution by downloading full template to your computer.

4. Check the Expand Widget Templates box

5. Find these lines which will be near the top of your template:

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

6. Paste the following code immediately below <title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>

<b:if cond='data:blog.url == data:blog.homepageUrl'> <meta content='Place your blog description here' name='description'/> <meta content='Place your blog keywords here(separated by commas)' name='keywords'/> </b:if>

7. Enter your blog description between the single quote marks under description. Maximum 150 characters

8. Enter the keywords of your blog between the single quote marks under keywords. Ensure you separate each keyword or keyword phrase by a comma. Make sure your keywords do not exceed 200 characters

By way of example here are the meta tags I use for the home page of Blog Know How:

<b:if cond='data:blog.url == data:blog.homepageUrl'> <meta content='Find tips,tricks,tutorials,walkthroughs to customize your Blogger Blogspot blog.SEO,Banners,Adsense,gadgets,fixes,feeds,rss,help for beginner bloggers' name='description'/> <meta content='blog,blogger,blogger.com,blogspot.com,blogspot,blogging,tutorials,tips,blogger help,customize blogger,SEO,make money,gadgets,Google Adsense,banners, feeds,analytics,solutions' name='keywords'/> </b:if>

Best Way to Add Meta Tags to Blogger Blogspot Blog

9. Click on the Save Template button

10. To see your description in action you can either navigate to your blog's home page and click on view source in your browser. In Internet Explorer you will find this option in the view menu. A text document will appear which you can scroll through. You will see your description near the top of the document. Alternatively you can check your description in a free Meta Tag Analyzer tool such as Submit Expressor SEO Centro

How to Add Meta Tags to a Blogger Blogspot Blog Individual Post
1. Follow steps 1 to 4 as for adding meta tags to the Home Page

2. Add the following in the <head> section of your Blogger template. Enter this code below the Home Page code above you have just entered:

<b:if cond='data:blog.url == "http://url of your post"'> <meta content='keywords pertaining to your post' name='keywords'/> <meta content='crafted description of your post' name='description'/> </b:if>

Here is an example of optimized meta tags for this post:

<b:if cond='data:blog.url == "http://blogknowhow.blogspot.com/2009/05/add-meta-tags-to-blogger-for-better-seo.html"'> <meta content='meta tags,optimize blogger,blogger SEO,search engine optimization, blogspot,blogger,blogspot.com,blogger.com,blogging,blog' name='keywords'/> <meta content='Improve SEO by adding meta tags to your Blogger Blogspot blog. Step by step tutorial shows you how to add meta tags to the home page and a single post' name='description'/> </b:if>

Add Meta Tags to Blogger on a Single Post

3. Add your post URL, keywords and description. To find the URL of your post navigate to the post's page and copy the link showing in the address bar of your browser including the http:// prefix

4. Click on the Save Template button

5. To check your description you can use the view source in your browser once you have navigated to the post page or a meta tag analyzer

Note: This method is suitable if you have a few key posts that you want to ensure you get maximum traffic on. If you have a lot of posts this manual method would be very tedious. I don't know of any automated method or script to add meta tags at this point but I am investigating it and will keep you posted.

Analyze Your Blogspot Blogger Meta Tags
Once you have added meta tags to your blog you can use tools to analyze them to ensure their relevance. Aim for meta tag relevancy to page content of above 90%. To check this you can use a free meta tag analyzer tool such as Submit Express or SEO Centro

Troubleshooting and Tips

Observe Character Limits
To avoid problems ensure that you keep within the maximum character limits:
Title Tag - Maximum Characters is 60
Site Description - Maximum Characters is 150
Keywords - Maximum Characters is 200
Title Tag Tweak
If you have inserted the title tag tweak and it is highly recommended that you do so then you will need to add the code above after the title tag adjustment in the <head> section of your template. Read more about adjusting title tags
Keywords
Although some search engines no longer place too much emphasis on keywords some still do so it is worth adding keywords. Avoid using the same keyword more than 3 times. The maximum number of keywords recommended to be robot friendly is around 20.
Problems Reading the Code
Some readers have reported problems with their browser reading this code. Try this document form of the article if this happens to you

In this Blogger meta tag tutorial I have discussed the best way to add meta tags to a Blogger blog (Blogspot blog) to improve search engine results given the limitations of the Blogger platform. In this article you have learned to add both meta tags for keywords and descriptions to the home page. You have also learned how to add meta tags to an individual post. To optimize your meta tags I have included links to free meta tag analyzer tools.

