Submit Blogger sitemap to Google, Yahoo and Bing

Sitemaps let search engines to know more about the structure of your website. Blogs, like any other websites, can improve their visibility on the Internet, by adding their XML sitemaps to the major search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing).

The problem with Blogger is that you can’t upload your own sitemap or any other file to your blogspot sub-domain root (ex. http://sub-domain.blogspot.com/) or custom domain root (ex. http://www.yanniel.info/).

No panic! There’s a workaround for this: luckily for bloggers, sitemaps can be generated as feeds; meaning that you can actually submit an RSS or Atom feed as a valid sitemap.

Blogger supports both RSS and Atom formats. Anyway, I advice you use the Atom feed URL, because I have had problems when submitting the RSS URL. What problems?  Well, I don’t recall now, but I’m pretty sure I had problems ;-)

Here is the Atom sitemap URL for Blogger (it does work for both blogspot sub-domain and custom domains):

http://sub-domain.blogspot.com/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500

http://www. customdomain/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500

Basically, the important part is:

atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500

A brief explanation:

• atom.xml express the fact that you are requesting an XML Atom feed.
• redirect=false prevents  Blogger from redirecting your sitemap to a third-party sitemap burner. This is very useful if you are using FeedBurner, because FeedBurner feeds are not recognized as valid sitemaps in most cases.
• start-index=1 indicates that you want to syndicate starting on your first post. If you chose 10, for instance, your sitemap will start at post number 10.
• max-results=500 tells Blogger to include 500 posts in your sitemap.  You can change this number as well, but the maximum count of posts syndicated in your feed will never exceed 500.

So, what happens if my blog has more than 500 posts? Well, you simply add a second sitemap, a third and so on. See the URLs:

http://sub-domain.blogspot.com/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500

http://sub-domain.blogspot.com/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=501&max-results=500

http://sub-domain.blogspot.com/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1001&max-results=500

................................................

There’s only one thing pending: you need to add your sitemaps to the major search engines…

• For Google, you use Google WebMaster Tools (signing in is required)
• For Yahoo, you use Yahoo! Site Explorer (signing in is required)
• For Bing, you use Bing WebMaster Tools (signing in is required)

Submitting your sitemaps for each search engine is a slightly different process. I might cover those SEO topics in future posts.

Increase your blog traffic with Twitter

Note from the blog owner: This article is partially outdated; Twitter Feed was shut down on October 2016. 

One proven way to redirect traffic to your new posts is “to tweet” them.  In other words, if you write a new blog entry, make sure you also create a new tweet for it. This simple procedure will give some traffic on the fly to your new posts.

“Tweeting” your posts has several benefits, but I would like to enunciate two of them:

• It allows you to have visitors even before the major search engines (ex. Google, Yahoo, Bing) have indexed (and crawled) your newly added post.
• If your post content is good and sticky, you will gain flowers on Twitter, which means the possibility to increase your traffic in an exponential way, due to the viral nature of this micro-blogging platform.

All this sounds good, but you should agree with me that adding tweets by hand is boring. If you are a lazy blogger like me, you should find a way to create the tweets automatically, after a new post entry has been published.

I am sure there are several ways to do this, but here is my own:

1. Create a new Twitter account for your Blog. Notice the blue pigeon to the right of this page: it links to my Twitter account: http://twitter.com/yanniel_alvarez. This is the account I use for tweeting my blog posts. Take a look and notice how all my posts have been tweeted.
2. Create a new account in Twitter Feed. This is a really cool system that allows you to “feed your blog to Twitter”.
3. Configure Twitter Feed to redirect your blog post entries to Twitter. Just follow the given instructions, which are very straightforward. The most important things you need to remember are authenticating to your Twitter account, providing your Blog’s feed URL and setting the update frequency of your tweets. [1]

The following snapshot shows how I configured the feed for my Blogger Blog (www.yanniel.info). In your case, it might be slightly different depending on the blogging platform you are using.

Once this is done, you don’t have to worry about updating your Twitter account; instead, the tweets are created transparently every time you add a new post.

Note:
[1]: The update frequency can be found under Advanced Settings (Twitter Feed). By default the update frequency is 30 minutes.

How to implement a tag cloud. Learn by example

A tag cloud [1] is a list of terms in which each item has a corresponding weight. The weight represents the importance or popularity of each term.

Tag clouds usually have a visual representation, and the weight can be translated into a different font size, color, style, text orientation and others. Changing the appearance of each tag in the cloud allows the readers to perform a quick scan and detect the most ranked terms in the cloud.

