Why are Blogs redirected?
Most often local government agencies ask Google Blogger to remove content from specific pages. Since freedom of speech is what a company like Google supports therefore instead of deleting those pages, Google will only stop displaying those URLs in that specific country but will continue displaying them for rest of the world.
This is the reason Google reported:
Migrating to localized domains will allow us to continue promoting free expression and responsible publishing while providing greater flexibility in complying with valid removal requests pursuant to local law. By utilizing ccTLDs, content removals can be managed on a per country basis, which will limit their impact to the smallest number of readers. Content removed due to a specific country’s law will only be removed from the relevant ccTLD.
Will this change effect Custom Domains?
Bloggers who have purchased custom domains will not be effected only those who are using the free subdomains i.e. blogspot.com will be victims of URL redirection. Those with custom domains do not have to worry about either loosing traffic or Duplicate content issue.
Will This Effect your Traffic and SEO?
Since Blogger servers will be generating several ccTLDs for all your visitors who will be visiting your blog from different country locations, this will give rise to same content with different URLs. Search crawlers/spiders will find the same content on different domains and hence this could drastically effect your search results and organic traffic. Your blog can get penalized for promoting duplicate content with different domain names.
Suppose if you blog at blog-name.blogspot.uk then crawlers will find similar URLs promoting the content you publish with different names such as:
blog-name.blogspot.pk
blog-name.blogspot.in
blog-name.blogspot.au
blog-name.blogspot.ru
blog-name.blogspot.nr
and so on... Leading to
Duplicate content Detected!!
Should You Worry?
Of course not now! the moment this news broke out. Many were shocked at such an unwise step taken by Google but now luckily blogger team is trying their best to minimize the possibility of negative impacts of hosting your blog content with different addresses. The first and foremost that they offcially implemented is addition of canonical tags to all domains. If you check your templates coding you will find a new line of code added near the head section of your template:
<link href='http://blog-name.blogspot.com/' rel='canonical'/>
Those who use wordpress blogs are well aware with this tag but I would need to explain what this tag does to blogspot users.
Blogger has officially added canonical tag to your templates just below <head>. So you can relax and use your blog as you normally do. :)
What is a canonical tag?
Normally content management systems such as blogs sort pages by categories and tags. For example you can have two links having exactly the same content, such as:
http://www.example.com/product.php?item=fish&trackingid=1567&sort=alpha&sessionid=5678asfasdf
http://www.example.com/product.php?item=fish&trackingid=1567&sort=price&sessionid=5678asfasdf
Only a difference of a tag such as alpha and price could cause serious problems. Google robots will only consider the first link that it come across and when it finds the same content on another link, it will mark the content as duplicate and the blog will face serious drop in traffic. Thanks to canonical tag, you can now let crawlers know that although the URLs are different, the content is the same. Since your blogspot domains will now contains several domain addresses therefore the canonical tag will tell spiders that though this blog has several different URL's for the homepage or subpages but the content is same and not a duplicate.
Watch this video by Matt Cutts from Google Webmaster help to learn more about canonical tags.
How To Country Code redirection?
If you want to see the actual domain version of any of your favourite blogs without being forced to see your ccTLD name added to the URL then simply add /ncr just after the domain URL to see the actual domain name.
What do you think?
Do let me know what do you think about this latest development. I have looked into this issue closely and will be updating you with the slightest of new developments. Check your templates to see that a rel='canonical' tag has been added just below the head section. If you don't see one then just add the following code below <head> inside your templates:
This Code has been UPDATED
<link href="http://blog-name.blogspot.com/" rel="canonical"/>
Replace blog-name with your blog's title. Done!
If you need any assistance then feel free to post your query. Peace and blessings buddies. :)
If you don't want to get yourself into Serious Technical Trouble while editing your Blog Template then just sit back and relax and let us do the Job for you at a fairly reasonable cost. Submit your order details by Clicking Here »
I thinks the normal .blogspot is better. What do u think ???
ReplyDeleteI think so.http://techteachingbd.blogspot.com/
Delete@ultrapc
ReplyDeleteI guess a custom domain is the best of all! :d
I fink that custom domains will not be affected by this change becoz they are already redirected and google lists them according to custom domain. and keep the blogspots address hidden that why google never show blogspot and custom domain in search results for one site.
ReplyDelete@Apache
ReplyDeleteYes thats correct. As I mentioned blogger has confirmed that custom domains will not be effected because they already redirected using the canonical tag.
