Custom Redirects, And The Mobile Template Redirect, Are Not Compatible

We've recently seen a few reports about problems with custom redirects, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I want to redirect my blog URL to a static home page. With a redirect in place, mobile computer users can't access my blog. Mobile browsers display an error, mentioning too many redirects.

This problem is being reported by owners of blogs both published to BlogSpot, and to non BlogSpot domains. When published to a non BlogSpot domain, the problem is present even for domains properly setup.

Some advice, given in the forum, suggests use of forwarding, instead of referral, as a solution. This advice is a problem, for 2 reasons.

• Forwarding cannot be used with blogs published to BlogSpot.
• Forwarding is not a good solution for custom domain publishing.

Right now, there is no solution for this problem - though there is a workaround. Blogger Support is aware of the problem - but it's not certain that a solution will be immediate.

For blogs published to BlogSpot, there are just two choices.

1. Disable the redirected home page, and do without the custom home page.
2. Enable the custom redirected main page, and do without mobile access to the blog.

For blogs published to a custom domain, there are, supposedly, three choices.

1. Disable the redirected home page, and do without the custom home page.
2. Enable the custom redirected main page, and do without mobile access to the blog.
3. Use forwarding, instead of referral, to redirect the domain to the blog.

Forwarding comes in two versions, with differing effects from the two versions. Neither version of forwarding is beneficial, to Blogger blogs.

• DNS forwarding results in the blog being indexed under the BlogSpot URL, by the search engines. The blog's readers will be able to use the (forwarded) domain URL, to access the blog - but all search engine references will mention the BlogSpot URL.
  
  With some access to the blog through the BlogSpot URL, and other access through the domain URL, blog reputation will drop, similar to blogs newly published to a new URL. Both reputation and traffic will do the same.
• Frame forwarding results in the blog being visible within an IFrame. No indexing of the blog, by the search engines, will take place, with blog contents visible inside an iframe. Search engine reputation will drop even worse with DNS forwarding.

Not all registrars offer both versions of forwarding, so you may have to take what they offer - and accept the resulting loss to the blog.

As a workaround, until the problem is fixed, you can return to the previous technique for making a static home page.

Basically, blog owners may have to choose between having a custom home page (for desktop access), and having the blog accessible through mobile browsers (for mobile access) - or using the workaround. And everybody has to wait, patiently, until Blogger Engineering can come up with a better solution - to make custom redirects, and the mobile browser redirect, work together.

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BlogLovin, And Blogs Publishing Feeds Through FeedBurner

We're seeing a few reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about BlogLovin, and their inability to accept feeds from Blogger blogs.

My feed on Bloglovin is not updating correctly, so I emailed BlogLovin Support. They responded, and said it was because my RSS feed isn't working correctly.

When diagnosed, we frequently see a working posts feed, redirected through FeedBurner.

It appears that BlogLovin is not able to properly accept some (or all) FeedBurner redirected feeds. The most obvious solution here would be to setup BlogLovin properly, to use a non redirected feed, so they get the native Blogger posts feed.

Upon trying to test my diagnosis, using my test blog, it appears that adding a blog to BlogLovin requires publishing a new post, with their Follow button conspicuously located.

Paste this text into a new blog post:

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/10757427/?claim=ge8y4cfhqfx">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

In some blogs it's necessary to put the code in the top of the blog post

It does not appear to be easily possible to specify the blog feed, in this case. It appears that BlogLovin extracts the blog feed, using the feed autodiscovery meta code, in the blog template.

It appears that any solution to the problem with BlogLovin vs FeedBurner redirected feeds will require involvement with BlogLovin Engineering.

1. Convince BlogLovin Support to make their service accept FeedBurner feeds.
2. Convince BlogLovin Support to make their service filter feed redirects.
3. Discontinue FeedBurner from your feed redirect.
4. Figure out how to specify a non redirected feed to BlogLovin.

I'm not hopeful that #4 has any future.

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Recovering A Deleted Page Or Post, Chapter 3

We've been advising anxious blog owners, for some time, how to recover deleted pages and posts.

The easiest solution, in the long run, is to recover the PageID / PostID, and re publish the deleted page / post.

Unfortunately, all deleted pages and posts can't be edited and re published. With new posts, un indexed by the search engines, you won't be able to find the post in cache - and you'll never determine the PostID. This will be a frequent problem with deleted pages - as static pages generally won't get indexed by the search engines - nor will they ever be included in the blog posts feed.

In some cases, even when you know the PageID or PostID, the page editor / post editor may simply reject your attempt to re edit - and give you another bX code.

Even so, all is not lost. You may have to rebuild the page or post - but you can generally keep the URL, of the deleted page or post, operational. Just plan the rebuilding process.

In cases where a deleted page or post can't be simply re published, you can publish a replacement page or post - and redirect both your readers, and the search engines, from the URL of the deleted page / post, to the replacement page or post.

To minimise loss of reader and search engine reputation, you'll want to publish a replacement page / post as soon as possible after the old page / post is mistakenly deleted. With replacement posts published in the same month as the original - and with all pages - this can cause the well known ugly URL suffix, to prevent a duplicate URL.

