Basic Search Engine Optimization Tips for Blogger

Better Blogging Tips for Blogspot Powered Blogs
Posts In Series: [ 1 ][ 2 ][ 3 ]

In this installment of "Better Blogging Tips for Blogger Powered Blogs," we're going to implement two simple and elemental search engine optimization measures; replacing the simple title tag with dynamic title coding, and add meta tags.

First on our agenda, is the title tag. While many pre-made templates are equipped with an improved title tag; this is not always true. In that case, we'll have to modify it ourselves.

Don't forget to "Backup Your Template" prior to making changes to the code!

To do this, we need to click "Edit HTML" within the Dashboard's "Design" tab to access the template code. Once there, find the code in question

<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>

and replace it with the "dynamic" title code shown below:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "index"'>
<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>
<b:else/>
<title><data:blog.pageName/> | <data:blog.title/></title>
</b:if>

If we really want to blog better and be a better blogger, we should gain some understanding as to the purpose of this code and it's function before we proceed.

The former code consisted solely of the title tag, whereas the the new "dynamic" code supplies instructions, or conditional statements in addition to the title tag. The conditional statements define the title tag's behavior in the browser, depending on the page type on which it is referenced.

And just what does that mean?

If the referenced page is an index page, the browser will only display the blog title.

If not, or if the referenced page is something else, the browser will display the title of the referenced post or page, followed by the title of the blog.

It's not so complicated after all, is it?

Now that we've gained some understanding of the dynamic title code, we are ready "Preview" and "Publish," our blog. (Provided our blog appears normal/unchanged in the preview)

Browse your blog, paying attention to the title bar in your browser to see the dynamic title code in action.

The accessibility of our content by search engines is greatly improved now that our title code is "dynamic." Hooray!

But it's not time to celebrate just yet, we still have one more thing to complete on our agenda: adding meta tags to our blog.

Meta tags provide search engines various information and details specific to a blog or website. The meta tags we are going to add to our blog are description, keywords, and author.

Screen capture of BellaTYPE's description as it appears on Google Search, one example of how meta tags can be utilized by search engines

Return to the Dashboard HTML Editor, and look for the dynamic title code we added previously. To find that code again, first look for
</title>
and then
</b:if>

Just after this instance of </b:if>, we are going to paste the meta tag code provided below.*

<meta content='Your description goes here' name='description'/>
<meta content='Your keywords here' name='keywords'/>
<meta content='Your name here' name='author'/>

*The pink text in the above code must be replaced with values specific to your blog.

Your description goes here: Enter the description of your blog here. It is advised that the description be kept relatively short, and sentence form. Avoid using too many keywords in your description as well.
Your keywords here: Replace this text with keywords relative to your blog separated with commas. Limit your keywords to only those that reflect your content, and try not to use more than a handful.
Your name here: Replace with your name, or the name you wish to go by.

Just as we had in done when changing the title tag earlier, after customizing and pasting our meta tag code, "Preview," and "Publish," your blog.

Ta-da! You have now provided your Blogger powered blog with some elementary measures for search engine optimization. You are about to be discovered!

Stay tuned for the next installment in the "Better Blogging Tips for Blogger Powered Blogs" series, where we'll take optimizing your blog's content up one more notch...

Better Blogging Tips for Blogspot Powered Blogs
Posts In Series: [ 1 ][ 2 ][ 3 ]

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