Submitting your Blogger.com or Blogspot.com blog site to Google Webmaster will enable Google to find, index, and rank your site. For those who are new to this, you may go to the official Google Webmaster Tools site to create a new Webmaster profile.
Upon logging in using your Gmail account, key in your blog site URL, and click OK. You will then be asked to verify your site. This is to ascertain that you are indeed the owner of the site.
There are two ways to verify your site. You can either add a Meta Tag or Upload an HTML file. If you are using the Meta Tag method, Google will generate a Meta Tag code. Copy the META tag that is generated for you, and paste it in your site's home page in the first section of the page, before the first section. What you do is to go to your Blogger dashboard. Under Template ->Edit HTML, somewhere near the top of the script, add the Meta Tag as follows:-
<head> <META TAG> <b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/> |
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Replace the META TAG with the code generated by Google Webmaster. Once done, Save the Template. When you return to Google Webmaster site, you can click the button that says “Verify”.
Note: The second method of uploading an HTML file is NOT applicable to Bloggers using Blogger.com or Blogspot.com because this requires you to upload a file to the root directory of your Blog, which is not possible. There is therefore only one method for you to verify your site, and that is by inserting the Meta Tag as explained above.
After you have had your site verified, click on the Sitemaps tab as shown below. By adding a Sitemap, you will be providing Google with more details and information about your Blog. With this, Google will crawl your site, report information on any errors in the Sitemaps tab, and index your Blog site at a faster rate.
Click the link that says “Add a Sitemap”. This will take you to another screen where you should choose the type “Add General Web Sitemap”. The Sitemap URL for any normal website is usually the index page that is stored in the highest-level directory of that site. In the case of Blogger.com or Blogspot.com, the only way to add a Sitemap is to use either of the following 2 Sitemaps:-
http://YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com/rss.xml |
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OR
http://YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com/atom.xml |
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Remember to replace YOURBLOGNAME with that of your Blog's. For Blogger blogs, do not add "www." to YOURBLOGNAME. Once you have added your Sitemaps, you will receive a confirmation telling you that reports are being generated but “may take several hours to update”. Congratulations! You have successfully added your Sitemaps. When you login to your Google Webmaster days later, you should be able to see the indexed pages and statistics of Google webcrawl of your Blog.
Leave the meta tag in the template if you want to view the statistics of your site. If Google can't find the meta tag, it will show an error message in your webmaster toolbox and you may have to verify your site again.
You may want to read the articles on how to Submit Blogger URL sitemap to Yahoo! and Submit Blogger Sitemap to MSN and Ask.com. Also, submit your Blog to Blog Directories and Feed Directories to let more people know about your Blog. As well, submit your Blog to the various Search Engines for maximum exposure.
© Tips for New Bloggers
36 comments:
Quick question.
Do I leave the META tag and code generated by Google after I'm done authenticating, or can I delete/replace it?
Thanks.
-Amit
Hi Amit
I believe you should leave it there to see the stats of your site. If Google can't find the tag, it will show an error message in your webmaster toolbox and you can verify your site again. For more info, you can look up their Help site at http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/?hl=en
thanks for the very useful info...
I wasn't sure if the meta tag was needed just for the initial verification, or also for site statistics. I guess that means it's fine to have multiple META tags in the webpage as I have another one for Yahoo Site Meter.
Thanks a lot for the prompt response. And, I've added a link to your wonderful website through my blog.
Cheers,
-Amit
Also, a suggestion to maybe add a line in the blog post to indicate to readers to leave the META code in there after the site has been verified, as the blog post doesn't say anything one way or the other.
Though, if a user reads all the comments now, s/he will know :)
Cheers,
-Amit
Sure Amit, have added that in the article as you've suggested.
hi bizwhiz, i had my blog for almost 3 months now and it is only now that i was able to figure out the sitemap. thanks to your blog i am slowly learning the ropes so to speak, lol. question though, i have included in my template http://pedestrianobserver.blogspot.com/rss.xml so now it appears on the top part of the blog, is it supposed to do that?. 2nd question can I remove it after the verification?
Hi Cyber Istambay
Please remove that URL from your template. We only need to insert the Meta Tag code which is generated by Google Webmaster.
As mentioned above, you may leave the meta tag in the template if you want to view the statistics of your site. If Google can't find the meta tag, it will show an error message in your webmaster toolbox and you may have to verify your site again.
I registered a site with www in the url so that it required me to have www in the sitemap. Will this make a difference somehow? I couldn't register a sitemap without www so I don't think I have a choice.
Hi Hilda
Sure, you can include www. if you registered a domain. For people who are submitting their blogs, they should not put a www. in their blogspot.com URL. This was a feedback raised by one of our readers, Ado.
Is it a good idea to submit both atom.xml and rss.xml?
If not, which one is the best?
Hi captain1821
You can submit both but it is also alright to submit either. I don't think there is any significant difference between the two. They are both widely acknowledged and accepted formats.
Hi! First I would like to thank you for all the knowledge that you imparted in here. It has really helped me a lot.
I have a question, when I placed the meta tag code generated by Yahoo, the message below appeared..
Your template could not be parsed as it is not well-formed. Please make sure all XML elements are closed properly.
XML error message: The element type "META" must be terminated by the matching end-tag "".
Pls help..
Hi Yale Zeuqsalev
If the tag ends with /> it should be ok. Please don't change other parts of the code. You may like to try it again.