When you publish a replacement page or post, you have one chance to get the title and URL right - and prevent the ugly URL suffix. The one chance ends, when you hit the "Publish" button.

With a deleted post, you can use the Custom Permalink option ("Permalink", under "Post settings", in the post editor window) to make the published URL slightly different from the default. Alternately, you'll need to deliberately choose a slightly different Title, for the replacement post.

When you publish a replacement page, you won't have a "Custom Permalink" option. Your only option, in this case, is to choose a slightly different Title, for the replacement Page.

Static page URLs do not contain the year and month of publishing, so you'll need to use a different Title for every replacement page - even if you publish the replacement in a later month, or even a later year. Since static pages are generally not as widely publicised as posts, the different title should still be preferable to the alternative - the ugly page URL suffix.

Just choose the title and URL carefully, before you hit "Publish", to prevent long term embarrassment. And having published the replacement, setup a Custom Redirect, to keep the URL of the deleted page or post operational.

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Blogger Blogs Cannot Be Used As Gateways

We see evidence of confusion, from time to time, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?.

How do I move an established blog to WordPress (or any other platform), while retaining the history, reader interest, search engine reputation?

Some blog owners think blog readers are cattle (to be herded from blog to blog) - or monkeys (to be attracted by shiny things).

We've known for some time, that Blogger blogs cannot be used as gateways, with traffic automatically redirected from one blog to another - or from a blog to a non Google website. Use of traffic redirection scripts is a known cause of blogs classified as malware hosts.

If you wish to relocate a Blogger blog in another hosting service, you can always publish your Blogger blog, and a non Google blog / website, as dual hosts, in a non BlogSpot domain.

With your Blogger blog and non Blogger website published to the same domain, you can then combine the two, dynamically. Just remember to add unique content to each, periodically, to retain search engine reputation.

1. Publish your Blogger blog to a host in your custom domain.
2. Publish your WordPress (or any other platform) blog to a host in your custom domain.
3. Combine the two blogs.
4. Let your readers access either blog, as their choice.
5. Update both blogs, to retain search engine reputation, regularly.
6. When the WordPress (or any other platform) blog receives enough reputation and traffic, make the Blogger blog into a stub blog.

Just don't build a maze of blogs and web sites - and don't waste time or money artificially developing traffic. Blogger blog readers are attracted by interesting and useful content - and are retained by new content, added periodically.

And don't try adding clever code, to shuffle your readers from one blog to another.

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The Task Of Forwarding A Domain Requires Experience, Persistence, And Research

I constantly advise Blogger blog owners to avoid forwarding, when setting up custom domain publishing.

In the rare cases where forwarding is actually required, not every blog owner reports success.

My blog now displays a non Google search page!

or worse

My blog now displays

404 Not Found

What did I do wrong??

Depending upon what setup work was done by the blog / domain owner, and what effort is required by the registrar, one may expect to see, quite predictably, either of the above errors.

When you just publish your blog to the primary domain, you're using the Blogger Publishing wizard.

When you forward a secondary domain to the primary domain, you're using the DNS Manager wizard provided by the registrar, for that secondary domain. Frequently, this is a 2 step process.

1. You use the DNS Manager for the secondary domain, and designate the primary domain as the forwarding target for this domain.
2. You setup a DNS address for the secondary domain URL, and target the redirection server - as provided by the DNS host.

Some wizards will handle both steps for you automatically, while others will require that you do both steps separately. I have had both experiences, when forwarding different domains using the GoDaddy DNS manager. You may need to experiment, here - or ask an experienced technician at the registrar, for advice.

If your registrar requires that you perform both steps separately, and you only do the first, your domain gets redirected to the redirection server. If you don't define a redirection target, you have a parked domain, similar to an expired domain - and your domain will serve the ads display page provided by the registrar.

If your registrar requires that you perform both steps separately, and you only do the second, your domain will be properly redirected from the redirection server - but the redirection server will not be defined, for your domain. If the redirection server isn't defined, the domain will be "404".

If your registrar does not provide explicit instructions - or if you use the domain manager wizard and get either of the above results, it may be time to contact a customer service representative. Using a third party registrar, or a third party DNS hosting service, you may have to improvise.

Forwarding a domain - when you must serve two domains (or more) from one blog - is simply not a task for the inexperienced.

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Recovering A Deleted Page Or Post, Chapter 2

Blog owners have been deleting their pages and posts, then changing their minds later, since Blogger started providing the ability to delete pages and posts.

We've been advising anxious blog owners, for some time, how to recover deleted pages and posts. The easiest solution, in the long run, is to recover the PageID / PostID, and re publish the deleted page / post.

When the deleted page or post cannot be re published, the next option is to re build the page / post, possibly using feed cache.

Using this technique, you'll have to reformat the post content, as feed content is formatted relatively simply. When you publish the post, it will publish as a new post, with a new URL - so any external references to the missing post URL will still be broken.