Related Articles
Adjust Blogger Title Tags for Improved SEO
10 Tips to Build Site Traffic for Blogger
List of Blog Know How Tutorials for Blogger Blogs
Add Breadcrumb Navigation to Blogger Blogspot Blog

How to Remove or Change the Blog Title Border in Blogger (Blogspot) - Minima Template

In this Blogger tutorial I discuss how to change the blog title border color or remove the border in a Blogger template (Blogspot template) by changing either the CSS styling of the border manually or by using the Blogger Template Designer feature.

Lots of bloggers have updated their Blogger template to the new default series of Blogger templates for 2010. There are however many of you who are still using the default Minima template from 2006 (and there are lots of good reasons to do so) so this tutorial is for you and anyone else who is using a custom Blogger template based on Minima.

You will learn how to change the border styling around the blog title to suit your individual requirements. You can either change the border color or remove the border altogether. If you want to remove the border around images in Blogger posts (Blogspot posts) then please refer to my Blogger tutorial How to Add, Change or Remove the Border Image in Blogger Posts

Remove or Change the Blog Title Border in Blogger (Blogspot)
There are two simple ways to remove the border around the blog title in Blogger. We are going to hide the border rather than actually remove the code that creates it by making the border color transparent. I will also show you how to change the border color.

Method 1 discusses how to do this using the Blogger Template Designer while Method 2 describes how to change the blog title border manually by changing the code.

Method 1 - Using Blogger Template Designer

Log in to Blogger
From the Dashboard go to Design > Template Designer
Go to Templates > Advanced > Border Color
Choose the down arrow color picker to activate the color palette window
Choose transparent which is below the color palette to remove the border around the blog title completely. You now will see the blog title border disappear. Or choose a new color from the color palette to change the color

Remove Blog Title Border
Change Blog Title Border Color
Click on Apply to Blog to save your changes

Method 2
If the Blogger Template Designer is not working on your template for some reason you can tweak the code in your template to remove the border around the blog title

Log in to Blogger
From the Dashboard go to Design > Edit HTML
Back up your Blogger template
Find the border color variable which will be near the top of the template code
Change the border color value to transparent to remove the border altogether so that your code now looks like this:
<Variable name="bordercolor" description="Border Color"
type="color" default="#ccc" value="transparent">

or change the value to a color of your choice eg
<Variable name="bordercolor" description="Border Color"
type="color" default="#ccc" value="#ff7f00">
Save your template and view your blog to see that the border around the blog title has been removed or changed color

Tips and Troubleshooting
Below are some tips to help you further customize the blog title border width. You can either remove the inner border, thicken the outer border or thicken both borders around the blog title in Blogger.

To change the width of the border around the blog title in Minima change the following:

#header {
margin: 5px;
border: 1px solid $bordercolor;
text-align: center;
color:$pagetitlecolor;
}

to

#header {
margin: 5px;
border: 10px solid $bordercolor;
text-align: center;
color:$pagetitlecolor;
}

This code increases the border width from 1px to 10px
To remove the inner border around the blog title in Minima change the code to the following:

#header {
margin: 5px;
border: 10px solid $bordercolor; (remove this line)
text-align: center;
color:$pagetitlecolor;
}
To increase the width of the outer border around the blog title in Minima change this code

#header-wrapper {
width:660px;
margin:0 auto 10px;
border:10px solid $bordercolor;
}

In this Blogger tutorial you have learned two methods to change the color of the border around a blog title in Blogger blog (Blogspot blog). I have also shown you how to increase the size of the border width. This tutorial applies particularly to the default Blogger template Minima but also is relevant for any blogger using a custom Blogger template based on Minima. Good luck!

Related Articles
List of Blog Know How Tutorials for Blogger Blogs
How to Add CSS Styling to Blockquotes in Blogger
How to Add, Delete or Remove Blogger Image Borders
How to Align and Justify Posts in Blogger
How to Add a Divider Between Blogger Posts
How to Add or Change a Background Image in a Blogger Template

Remove Image Border in Default Blogger Templates Simple and Awesome Inc

In this Blogger tutorial I show you how to remove the border around images in Blogger posts (Blogspot posts) when using one of the latest default Blogger templates Simple or Awesome Inc.