@Wanz
PageRank, traffic and everything else will not be effected as the tag has been officially applied so PR juice will flow to your .blogspot.com domain and not the country specific ones
Mohammed canonical link that we should put inside head for something might be consider as duplicate such as privacy policy and disclaimer is that right?
ReplyDeletesomething like this
<link href='http://www.tipsandtricksblogger.com/p/privacy-policy.html' rel='canonical'/>
What do you mean by this, can you give example?
Thanks to canonical tag, you can now let crawlers know that although the URLs are different, the content is the same.
Thanks Mohammad
hi mohammad can you suggest any seo friendly hack/procedure for blogger like in wordpress
ReplyDeleteI am impressed by blogger engineers.They dont let their customers get affected by these technical details.You see Mohammad,do not find excuses for your readers with 'note' at the endings when you are unable to manage with your plans.It sounds casual.
ReplyDeleteAnd kindly do not over burden yourself with too many plans.At the moment, you have expanded your blog but not the number of working people.Try develop MBT team.It is highly important for you,i suppose.
And there's nothing nice in this post:p
good info sir
ReplyDeleteLately I'm thinking of a custom domain for my blog. And now with this news, it just pushes me to decide even harder and shortly.
ReplyDeleteAbout ccTLD itself, as far as I know, it's also an option while getting a domain (i.e it's unique). In this new development, the problems related to duplicated content might come because of temporary redirection. Pse correct if i'm wrong
I have exactly same contents (few posts that have been imported from my main blog) in my test blog. I use the test blog for design transition, so both also use same template. Although the domains are different, I wonder if this duplicated contents will give bad results. What do you think?
Thank you Mohammad. Great post
Thank you Mohammad
Thanks Mohammad for this great post. In my template there is no 'canonical link added' but it is appearing in source code. I want to know is it ok?.
ReplyDelete@Kisoni K.
ReplyDeleteBlogger uses this code to include all default contents in the document head;
<b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/>
It's okay if you have it.
I feared this which is why i hurried in buying the domain! I submitted my google sitemap but there's an error can you help me with it bud..?
ReplyDeleteHere's the prob
I made a post and deleted it but the post was live for 2 days and so was linked from many pages and also from my feed.
Now in webmasters i see these errors :
1) In Sitemap(1): error 404 Not Found for that url.
2) Not Found (1): error 404 Not Found for the same URL. Linked from 10 pages.
3) Restricted by Robots.txt : There are 3 urls similar to this http://www.indiacoupons4all.com/search?updated-min=2012-01-01T00:00:00%2B05:30&updated-max=2013-01-01T00:00:00%2B05:30&max-results=23
The third error i don't understand at all.
Can you suggest a solution for all the three?
Thanks
Harsh
@Rahmeen Ahmad Khan
ReplyDeleteHehe, I don't think Mohammad wants me to loose my cool again :P
I guess MBT already has a handful of some extra ordinary people helping in some or the other way :) (I dream Mohammad write a post on his official team).
And I watched that whole 20 min video and learnt that rel="canonical" is an "element" and not a "tag" :D
Ok jokes apart. I already knew about this news and that tag but didn't really knew what to do with it so now just added that tag. Oops sorry, it's an element :P
Great post dear Mohammad bhai ... i lost my page rank .!!
ReplyDeletebut every day i wait for your new email (update) its help me to clear my doubt . and show me new way to batter blogging.. thx again ...
As salamu alyikum mustafa bhai!
ReplyDeletei already told you i am losing 200 to 300 visitor daily traffic when blogger redirecting domain to specific country location.
advise me how to maintain my blog!
here is my blog address www.mmkdrocker.blogspot.in
ReplyDeleteThis something new and appreciated , google sevices are alaways diff 4rm others
ReplyDeleteYou have got a mail!. Please reply back ASAP...
ReplyDelete@Mohammad i lost all my facebook comments because of this domain change can u help me recover it!!! my blog address is www.csk247.blogspot.com pls help!
ReplyDeleteThat's why you need to buy a .com domain for your blog...
ReplyDeleteAmmar Ali recently posted 40 Best Free Great Looking Blogger Templates of 2011
Sir if we redirect it so the specific country domain that i think the page rank will become (NA) so i think i will be worse then Check it Out Faizan Ali Presently Posted 5 Basic Tips To Start Your Blogging Journey In Blogger As Beginner
ReplyDeleteIf you are using facebook user name and want to get your facebook profile id, then use this tool.