One final consideration is that tags are generally linked to some related content. This can be achieved for example, by means of a hypertext link (...a href=...) anchored to the affine content.

There are several algorithms to implement a tag cloud; however, right now I'm going to use a fairly simple one: it just changes the font size of the tag depending on the number of occurrences per tag. The general formula (taken from Wikipedia and adjusted by me) is:

Si = |Fmax*(Ti - Tmin)/ (Tmax - Tmin)|

for |Fmax*(Ti - Tmin)/ (Tmax - Tmin)| > 90%;

else Si =90%.

Where:

• i: is an index ranging from 1 to the total number of tags in the cloud.
• Si: is the display font size of tag i. You need to calculate Si for each tag in the cloud.
• Fmax: is the maximum font size value to display. This value is chosen by the user.
• Ti: is the number of occurrences of tag i.
• Tmin: is the minimum of all Ti values.
• Tmax: is the maximum of all Ti values.

Too difficult to understand? Patience, you'll get there:

Consider the following list of twenty tags. The number of occurrences is shown inside red square brackets "[...]":

linda evangelista [9]
toaster [12]
brad richards [7]
max talbot [13]
fireworks [10]
library of congress [12]
bohemian grove [15]
declaration of independence [2]
17 day diet [16]
independence day [10]
white sox [5]
blaise pascal [4]
ewan mcgregor [10]
kate moss [6]
princess diana [10]
traffic [1]
janet jackson [11]
canada day [8]
scott pilgrim vs. the world [10]
paul newman [18]

For the list of tags above, the corresponding Ti values are: T1=9; T2=12; T3=7; T4=13; T5=10; T6=12; T7=15; T8=2; T9=16; T10=10; T11=5; T12=4; T13=10; T14=6; T15=10; T16=1; T17=11; T18=8; T19=10; T20=18.

Now, it's easy to see that Tmax=T20=18 and Tmin=T16=1. Finally, let's set Fmax=300% [2] and let's calculate each Si:

S1 = |300% * (9 -1) /(18-1)| = 141.17% = 141%

S2 = |300% * (12 -1) /(18-1)| = 194.11% = 194%

S3 = |300% * (7 -1) /(18-1)| = 105.88% = 106%

S4 = |300% * (13 -1) /(18-1)| = 211.76% = 212%

S5 = |300% * (10 -1) /(18-1)| = 158.82% = 159%

S6 = |300% * (12 -1) /(18-1)| = 194.11% = 194%

S7 = |300% * (15 -1) /(18-1)| = 247.05% = 247%

S8 = |300% * (2 -1) /(18-1)| = 17.64% = 18%;
as S8 = 18% < 90%, then S8 = 90%.

S9 = |300% * (16 -1) /(18-1)| = 264.70% = 265%

S10 = |300% * (10 -1) /(18-1)| = 158.82% = 159%

S11 = |300% * (5 -1) /(18-1)| = 70.58% = 71%;
as S11 = 71% < 90%, then S11 = 90%.

S12 = |300% * (4 -1) /(18-1)| = 52.94% = 53%;
as S12 = 53% < 90%, then S12 = 90%.

S13 = |300% * (10 -1) /(18-1)| = 158.82% = 159%

S14 = |300% * (6 -1) /(18-1)| = 88.23% = 88%;
as S14 = 88% < 90%, then S14 = 90%.

S15 = |300% * (10 -1) /(18-1)| = 158.82% = 159%

S16 = |300% * (1 -1) /(18-1)| = 0% = 0%;
as S16 = 0% < 90%, then S16 = 90%.

S17 = |300% * (11 -1) /(18-1)| = 176.47% = 176%

S18 = |300% * (8 -1) /(18-1)| = 123.52% = 124%

S19 = |300% * (10 -1) /(18-1)| = 158.82% = 159%

S20 = |300% * (18 -1) /(18-1)| = 300% = 300%

Using the information above we can generate HTML code like this (the line feeds were added just for readability purposes):