If you are using an older generation Blogger template or a custom template the solutions contained in this article may work for you however it is more likely that you will need to follow the methods to remove image borders outlined in my previous Blogger tutorial Change or Remove Blogger Image Borders (Part 1)

Below I explore two methods of removing or deleting image borders in the Blogger template Simple. The first method shows you how to remove the image border using Template Designer and the second method outlined describes how to remove the image border manually by changing the code.

Method 1 - Use Template Designer to Remove Image Border in Blogger

From the Blogger Dashboard go to Design > Template Designer
Then select Advanced > Images
Under Border Color use the drop down arrow to open the color palette
Change the setting to transparent by checking the small box on the bottom right hand side marked "transparent"

Note: If you are using the black version of the Awesome Inc template you will need to change the Background Color to transparent too. Click on the down arrow of the color palette and select transparent.
Click Apply to Blog to save your changes to the template
Navigate to any post page to view images in posts without the border

Method 2 - Change Template Code to Manually Remove Image Border from the New Default Blogger Templates

From the Blogger Dashboard go to Design > Edit HTML
Back up your Blogger template
Find this line amongst the declared variables at the top of your template
<Variable name="image.border.color" description="Border Color" type="color" default="transparent" value="#cccccc"/>
Change to the value of the border color to transparent like so
<Variable name="image.border.color" description="Border Color" type="color" default="transparent" value="transparent"/>
Save your changes to the template
Navigate to any post page that has an image and see that the border around the image is no longer visible

In this Blogger tutorial (Blogspot tutorial) I have shown you how to remove or delete the border around images in Blogger posts for the newest generation of default Blogger templates Simple and Awesome Inc. I have discussed two different methods to remove the border around the images either by adjusting the settings in the Blogger Template Designer or by manually changing the code of the variable in the CSS styling section of the default Blogger template

Related Articles
List of Blog Know How Tutorials for Blogger Blogs
How to Change or Remove Blogger Image Borders (Part 1)
How to Change the Blog Title Border in Blogger Minima Template
How to Add CSS Styling to Blockquotes in Blogger
How to Align and Justify Posts in Blogger
How to Add a Divider Between Blogger Posts
How to Add or Change a Background Image in a Blogger Template

Add a Comments Counter Button to Blogger Blogspot

In this Blogger tutorial (Blogspot tutorial) you will learn how to add a comments counter button to Blogger (Blogspot) to show off the number of comments each of your posts has received.

A comment counter button (bubble) will have the effect of encouraging visitors to comment on your Blogger blog and also help to highlight the credibility of your articles.

Installing this Blogger hack to add a comment counter button only takes a few minutes. The changes needed to add the comment bubble to Blogger while not difficult do involve adding a small snippet of code to your Blogger template in two places. For this reason I strongly urge you to back up your Blogger template before attempting this blogger hack.

Blogger Tutorial Difficulty - easy to medium

How to Add a Comments Counter Bubble to Blogger
A Step-by-Step Walkthrough
The following steps will insert a fully clickable comments counter button on the same line as the post title in Blogger. The comments counter is right aligned by default.

Log in to Blogger and the blog you wish to apply these changes to
Select Design > Edit HTML
Click on Download Full Template to back up your template before you make any changes
Check the Expand Widget Templates box
In the CSS Styling section of your Blogger template and just before the ]]></b:skin>
.comments-button {
width : 48px;
height : 48px;
background : url(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXpZSv053-AbvAkWnkwJveRzhnrpQoGLlUNxXa51CPkr7upoTRSWM_Kx2NH_3b93LZynwmUSTA_lFk0_c28BUqX_HZy411XHQ4f3dU-b2fW0NwtvUZhpHNt2ycoNnws7WjCXgWq5vMXJhA/s200/comment-counter-bubble.png) no-repeat;
float : right;
font-size : 18px;
margin-top : -15px;
margin-right : 2px;
text-align : center;
padding-top:10px;
}
Now find the following block of code using CTRL key + F
<b:includable id='post' var='post'>
<div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template'>
<a expr:name='data:post.id'/>
<b:if cond='data:post.title'>
<h3 class='post-title entry-title'>
<b:if cond='data:post.link'>
<a expr:href='data:post.link'><data:post.title/></a>
Copy this code block:
<b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'>
<a class='comments-button' expr:href='data:post.addCommentUrl' expr:onclick='data:post.addCommentOnclick'><data:post.numComments/></a>
</b:if>
Insert as follows:
<b:includable id='post' var='post'>
<div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template'>
<a expr:name='data:post.id'/>
<b:if cond='data:post.title'>
<h3 class='post-title entry-title'>
<b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'>
<a class='comments-button' expr:href='data:post.addCommentUrl' expr:onclick='data:post.addCommentOnclick'><data:post.numComments/></a>
</b:if>
<b:if cond='data:post.link'>
<a expr:href='data:post.link'><data:post.title/></a>
Save template and then view blog to admire your new comment counter badge.