ReplyDeleteThis tools also work with Facebook Pages
http://www.fblatest.in/2012/02/making-different-type-your-friends.html
Here is one more thing now we have to apply again to blog directories, bcoz some blog directories did not accept redirecting url's. that's why we are loosing traffic!!!
ReplyDeletei got this answer after i think about blog directories !!!!
i'm waiting the blogspot.dz (Algeria)
ReplyDeleteand HAPPY Moloud nabawi Mohammad Mustafa
@SamSexy
ReplyDelete"some extraordinary people"
Thankyou sam for the kind compliment bcz i m also included in those people
n i also dun wanna loose you anything:)Peace
Hi Mohammad
ReplyDeleteI need some help
How to make random hyperlinks for my blog?
I found a little bit help here : http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/ht/white/tricks/randomlinks.html
But i don't know how to make this working on my blogspot blog. Any help ?
Thanks
@Rahmeen Ahmad Khan
ReplyDeletePeace Always :)
You are saying that blogs wont be affected but I m unable to open my blog ..........
ReplyDeletehttp://all-for-computers.blogspot.in/
@Arbaz
ReplyDeleteDon't worry Arbaz its not only your link! all blogger links are not opening/working bcoz blogger/google server are working on the url redirecting server it will be solve soon..
Allah hafiz!
Salam Mustafa Jana, za sta da blog subscriber yam, aw zama Email crickteri@yahoo.com de taso ta ma khwast kare wo che hagha MONO template mata send ka kho tarausa mata na de melao shwe, lutfan dagha template mata rasend krai. yaw narai manana
ReplyDeleteAssalamualikum ahmed bhai, Thank you for this post. I have a problem ahmed bhai, i want to add related posts after the end of my post, exactly like yours. i have used your linkwithin method, but it is showing wrong photos,and i dont want the thumbnails or photos. please tell me another way to add related posts after my post. and what is feed. and how to burn it at feedburner.Your help will really be appreciated. Khudahafiz. By the way is your forum ready
ReplyDeleteWhen I use Canonical in my template..this message Appear..
ReplyDeleteLHS of numeric is null before 32 in http://shiroi-kiba.blogspot.com/
when i use error comes
ReplyDeleteError interpreting blog template
LHS of numeric is null before 31 in http://nirmalmaza.blogspot.com/
Nice Share! please visit my blog
ReplyDeletehttp://darmasite.blogspot.com
@Auren Lengkong
ReplyDeleteYes without that link, content will loose search trust in the eyes of search engines.
That sentence means that the canonical link element will tell Google and Yahoo, that ignore several versions of the same URL and consider the dot com only. For example xyz.blogspot.in, xyz.blogspot.au and xyz.blogspot.us are different names of the same domain. If you put canonical URL then they will all point to a single domain name like xyz.blogspot.com
Hope this explains.
@Dr Lolz
In blogger we do all things manually and there is no plugin for doing this. The best way to do is to read our posts on blogger SEO
@Rahmeen
I respect the suggestion. As soon as I am done with my next blog, I will be active again at MBT. This post is not very important for you because your blogs have less than 10 posts but those with a greater bulk are facing problems with their traffic, therefore this post provides a solution.
Always welcomed.
@fowziey
You can use the same posts on your test blog but you must make these important settings else your main blog will suffer:
1. Go to blogger > Settings > Baic
2. Add your blog to our listings? Set to No
3. Let search engines find your blog? Set To No
4. Done and all safe now! :)
@kisoni
If it is appearing in your source file then its perfectly alrite. No worries. Normally blogger puts a dynamic tag that looks different inside template but looks like the one I shared when you view it via source file. The code given by @fowziey would work too.
@Harsh
Remember whenever you delete a post, do always remove the URL from Google index. To achieve this follow these steps:
1. On the Webmaster Tools home page, click the site you want.
2. On the Dashboard, click Site configuration on the left-hand menu.
3. Click Crawler access, and then click Remove URL.
4. Click New removal request.
5. Type the URL of the page you want to remove from search results
6. Click Yes, remove this page.
7. Click Submit Request.
All done! :)
@Samsexy
Yes you are right canonical is actually a link element but people prefer calling it a tag thats how it took the new name. :)
Rahmeen is a silver star contributor Sam just like you so her views are always respected.
My official list consists of kind contributors like yourself and the readership is no less than a team. =)
@Vishu
That was sweet pal. :)
@Asif Icbal
Agreed pal. A personal domain name defines your business online and one should never delay in reserving this identity.