Thanks to the recently offered Custom Redirects option, though, we can make this latter choice slightly less undesirable.

When a deleted page or post has to be rebuilt from the beginning, the classic prognosis was not good.

1. The content is retrieved or rewritten, then re formatted.
2. The page / post is re published, but under a new URL.
3. The readers, and the search engines, adjust to the new URL being used.

For many blog owners, issue #3 is the cruelest blow - as the blog suffers reputation loss, from readers and search engines seeing

404 Not Found

for the deleted page / post.

Given enough determination and time, the blog owner can get through issues #1 and #2 - but issue #3 is the gift that just keeps on giving. Using Custom Redirects, though, that does not have to be the case.

It's a simple solution - and your readers and the search engines don't have to do anything unusual.

1. Rebuild the page / post, using a carefully chosen Title / URL.
2. Add a Custom Redirect.
   • From: The deleted (previously published) URL.
   • To: The new (re published) URL.
3. The readers, and the search engines can view the re built page / post contents using the old URL - and update their record of the URL, as convenient to them, to point to the new URL. And the page / post never goes offline.

And you, the blog owner, can get back to work on new pages and posts.

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Confusion About The Post Feed Redirect Feature

The world of Blogger blogs contains a lot of confusing terminology.

Some Blogger features don't even have names. Some names, which I use, are terms which I made up on my own, years ago - simply because Blogger did not provide a name, at that time. One term, which Blogger did give us, still causes confusion. The term "Post Feed Redirect" seems to describe an option, in Blogger, to redirect the post feed to a different URL.

The Post Feed Redirect feature is used by some confused blog owners, improperly. There are several specific cases, all too common.

• Change the URL of the feed. Redirecting the blog feed, to simply change the URL, causes the feed to redirect to non existent content - or a dead feed.
• Publishing the blog to a non BlogSpot URL. Custom domain publishing provides automatic redirection of the blog URL - and by extension, the blog feed URL. Adding a feed redirect causes an infinite loop.
• Randomly expose the blog to new audiences. Redirecting the blog feed to a random redirector causes the blog readers to report a hijacked Reading List - and later, to simply remove the blog, using a redirected feed, from the Reading List.

This redirection, contrary to the term "Post Feed", also affects the comments feeds and the labels feeds, relevant to the blog where the setting is used.

Besides the fact that the option in question affects all feeds in the blog, the biggest confusion is that using the option does not actually redirect the feed - it redirects the references to the feed. People use this option in the expectation that it will change the URL of the feed. This option does not change the URL of the feed - it changes the URL used by references to the feed.

To change the feed references, successfully, you must have the URL mentioned by the setting already published, in a separate effort.

• If you renamed the blog to a different BlogSpot URL, you can redirect the feed reference, from a stub blog, to the feed published under the new URL.
• If you used a different service, like FeedBurner, to create a reformatted feed replica, you can redirect the feed reference to the FeedBurner feed URL.
• In either case, the URL has to exist, from a separate effort.

If you are reading this post, look down the page, after the "Newer Post Home Older Post" links.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

There is an example of the original feed reference. The purpose of the post feed redirect feature, long ago, was to let the blog owners generate a different feed for the blog - maybe a FeedBurner republished post feed - and force that link to reference the FeedBurner republished feed.

If you use that link, and subscribe to the feed from this blog, you should get a subscription offer, using the FeedBurner feed for this blog.

The Post Feed Redirect simply lets people setup and use an alternate feed URL, without having to update the code for all links which reference the post feed - such as that link.

That's it - pure and simple.

If you have - even unintentionally - misused the post feed redirect in your blog, it's easy to correct the mistake. Just understand why you should correct the mistake.

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Clear, Or Set, The Post Feed Redirect

One of the most mysterious settings, in our blogs, is the ability to redirect references to the blog feed.

Some people use the "Post Feed Redirect" setting improperly. When this is done, the problems created can be easily solved, by clearing the setting.

1. Go to the dashboard menu Settings - Other - Site feed.
2. Look at the entry for "Post Feed Redirect URL".
3. If that option is incorrectly set, click on "Remove".
4. Click on "Save settings".
5. You're done.

If you actually need this setting, it's similarly simple to set it.

1. Go to the dashboard menu Settings - Other - Site feed.
2. Look at the entry for "Post Feed Redirect URL".
3. If that option needs to be set, click on "Add".
4. Paste or type the correct URL, into the box.
5. Click on "Save settings".
6. You're done.

The setting, for this blog, for instance, is:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/Nitecruzr-Blogging

Just understand what the setting does, how to enter the setting, and when you should use it.

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If You Are Not Planning To Renew Domain Registration, Publish Back To BlogSpot Now

One of the saddest answers given in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken starts with the naive query

My domain registration expired last month, and my blog is now offline. How do I redirect the domain back to the blog?

The answer here is simple, and does not provide a lot of promise, to the blog owner.

If possible, you may be able to publish the blog back to BlogSpot - but the blog will have to be re indexed from the beginning.