Tips and Troubleshooting

If you prefer you can replace the button image I have provided with your own image. You can find other buttons easily enough by doing a Google search with a term like "speech button icons".
Upload your button to a hosting service such as Photobucket and change the URL address of the image in the CSS styling section. The following example will render a smaller blue button. Note I have reduced the font size to accommodate the change. You may need to play around with the settings to get the font sizing right for your image.
.comments-button {
width : 48px;
height : 48px;
background : url(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8rwhLgeWajHOoA3h2FK-tXHF30ktsX4MtUCoqAw7qrQAoS_YHeOXW8YRulLObJ9Y2ZJUd0879FlrYdXwg4EUqgjoQEq5Wj1wQ9wF1RBfFdxH0kR4TG1JY60doi4-243lfiMRt_6R3lKnf/s200/comment-counter-bubble-2.png) no-repeat;
float : right;
font-size : 14px;
margin-top : -15px;
margin-right : 2px;
text-align : center;
padding-top:10px;
}
If you want your comment counter to be left aligned instead of right you will need to change the CSS styling from float:right;to float:left;

In today's Blogger tutorial I have covered how to add a comments counter to a Blogger blog (blogspot blog) that will appear to the right of your blog post title. A comments counter is a way to encourage visitors to comment and is a way of showing off the credibility of your blog posts. Good luck! Any comments about installing this blogger hack are most welcome.

Related Articles
List of Blog Know How Tutorials for Blogger Blogs
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Add Social Bookmark Buttons to Blogger

How to Fix Missing Quick Edit Pencil in Blogger Blogspot

Is your custom Blogger template missing its quick edit pencil at the bottom of your Blogger posts (Blogspot posts)? Don't worry. In this Blogger tutorial I discuss how to show a quick edit pencil icon beneath Blogger posts if it is missing. This is a common Blogger problem among custom Blogger templates but fortunately it only takes a couple of minutes to fix.

This Blogger tutorial follows on from my previous Blogspot tutorial about fixing missing Blogger icons. Check out how to show quick edit gadget wrench in Blogger (Blogspot) for help with this issue.

In my previous Blogger tutorials I have also discussed how to fix many other common Blogger problems eg how to fix a missing embedded comment form in Blogger. Take a look at all my Blogger tutorials onhow to fix common Blogger problems (Blogspot problems) here

Fix Missing Quick Edit Pencil Blogger Blogspot
The quick edit pencil is a nice Blogger feature that you would not want to be without. A click on this time saving Blogger icon gives you direct access to your Blogger posts without having to go through "Edit Posts"

So if the free custom Blogger template you downloaded from the internet has no quick edit pencil displaying under your Blogger posts when viewing the actual published post then it can be fixed by taking the following the steps below:

Login to Blogger
Go to your Design > Page Elements
Click on the Blog Posts edit button located in the bottom right hand corner of the widget
A Configure Blog Posts window will pop up displaying a number of different features that can be turned on and off on your blog posts.
Make sure that Show Quick Edit is checked. Tick the box and save if Show Quick Edit is not already checked
Now navigate to an actual published post and check whether the quick edit pencil is now displaying in or around the footer of your blog post. Remember that you must be logged into Blogger to see the quick edit pencil - it is not displayed to your visitors

If the pencil is there then that is the end of this Blogger tutorial. The pencil just needed to be enabled. So thank you for joining me today and if you have any other issues with Blogger be sure to check out my how to fix common problems in Blogger tutorials or take a look at the list of all the Blog Know How Blogger tutorials