HI,
http://sara-intop.blogspot.com/
this is my blog ...
i have deleted my sitemap.. while using google webmaster tool ..
there is no link to addsite map..
what to do...
Hi, I am having problems submitting a Sitemap! It gave an Error 404! What is the problem, I followed your instructions on the posts! thanks!
Hi Saravanan
If you are logged in to Google Webmaster, you can click "Manage URL" where URL is your Blog URL. You can see 4 tabs at the top and the last one reads "Sitemaps". In the top left corner, there is an "Add a Sitemap" link. You can add a sitemap using that.
Hi bokjae
That is likely to be a server connection problem. Try logging in later and submit again.
I love your Blog! Link has been added to my page.
Have you ever posted on external sites that checks, validates and reports on your blog, like this one I found:
http://www.xinureturns.com/
Check quickly your PageRank, backlinks and much more.
Hi Bizwiz,
I submitted my blog to yahoo and google together with other search engines about two months ago.
When i did a search using my site URL http://kamauharrison.blogspot.com/ only yahoo takes me to the site, google takes me to other sites including yours where my site is mentioned,But does not take me to the actual site. What do you think could be the problem? Also how do i submit to msn? Warm regards, Harrison
Hi Kamau Harrison
Search engines have different algorithms. They may display results according to key words, page ranks, relevance, etc. If you go through all the pages of the results, you should be able to see your site. You could also login to your Google Webmaster account and look at the pages that are indexed by Google.
We should be updating our article to cover submission of site to other directories and search engines.
Hi bizwhiz,
I follow your steps but still couldn't find my site at Google search engine. Please guide me
Thanks.
Monica
Hi Monica
How soon they index the site is not within our control. In the meantime, you may want to look at our latest article on Submitting Blog to Search Engines. Submit to other search engines as well.
Hi bizwhiz,
Thanks for your reply.
I saw my site at Google which turn out like this : turn-u-offMonica Blogger 1 1 25 tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-976824399466293739.post-7432648923993254376 2007-08-20T13:42:00.000+08:00 2007-08-20T14:18:28.934+08:00 So ...
www.blogger.com/feeds/976824399466293739/posts/default - 3k - Cached - Similar pages
and when i clicked on it, it came out DO YOU WANT TO SAVE THIS FILE?
I am confused!
Monica
Hi Bizwhiz,
Thanks so much for all your wonderful tips! your blog is great stuff, simple, easy to understand and comprehensive explaination and step-by-step guide to solve all my problems. I had been blogging on xanga for past few years, only lately i realised i can do much more with blogger. But i have no idea how to start. u gave me all the cool ideas to decorate up my stie (http://p-latte.blogspot.com)!
I will link your site to my blog to share your great work with all my friends! thanks a again!
hello,
i don't understand why we should add meta tags to be in google ranking, because blogger.com is own by google, right ?
Hi internet marketing for beginner
I believe the meta tag is to authenticate the blog so that the correct blog owner and webmaster can receive visitor, search and other stats on the site. If you don't need these stats, you can also submit the URL to Google for indexing. I have the Google URL to send to in the article on Submit Blog to Search Engines.
This is a useful material.
by
http://wwwportal.blogspot.com
hi again .. ih sorry but i did all steps
and in sitemap url step i enterd (http://lu2a.blogspot.com/atom.xml)
but i got this error messege
(The Sitemap must be located at http://lu2a.blogspot.com/. To add a Sitemap at http://lu2a.blogspot.com/http://lu2a.blogspot.com/, first add that site to your account and then click the Add a Sitemap link beside it.)
http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?image=94074648zf8.jpg
can u help me plz ?!!!
thank u
Hi Wael
Since the blog url already appears in the box, you need to type in atom.xml and not repeat your blog url.
hiii....
i created my blog and wanted to submit it to google......and by using ur steps...i reached till that it said that it has been verified....bt after that..when i go to the next step....to add site map....it gives me the following error:
The Sitemap must be located at http://windowstipstricks.blogspot.com/. To add a Sitemap at http://windowstipstricks.blogspot.com/http://windowstipstricks.blogspot.com/, first add that site to your account and then click the Add a Sitemap link beside it.
plzzzz help.....
hiii again.....
yaa...i got my error...i read the comment be4 me....nd it waz sm as me......
so....i got it....thanx...
hi,i followed your step ..
but in the end i can jus add rss.xml because the rest was already fill in by google..
You have added a Sitemap to http://www.sidemoney101.blogspot.com/. Reports may take several hours to update. Thank you for your patience!
u see the www is also included automatically...
Hello Bizwhiz,
I've learnt a lot from you, I guess 99% my site development shall be dedicated to your very-easy-to-follow guidelines.
I've recently submitted my site to Google webmaster. I paste my meta tag list below the 'head', above the meta tag of yahoo!, and my blog works fine. But when I clicked on 'verify' button in Google they said "Verification status: NOT VERIFIED
Last attempt Nov 27, 2007: We couldn't find the verification meta tag"
I suspect I put the meta tag in a wrong place, but I've checked Google Help and they advised me the same thing (after 'head' and before 'head'. Can you please advise? Thank you v.much!
Hi Anita
If you have inserted the generated meta tag at the correct place, and your blog is a public blog, it should be verifiable. Try submitting it again and write to them if you are still facing problems.
Thanks again! I went to Google Webmaster to index the site map. For each post that I had, they indicated it was an error. For instance, http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspo...u-recognize-early-warning-signs-of.html. Do you know how to resolve that error? Please help!
THANKS!
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