Once the domain registration expires, you cannot use the domain address for reputation or traffic source. Any search engine hit entries, to the domain URL, will be 404 - and there is nothing that you can do, if you no longer own the domain.

If your blog depends upon reputation, or search engine listings, for reader activity - and you are contemplating changing from a non BlogSpot domain address back to a BlogSpot address - you need to plan this change, before you start.

A successful change, back to a BlogSpot URL, starts before the domain registration expires - while you can use the domain to provide reputation, and search engine hits, to the BlogSpot URL. I like to advise people to allow at least a month for any blog to be fully indexed by search engines, when a blog is new.

If the blog is mature, and is indexed under a non BlogSpot URL, the process of re indexing under the BlogSpot URL may be only slightly briefer. A mature blog will have one thing going for it, that a new blog won't - inherent reader reputation.

Unfortunately, reader reputation will be good for one thing, when re indexing your blog under the BlogSpot URL - links on the readers blogs, to your blog. If your blog has readers who don't publish blogs, or their own reader list, publicly - or if you let the domain registration expire before starting the process of re indexing the blog - you won't gain a lot from reader reputation. All of the links on your readers blogs, just like all of the links in the search engine result pages, will be

404 not found

This sight will not provide you with reader traffic, or with any reputation.

If you must move from a non BlogSpot URL back to a BlogSpot URL, the time to start is a month before the domain registration expires. This is one of the few times when I will tell you to use domain forwarding. Use the Domain Manager wizard, hopefully provided by the registrar, and setup a "301 Moved Permanently" redirect to the BlogSpot URL - if the domain host allows this.

You'll also want to add a notice on the blog, announcing the change - again, well before the domain registration expires. An HTML / Text notice, visible on all pages, would be best.

This blog will move back to a native BlogSpot URL on (date). Please update your bookmarks now!

Plan the migration, and keep your readers - and maybe your readers readers, who use the links on your readers blogs to find your blog.

If you wait until the domain registration expires, you'll have nothing to do but publish your blog with new content - and hope that the search engines will continue to pick up the new content under the new URL - the old BlogSpot address. And maybe your current readers will find your blog. Maybe.

Some Blogger Blogs Being Locked As Malware Hosts, Because Of Malicious JavaScript

For a long time, we've been dealing with various malware / spam mitigation issues, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Recently, malware detections, long simply identified as "Malicious JavaScript" in the well known Spam Appeal Guidelines, was given its own identity, and a separate classification / appeal process. We're now seeing several common types of JavaScript, included in blogs which are typically mentioned in forum reports.

It may be helpful to describe some examples of JavaScript code being seen, so blog owners can avoid making the same mistakes, by not including these scripts in their blogs.

There are 3 common types of JavaScript applications, found in many blogs with the owners requesting review / unlock action.

1. CPA / Cost Per Action.
2. Traffic Redirection, targeting other blogs / websites.
3. Traffic redirection, targeting the canonical URL for the host blog.

CPA / CPALeads / Cost Per Action, and similar online marketing terminology, involves providing a reward for viewing a blog, or for subscribing to the blog feed. Some CPA scripts may be used to collect email addresses, also known as "email address mining", later used for hacking activity or spam distribution.

CPA scripts present another problem. Since Blogger blogs are intended to reward the readers by providing interesting and unique content, blogs which use CPA may be improperly designed or maintained. Blogger wants the blog owners to publish blogs which entertain or inform their readers - not blogs which require artificial or ingenious techniques to generate traffic, and visitor activity.

Traffic Redirection, targeting other blogs / websites is a technique enjoyed by many hackers and spammers. The use of some blogs as gateways, leading to redistributors, which in turn lead to payload blogs or non Google websites, is part of many hacking / spam attacks. Google is trying to restrict the use of Blogger blogs as malware / spam hosts - and actively prevents scripts, which only shuffle readers from one blog to another, without choice.

Even though Blogger will not encourage you to move your blog, to Tumblr, Weebly, WordPress, or wherever, you are allowed to do this - if you feel the need.

Hello, faithful readers:

This blog is now hosted at my new blogging host. Please update your blog lists and bookmarks!

If you must do this, it's OK to post a notice, in your Blogger blog. You can even put a link, to the new blog, in the notice. You just can't use JavaScript, to automatically send the reader to the new blog.

Traffic redirection, targeting the canonical URL for the host blog, is a technique used by some blog owners who perceive Country Code Alias Redirection to present a problem. Some accessories installed on their blogs, and various non Google services which may be used to provide activity on their blogs, may not properly reference the canonical URL tag included in all Blogger blogs.

Since Blogger / Google wants all Blogger blog owners to benefit from improved world wide access to Blogger blogs, blogs which employ automatic canonical URL redirection may damage the effect of CC alias redirection. Blogs which host scripts which immediately redirect readers to the canonical URL, and are considered undesirable by any host government, may force an offended host government to block the entire Blogger service, in their country.