If the Blogger quick edit pencil is still missing it means that some important code has been omitted from your Blogger template and it will need to be added to get the quick edit pencil to show up
Go to Design > Edit HTML
Back up your template
Check the Expand Widget Templates box by placing a tick in it
Find the following line of code by holding down the CTRL key and F at the same time:
<b:includable id='postQuickEdit' var='post'>
Check whether the following code is under it:
<span class='post-icons'>  <b:if cond='data:post.emailPostUrl'> <span class='item-action'> <a expr:href='data:post.emailPostUrl' expr:title='data:top.emailPostMsg'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='13' src='http://img1.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </b:if>  <b:include data='post' name='postQuickEdit'/> </span> </div>
If part or all of the code is missing copy and paste it above :
 <b:include data='post' name='postQuickEdit'/>
Save changes to your Blogger template
Go to an individual published post page and see your new quick edit pencil displayed under your Blogger post

Tips and Troubleshooting
If you want to change the Blogger quick pencil icon you can by changing the image. Simply replace the image as depicted in red with the URL address of your own image. If your image is a different size you may have to change the width and height as shown in blue for the image to display correctly

<span class='post-icons'>  <b:if cond='data:post.emailPostUrl'> <span class='item-action'> <a expr:href='data:post.emailPostUrl' expr:title='data:top.emailPostMsg'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='13' src='http://img1.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </b:if>  <b:include data='post' name='postQuickEdit'/> </span> </div>

In this Blogger tutorial (Blogspot tutorial) I have shown you how to fix a missing Blogger quick edit pencil that is not showing. I have demonstrated how to enable the quick edit pencil in Blogger via Page Elements and I have provided you with the missing code in the event that the quick edit pencil code is missing from your custom Blogger template.

Please let me know if this tutorial has been useful for you by leaving your comments and opinions below.

Add Paypal Donate Button to Blogger

If you want to make a few bucks from all the hard work you are putting into your Blogger blog then consider adding a Paypal donate button to your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog).

Adding a donation button will encourage all those happy readers to say a big thank you for helping them out. Not everyone will donate but you will get the odd generous soul who will willingly donate some chump change to shout you a coffee.

In this Blogger tutorial we will be adding a gadget to the Blogger sidebar or alternatively you could place it in the foooter of your Blogger template. We will be using a widget to contain our Paypal Donate Button and will not be changing your Blogger template. If you wish to place the donate button into your Blogger posts see the end of this Blogger tutorial for details.

Skill level is rated easy.

How to Add a Paypal Donate Button to Blogger (Sidebar or Footer Gadget)
Note: Updated on January 20 2012 to take account of new Paypal interface

1. Get yourself a Paypal account if you don't already have one

2. Login to your Paypal account

3. Click on the Merchant Services tab

4. Choose Donations from the list of key features displayed in the right sidebar of the PayPal Website Payments Standard Option (first of 3 payment solutions)
Note Paypal have changed its interface. You now need to select PayPal Website Payments Standard from Merchant Services drop down and then under the buttons in option 1 you will see in pretty tiny writing I must say "There are also buttons for donations and gift certificates." Click on donations.

Select Donations link in Paypal from Paypal Website Payments Standard Options 1 to add a donations button to Blogger Blogspot blog

5. From the Paypal Create a Donation Button screen choose Create Your Button Now link (one of two).

6. Stick with the default button unless you wish to customize it

7. Choose your currency depending on your needs and location

8. Choose Donors enter their own contribution amount radio button unless you want to have a set amount

9. Ensure the Secure Merchant ID radio button is selected. This will prevent spammers getting hold of your email address

10. At Step 2 it is worth saving your button

11. At Step 3 Customize your checkout page by allowing donors to write a short comment by selecting the Yes radio button to special instructions to seller

12. Select the No radio button for Customer's Shipping Address

13. Select the Create Button button

14. Once Paypal creates the donate button code copy it by right clicking your mouse and choosing copy

15. Logout of Paypal

16. Login to Blogger if you are not already logged in

17. Go to Design > Page Elements

18. Click on the Add a Gadget link in the sidebar

19. Choose HTML/Javascript widget from the list provided

20. Paste the button code into the Content box of the dialog box that appears by placing the mouse inside the box and right clicking the mouse and then paste

21. Select a title like "Shout Me a Coffee Today!" or whatever you would like

22. Click on the Save button

23. Drag and drop your new donation gadget into the spot you want it to appear in

24. Click the Save button to ensure your changes are saved

25. Click View Blog to see your new donate button in the sidebar of your Blogger blog

26. Click on your new donate button and you will be taken to the Paypal Checkout screen