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=linda+evangelista" rel="tag" style="font-size: 141%;">linda evangelista</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=toaster" rel="tag" style="font-size: 194%;">toaster</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=brad+richards" rel="tag" style="font-size: 106%;">brad richards</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=max+talbot" rel="tag" style="font-size: 212%;">max talbot</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=fireworks" rel="tag" style="font-size: 159%;">fireworks</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=library+of+congress" rel="tag" style="font-size: 194%;">library of congress</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=bohemian+grove" rel="tag" style="font-size: 247%;">bohemian grove</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=declaration+of+independence" rel="tag" style="font-size: 90%;">declaration of independence</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=17+day+diet" rel="tag" style="font-size: 265%;">17 day diet</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=independence+day" rel="tag" style="font-size: 159%;">independence day</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=white+sox" rel="tag" style="font-size: 90%;">white sox</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=blaise+pascal" rel="tag" style="font-size: 90%;">blaise pascal</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=ewan+mcgregor" rel="tag" style="font-size: 159%;">ewan mcgregor</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=kate+moss" rel="tag" style="font-size: 90%;">kate moss</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=princess+diana" rel="tag" style="font-size: 159%;">princess diana</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=traffic" rel="tag" style="font-size: 90%;">traffic</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=janet+jackson" rel="tag" style="font-size: 176%;">janet jackson</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=canada+day" rel="tag" style="font-size: 124%;">canada day</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=scott+pilgrim+vs.+the+world" rel="tag" style="font-size: 159%;">scott pilgrim vs. the world</a>

<a href="http://www.yanniel.info/search?q=paul+newman" rel="tag" style="font-size: 300%;">paul newman</a>

That HTML code renders a tag cloud like the one below:

linda evangelista  toaster  brad richards  max talbot  fireworks  library of congress  bohemian grove  declaration of independence  17 day diet  independence day  white sox  blaise pascal  ewan mcgregor  kate moss  princess diana  traffic  janet jackson  canada day  scott pilgrim vs. the world  paul newman  

Notice that if you click on a tag it will search any related content withing my blog. Try it!

Notes:

[1] A tag cloud is also referred as a word cloud or weighted list. In this context, tag is a synonym of term; sometimes even a synonym of word. Nevertheless, I don't like the latest assumption, because the practical experience shows that a tag can be formed using two words or more.

[2] You can chose whatever value you want for this parameter. However, depending on what you set, the appearance of the tags in the cloud might vary.

A SEO advice for Blogger: Remove the blog title from the post title

This topic has been covered many times on the Internet, but bloggers don't to pay much attention to it. So, in this article, I am bringing some light to this matter (AGAIN), even if my post is labeled by Google as “duplicate content”.

If you create a new blog in Blogger,  this is what you should expect for the pages of your baby blog:

1. Blog Home Page Title: corresponds to your blog title. For example: the home page title of this blog is “Yanniel's notes”.
2. Post Page Title:  is formed by concatenating your blog title, a colon-space (“: ”) and your current post title. For example: the page title for this post would have been by default “Yanniel's notes: A SEO advice for Blogger: Remove the blog title from the post title”.

The pattern followed in point number 2 is really bad from the SEO point of view. The page title is one of the most (if not the most)  important aspects for Search Engine Optimization; which is why, replicating the blog title on each post title is not wise.

That  behavior leads Google, Yahoo, Bing and other major search engines to depreciate your post entries, because they find “duplicate content” in all the titles of your blog pages.

I really don't see any benefit in prefixing each post title with the blog title.

A way to change this situation is to remove the blog title from the title of each post. To achieve this follow the steps below:

1. Open your Blog Template HTML editor, available thought Menu->Template -> Edit HTML.
2. Find the string <title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>
3. Replace it with:
    <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "index"'>
      <title><data:blog.title/></title>
    <b:else/>
      <title><data:blog.pageName/></title>
    </b:if>
4. Click the Save Template button. Done!

Notice that my post title is no longer: “Yanniel's notes: A SEO advice for Blogger: Remove the blog title from the post title".

The strikethrough part was removed!

Hope this helps!

Listing my blog on Technorati and TopOfBlogs

Note from the blog owner: This article is outdated; it is kept here for historical reasons.

Yanniel's notes is now alive in Technorati and TopOfBlogs. Both sites give authentic backlinks to your blog, as they don't implement the rel=”nofollow” attribute in the HTML <a ... tag.

Technorati is a blog search engine and directory, which in my humble opinion is very professional and well established. In fact, I prefer to use Technorati rather than Google Blog Search to browse and search the blogosphere. The bad thing about Technorati is that it only allows blogs in English.

TopOfBlogs is a blog directory that has gained strong popularity lately. It ranks the blogs according to several variables, which converge in a general rank value for each blog. TopOfBlogs is far from been as professional as Technorati, but it covers all languages and cultures.

Both sites perform a manual revision of each blog you claim (submit). The purpose is to fight spam and to allow only authentic content to be listed. Of course, spammers are quite smart these days and the battle cannot be won just by the initial moderators' revision.

There's much more about  Technorati and TopOfBlogs. I intend to talk about them in further posts.