To prevent malicious misuse of Blogger by hackers and spammers, and to encourage effective long term use of Blogger by legitimate blog owners, Blogger / Google may detect any blogs which use these types of scripts as part of their general malware / spam classification strategy. Given the ability and willingness of the blog owner, to remove the JavaScript code in question, most blogs can be returned to service - but each blog will remain offline, until the removal is verified.

It's to everybody's benefit to identify, and to avoid use of, these scripts in our blogs, before it's too late. If your blog contains one of these scripts, why not remove the problem now, instead of waiting until you too have to post your problem report, in the forum

Help me! My blog was just locked for

MALICIOUS JAVASCRIPT

What do I do, now?

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Malware Classification, And Country Code Alias Redirection Bypass Code

We're seeing a few complaints, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about overly aggressive malware classification, from blog owners who only want to publish their blogs without fear of side effects from the controversial feature, Country Code Alias Redirection.

Spurious malware / spam detection is a painful topic to discuss - and it's even more so when the question of country code alias redirection is discussed. Like auto pagination long ago, country code alias redirection appears to be another case of Google manipulating its customers, maliciously. If you consider this issue from the viewpoint of Blogger blogs in general, though, you may see the full picture.

Blogger blogs, like the Internet, need to be available to all countries in the world, without fear of censorship. Country Code Alias Redirection allows Blogger to selectively disable any single blog, in any single country. This selective disabling will, eventually, eliminate the need of any country government to block the entire Blogger service, in their country, because of a few unsuitable blogs.

Country Code Alias Redirection is a righteous feature in Blogger blogs. Like many new Google features, it was added before every Internet service was made able to support it. CCAR uses an Internet standard - not a Google proprietary feature - the canonical URL tag. If you look at the header in this blog, you can see an example of a canonical URL tag.

<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2013/02/malware-classification-and-cc-alias.html' rel='canonical'/>

That's the tag for this article, for instance.

Some Blogger blog owners find that CCAR causes problems, with some accessories on their blog. Some owners have added anti redirection code to their blogs, so the accessories on their blogs continue to work. CCAR may not work with every third party provided blog accessory or Internet service - because all Internet services, and third party accessory providers, are not yet aware of canonical URL tags.

Just because some people are not up to date with all Internet features (like CCAR), this does not mean that CCAR should not be used. The people involved need to be encouraged to update their accessories, and their services, as necessary.

Right now, some blogs which include anti redirection code are being spuriously detected as malware hosts - and this is more controversy. The anti redirection code looks like malware, because similar code is used by people to abuse our blogs. To not classify blogs attempting to disable CCAR, would require the malware classifier to identify the intent of the blog owner - and would make malware detection more complicated.

Identification of intent is not present in computer software, right now. That ability will be available only when computers truly are programmed to "think" - and when that happens, it may be the end of the human race as we know it.

Since CCAR is a righteous feature, it's possible that anti redirection code actually should be treated as malware - even though the blog owners, adding the code to their blogs, may not consider this to be the case. Those of us who are concerned with detection and removal of malware and spam from the Internet, in general, know that malware and spam is like a cancer - if you don't remove what you see, it's only going to get worse.

To allow anti redirection code to be installed in some Blogger blogs, will encourage other blog owners to do the same. Also, it will allow some hackers and spammers to do likewise, without fear of detection. Neither of these possibilities is good for Blogger blogs, in general.

If you installed anti redirection code in your blog some time ago, your blog was just locked as a suspected malware host. and you are now anxiously waiting for malware review while your blog remains offline, we're sorry for you. But you are not being abused by Blogger - nor is your malware classification unfair.

Remove the anti redirection code, on your blog - now, while you are able. Encourage the providers of third party accessories and Internet services to update their code. And don't allow or encourage hackers and spammers to abuse Blogger blogs, or the Internet in general. Please.

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Custom Redirects, And Old FTP Published Blog URLs

Long ago, Blogger blog owners would publish a blog as part of an existing website. With the website published as "www.mydomain.com", they would create a website subdirectory "www.mydomain.com/myblog", and publish the blog there.

The option to publish a blog as "www.mydomain.com/myblog" required an externally maintained domain / website - and the Blogger feature "FTP Publishing". In 2010, Blogger, with many man hours spent fixing a constant stream of problems, retired "FTP Publishing", in favour of "Custom Domain Publishing".

Custom Domain Publishing, like FTP Publishing, lets us publish our Blogger blogs to non BlogSpot URLs. Unlike an FTP published blog, a custom domain published blog requires a separate subdomain for each different blog. If a non Blogger website is hosted as "www.mydomain.com", a Blogger blog can only be published to "blog.mydomain.com" - and "www.mydomain.com/blog" became an impossibility.

Last year, Blogger introduced Custom Redirects, as part of the "Search Preferences" feature. Now, once again, a Blogger blog can be addressed as "www.mydomain.com/myblog", when hosted as "www.mydomain.com" - though a non Blogger website (if one exists) cannot be directly hosted as "www.mydomain.com", simultaneously.