@dealnow
Add the canonical code to your template and if you still feel you loosing traffic then the best would be to buy a domain ASAP. Yes the directories will accept the primary only. So kindly submit the .blogspot.com one after having added the code inside your template. Hope this helps pal. :)
@Amit
I will chekc it Amit, just pardon me for few days. Busy with my new blog.
@Daniel Raja
I am writing a post on it, you will get all comments back, just give me 4 hours!
@Arbaz
I can visit your blog. That was just a temporary problem. :)
@Khumar Khumar Wali
Welcome buddy and thanks for asking in pashto :). Dera manana urora :)
I just emailed the template
@Syed Abdul Qayyum
To add related posts without thumbnails like we are using. Simply search in google for related posts widget for blogger without thumbnails. There are a lot of tutorials on it.
I will write a tutorial on it this month very soon.
@hendra and @jatin
You templates already have the canonical URLs. View your blog;s browser source file by pressing Ctrl + u
This means you do not need to add it. I mentioned that only those should add it who can't see the canonical elemnet inside their template but now blogger has automatically added it in all templates.
@Mohammad
ReplyDeleteOhh I really didn't knew that she is MBT's silver star contributor. But I think we both tried to maintain Peace :)
Still sorry Rahmeen if I said something wrong which may have hurt you.
@mohammad
ReplyDeletecum on dude,dont defame my blog like this.Gin kar pori 10 posts han us me:p
n u visited my blog?amazing
btw no doubt,the flow of ur post is awesome.I like the pattern u followed;surely not concernd with the tech material.
..hi admin i hv got a problm wth my blog..that is only 1 post is being displayed in my home no matter wat no. of posts i give to display..im really tensed..pls help me out frm this.. my blog is www.kingdom-g.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteThank you very much...keep spirit to make a great post....
ReplyDeleteGreat Post Mohd. Keep it Up..
ReplyDeleteSOPA HACKS
Great Post Mohd. Keep it Up..
ReplyDeleteSOPA HACKS
Please stop spamming with different names Shumbham and misleading anchor text. Get a mature way of promoting your blog.
ReplyDeleteCome on Blogger read my comments on MBT. We surely now need an advanced comment moderation system.
The code has been updated and it will work just fine. Please all those who were getting a numeric error may rety to see it working smoothly.
ReplyDelete@Sam
All comments are nofollow so $hubham Meht@ is wasting time. :)
@Mohammad Mustafa Ahmedzai
ReplyDeleteYea I know that but he may be trying to get some traffic with that misleading anchor text.
I have found one more problem with blogspot.in. The blogs with blogspot.in are not indexed while post on blogspot.com used to be indexed fast.
ReplyDeletewhat should i do for custom domain blog..
ReplyDeleteThere will be a lot of confusion surrounding this change however it will be interesting to see how this redirect affects bloggers in the long term. This may take some time to sort out the duplicate content. Those with custom domains are quietly chuckling to themselves.
ReplyDeleteHi! thank you for your great work.
ReplyDeleteI have a problem, with the recent redirect, it's that all my counters going to zero, I am using SHARETHIS. They still didn't solve it, I am desperate. Do you know any solutions? and nobody has this problem? Sorry about my English, I am Spanish.
Hi Mustafa....I find your posts very helpful. I need a huge favor from you. I have shifted to my own domain a month back from http://onlyfishrecipes.blogspot.com/ to http://www.onlyfishrecipes.com/ , I'm seeing a drastic fall in traffic due to the recent changes. Please visit my space n let me know if I have missed out anything.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCreating blog is really a good thing and unique articles always attract people and your blog is full with unique contents.
ReplyDeleteweb development company
Hi! thank you for your great work.
ReplyDeleteI have a problem, with the recent redirect, it's that all my counters going to zero, I am using SHARETHIS. sumber referensi online
Great Work Bro...
ReplyDeleteRegards,
www.newblogger-tricks.com
I read full article and added code at my site to prevent redirection to ccTLD
ReplyDeletei appreciate for that article Full form of
Well, I have done with my blog by adding javascript to handle this. unfortunately it does not work!. thanks for sweet advice ^_^
ReplyDeleteNice post...You can also visit http://www.webnwe.com/2014/05/how-to-disable-302-redirection.html for good results...
ReplyDeleteMy Blog also suffered from this redirect issue heavily..
ReplyDeleteGiven so much info in it, These type of articles keeps the users interest in the website, and keep on sharing more ..Best PHP Training in Chennai|PHP Training in Chennai
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips, but i have another problem why search engine show my redirect country ex. my.blogspot.co.id not my.blogspot.com please help how to avoid that. Thank you
ReplyDelete