It may be possible, however, to host an externally published website as "site.mydomain.com", and a Blogger blog as "www.mydomain.com" - and use the Blogger "Missing Files Host" feature to locate website pages, dynamically, in "site.mydomain.com". There may be hope, for people who declined to migrate their FTP Published blogs, in 2009 - and who now have static "blogs" as frozen pages in their external websites.

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Country Code Aliases Are Not In Use, In All Non USA Countries

One source of confusion, about the occasionally misunderstood country code aliasing of BlogSpot published blogs, comes from the way the aliasing is being installed, world wide.

Country Code Aliasing is a new feature - and it's still being tested. Since it's being tested, it's not being immediately installed in all countries, world wide - and this will cause confusion, until it is fully installed.

Google is installing Country Code Aliasing, one country at a time, as convenient to them.

Google is providing no notice, before - or after - any given country is being added, as an alias to "blogspot.com". This is a standard technique used in Information Technology environments - it's not new or unique to the Blogger / Google Country Code Aliasing feature. It's called by various names, in different companies. Some call it phased installation, others pilot testing, and others may have other names.

What it means - simply - is that not all blog owners will see the same effects, as the new feature is installed, in every country, as each new country is added. Every different blog will have a differing reader population, distributed over different countries. Readers in some countries - where aliasing is active - will see different results than readers in other countries, where aliasing is not active.

Combining the different content in every different blog, which makes some blogs more or less susceptible than other blogs to the effects of aliasing, with the different reader population, not any two blog owners will see the same problems, or have the same opinions, about aliasing.

Until every blog owner realises several details about aliasing, we're going to keep hearing complaints.

• Country code aliasing is not optional.
• Country code aliasing has a real purpose.
• Country code aliasing is beneficial to all of us.

We'll all just have to deal with the problems, one country at a time. We'll need to ask our readers, one crucial question.

What exact URL is displayed, by your browser, when you observe the problem?

And, we'll have to observe the difference between "blogspot.com", "blogspot.co.uk", and "blogspot.fr".

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Country Code Aliases Cannot Be Bypassed, Productively

Occasionally we see the innocent query in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about the recently introduced Blogger feature - country code aliasing.

Is there any way I can opt out from this constantly changing of the .com termination, into .be, .bg, or .ro, depending on where I travel?

Not many Blogger blog owners realise the benefits of country code aliasing, which is, like auto pagination, a feature which is not optional. There are publicly available workarounds, which may bypass the effects of country code aliasing - and which may cause more trouble than simple URL confusion.

Many spammers would love to setup gateway blogs, and automatically redirect their unwitting victims to other blogs (or non Blogger websites) which contain their actual hacking, porn, or spam payload. Blogger / Google, like some browsers and security programs, actively prevents automatic redirection of Blogger blog traffic.

Not all blog owners understand the effect of Blogger malware classification. Similar to spam classification, malware classification actively scans through Blogger blogs, looking for signs of malware. Here's an example - a very simple code snippet, recently discovered in the header of the template, in a blog which has been repeatedly locked for "Malicious JavaScript" / "Spam".

var·blog·=·document.location.hostname;
var·slug·=·document.location.pathname;
var·ctld·=·blog.substr(blog.lastIndexOf("."));
if·(ctld·!=·".com")·{
var·ncr·=·"http://"·+·blog.substr(0,·blog.indexOf("."));
ncr·+=·".blogspot.com/ncr"·+·slug;
window.location.replace(ncr);
}

To prevent malware detection here, I'm omitting the essential opening and closing tags, which would normally encase the code snippet.

<script·type='text/javascript'> ... </script>

If your blog contains similar redirection code, to bypass country code aliasing, you may get a notice, one day, that your blog has been deleted for "Malicious Javascript". In order to get the blog restored, so your readers may view it, you may have to remove the Malicious JavaScript - then wait until the blog can be reviewed, to ensure that it is safe for public visibility.

You will accomplish more, and cause yourself (and your readers) less pain, by learning to live with country code aliasing - and concentrating on convincing the various search engines and other Internet services to accept Canonical URLs, so country code aliasing will work, seamlessly, with the Internet service which interests you. Alternately, use better designed gadgets and Internet services.

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Blogger Magic - Redirecting A URL In Your Blog

In 2012, Blogger gave us a suite of useful utilities to control how the search engines see our blogs. This includes the ability to redirect one URL in our blog to another URL in our blog.

The "Custom Redirects" feature is easy to use - but like many Blogger features, not immediately so. Neither its possibilities, nor its limitations, are obvious to everybody.

Custom Redirects, which is part of the dashboard Search Preferences wizard, is not difficult to use.

1. Go to Settings - Search preferences - Custom Redirects, and click on Edit.
2. If you have existing redirects, click on "New redirect".
3. Enter the correct "From" and "To" values.
4. Select "Permanent".
5. Click on "Save".
6. Click on "Save changes".

The possibilities are almost endless, when you reference any valid URL in a given blog. Thanks to the syntax of the "From" and "To" values in the wizard, Custom Redirects will only redirect within the blog itself, and is thus useless to spammers and others who would like to misuse it.

Just take any two URLs within the blog, strip the base URL from each, and enter the results as the "From" and "To" values. Always start "From" and "To" with a "/" (no leading spaces, or non visible control characters!), signifying the root of the URL, follow the above procedure, and you're done.

Click here, for examples of what you can do. Then, use your imagination. Just remember though - the actual URL - and what your readers see in the address window - will not change.

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Removing The "/p/" From the URL

Ever since Blogger (finally) gave us the option to add static pages to our blogs, blog owners started asking

How do I make my pages URLs cleaner? The "/p/" in the URL is so messy looking.

Our typical response would be simple.

Sorry, you're stuck with the URL, as is, for a static page.

And, that was that.

Later, Blogger gave us the ability to redirect URLs within the blog - and that changed.

This is the URL of the topics index in this blog ("labels", to use the Blogger native term).

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/p/topics.html

Here are two alternate URLs, which also reference the topic index.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/topicindex

and

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/topic-index

Click on each link, and note where you go.

To make the alternate URLs work, all that I did was use "Custom Redirects", and add two entries.

From: /topicindex
To: /p/topics.html

and

From: /topic-index
To: /p/topics.html

Of course, the address displayed will be the address published - not the address entered into the browser. You can't change the address displayed - you can only simplify what has to be entered. And, to maintain proper spam mitigation policy, you can only redirect within the base URL of the blog.

Other than that, the possibilities are almost endless.

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Redirecting The Home Page, And Mobile Templates

Everything has its limits - even Blogger features. For a while, we've been seeing hints that mobile templates don't support a redirected Home page.

How do I disable the Blogger mobile redirect "/?m=1"?

Some blog owners would prefer their readers, using a mobile computer, see a redirected Home page, with a desktop template - instead of a mobile display with a dynamic Home page.

Apparently, the mobile redirect

/?m=1

overrides the Home page redirect

/

Actually, this makes sense. "/?m=1" (the redirected mobile template URL snippet) is not equal to "/" (the redirected Home page URL snippet).

For those blog owners who have forgotten how they set the mobile template on their blog, you need to remove the mobile template, using the "Template - Choose mobile template" wizard, from the gear icon beneath Template - Mobile. Simply select "No. Show desktop template on mobile devices.", and Save - and that's that.

Now, everybody - including your readers using mobile computers - will see the standard desktop template (with optional Home page redirect), when viewing your blog.

This probably won't remain a difficult choice, for all blog owners, for long. Newer mobile computers - PDAs, phones, tablets, and such - have rather sophisticated display units, which approach the clarity of normal high resolution devices previously seen on desktop / laptop computers, from just a few years ago. One's readers simply have to get used to a computer with a 6" to 12" touch screen, instead of one with a 12" to 16" no touch screen with keyboard.

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Redirecting Any URL In Your Blog, To Another URL In Your Blog

Several months ago, Blogger Engineering gave us a new Blogger feature - the ability to redirect any URL in a blog, to any other URL in the blog. Like any feature, we found an immediate use for it - something much requested, for a good while.

Other people have found more uses for the redirection feature - and still others have found confusion. The syntax used in the redirection "From" and "To" values is not always obvious - and occasionally there is confusion about what can - and can't - be done with redirection.

This is the URL of this post.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/12/redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html

Using the redirection feature, I can redirect another URL in this blog, to this post - or conversely, I can redirect the URL of this post to another URL, in this blog.

Both the "From" and "To" values in "Custom Redirects" accept any static blog URL, less the base URL of that blog. You cannot specify the base URL - so all redirections will be within the blog itself. You also cannot use a dynamic URL (containing a "?") in a redirect.

The initial use for the redirection feature (at least, for me) was to replace the Home page of the blog, with another page or post - possibly, this post.

From: /
To: /2012/12/redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html

I could change the Home page of this blog, to start all new readers on the Topics Index page.

From: /
To: /p/topics.html

If I was to change the Title of this post, when re published, the URL would not change. If I wanted to change the URL of this post, I could redirect the desired URL, to the actual URL.

From: /2012/12/redirecting-any-urls-in-your-blog.html
To: /2012/12/redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html

If I want to allow this post to be accessed from a shorter URL, I can do that. If you click on the shorter URL (below), you will note that you still see the longer URL in the browser address window!

From: /redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html
To: /2012/12/redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html

I recently created a shortcut to my Topics index, as "blogging.nitecruzr.net/topics".

From: /topics
To: /p/topics.html

To get the "From" and "To" values for any redirection, I simply take any two URLs in the same blog. Choose any two examples - one for "From", the other for "To".

• The Home page: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/
• A post: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/12/redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html
• A static page: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/p/topics.html
• A label search: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/search/label/Redirecting
• A shortcut URL: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/topics

And drop the base URL: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net

Giving:

• The Home page: /
• A post: /2012/12/redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html
• A static page: /p/topics.html
• A label search: /search/label/Redirecting
• A shortcut URL: /topics

Having developed the proper "From" and "To" values, adding a "Custom Redirects" entry is simple enough.

Having setup a useful complement of Pages, and redirected the Home page, you may wish to remove the "Home" page tab. Just edit the Pages gadget, using the dashboard Layout wizard, or the on blog quick edit icon - not the dashboard Pages wizard - and de select the "Home" page.

A simple example, showing the result, may be seen in my demonstration blog, Home Page Redirected To Label Search.

From: /
To: /search/label/Home%20Page

You may also wish to remove the "Showing posts with label ..." notice, if you like a cleaner display. In my demonstration blog (mentioned above), I did not do this - to make my examples more obvious.

The possibilities here are endless. Just use common sense - and again, note the limits on redirection.

Click here, for instructions. Note again, that the actual address, displayed in the browser address window, will not change.

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After You Publish Your Blog To A Custom Domain, Should You Update Internal Links?

One interesting question, which comes up from time to time in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, is about Custom Domain Publishing - and what to do, after Transition completes.

Now that my blog is successfully transitioned to the domain URL, should I update the internal blog links, in the post contents?

This is a question that deserves some thought. From an aesthetic sense, it makes sense to do this - hoping that you will be paying for the domain, for eternity. But, is it worth the effort?

There are several issues, which may be relevant, when asking the question, phrased above.

Remember that updating the internal links is a manual effort - this has to be done on a post by post basis.

• How much time do you have to spend, updating the link URLs?
• How much effort will this take? How many old posts do you have, with how many internal links?
• How likely are you to go ever back to the BlogSpot URL?

Remember that one of the features of custom domain publishing is the DNS Based redirect, of the BlogSpot URL, to the domain published URL. This is an automatic feature, it's total and immediate - and it will continue to work, only as long as the domain continues to work.

As you continue to publish posts in your blog, your new internal links will use the domain URL - unless you manually convert each one, as you edit each post. If you ever opt to publish back to BlogSpot, all of the links, pointing to the domain URL, will be problems - when the domain stops redirecting. If you spend time manually updating each link now, that's the same amount of time that you'll have to spend reverting the updated links, when you publish back to BlogSpot.

Remember that your BlogSpot URL continues to operate, forever - regardless of the domain published URL.

From what I can tell of the DNS infrastructure used by custom domain published blogs, the domain DNS settings are cached locally, for all readers of any given custom domain. If the BlogSpot to domain redirect is similarly cached, it's unlikely that there are any reader experienced performance issues, from people reading blogs and clicking on BlogSpot targeted internal links, that redirect to custom domain URLs.

As far as I can tell, when thinking about this carefully, there is no real reason - other than esthetics - to ever update the BlogSpot based internal links, to directly point to the domain URL. Spend your time, after Transition has completed, profitably. Work on the blog, and get it re indexed, under the new URL.

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Redirecting The Traffic From Your Blogger Blog

Some Blogger blog owners are confused about their ability to redirect traffic to, or from, their blogs. Sometimes this leads to problems, as in the need to report a problem with spam classification, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken

Why was my blog just deleted, for "Malicious JavaScript"?

Other people will want to know why, after renaming their blog, all the search engine references now point to a dead URL. Still others may want to rename specific posts, and yet have the post URLs match the new titles.

Blog URLs, and Post URLs, are complex details, for Blogger blogs. By default, both are managed for you. Not everybody understands how to manage blog and post URLs, when necessary.

Not every blog owner understands that ones readers are not possessions, to be manipulated at will. Many spammers would love to use various Blogger blogs as gateways, redirecting their readers either to other Blogger blogs, or to non Google controlled websites. In order to discourage spamming activity, neither type of redirect is permitted, by the Blogger spam classifier.

Even if automated redirection was permitted, many redirection techniques may not work for everybody. Modern browsers, designed to prevent abusive activity like hacking and spamming, may have filters which explicitly block DNS settings, and scripts, designed to redirect traffic from one website to another. If you design your URL migration strategy to require automated redirection - and even if Blogger / Google does not delete the blog for abusive technique - you may still not see a consistent transfer of existing traffic, to your new URL.

You can redirect a Blogger blog, to a non BlogSpot URL, using properly setup custom domain publishing - "CNAME" referral. That is the only valid way to redirect a BlogSpot URL, to a non BlogSpot URL. Any other method will eventually leave you posting, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken

Why was my blog just deleted, by Blogger?

If you rename your blog - and publish to a new BlogSpot URL, your only recourse is to publish a "stub" (empty) blog to the old URL, and visually redirect your readers.

This blog is now published as "blogger-status-for-real.blogspot.com". Please update your bookmarks.

You can, if you wish, redirect the blog feed, after renaming the blog - but this should be done only when necessary.

There are several specific cases where the blog feed should not be redirected.

Blogger recently provided us the option to redirect traffic from one blog post to another - but the syntax used by the custom redirects wizard explicitly prevents redirection outside the base blog URL. That said, we have seen some imaginative redirections, between different URLs in the same blog.

Use of the custom redirect feature can generate interesting problems, not all of which can be prevented, easily. You can redirect some URLs - but you need to understand what you can, and cannot do - and why you cannot do everything that you would like.

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