FaceBook Popularity, And URL Changes

Not every blog owner understands the effect of a Blogger URL change, in FaceBook - and the resulting popularity of the blog.

I am planning on changing my blog name and redirecting my blogger blog to a custom domain. Why would that affect my Facebook followers?

A Blogger URL change won't affect your FaceBook Followers directly. Your existing Followers can continue to Follow your blog, under the BlogSpot URL - and under the custom domain URL - as it is Liked, and shared, in FaceBook.

The Likes count affects the possibility of a share, of a post in your blog, to attract new Followers.

URL changes, as permitted and provided by Blogger and / or FaceBook, are easy enough to make.

If you change the URL of the blog, when it's later shared in FaceBook, you will have a different blog. If you redirect your Blogger blog to a properly setup custom domain, you will have a blog that is shared under a different URL - and you'll have a new Likes counter.

A Like will be counted against the URL of the post that is Liked.

If someone Likes your blog in FaceBook, the Like will be counted against the URL used to address the blog, in the FaceBook post being shared.

You can either count your Likes under the current BlogSpot URL - or the new URL. Just choose the URL that's used, when it's shared.



If you publicise the blog, in FaceBook, using the current BlogSpot URL, the Like will be applied against that URL. This will not contribute to popularity of the custom domain URL - and the new blog identity. The custom domain will get no Likes - and the blog will continue to be seen, in Facebook, under the BlogSpot URL.

If you publicise the blog, in FaceBook, using the custom domain URL, the Like will be applied against the custom domain URL. The blog will not benefit from popularity of the BlogSpot URL - and the current blog identity. The BlogSpot URL will get no Likes - and the blog will be seen, in Facebook, under the custom domain URL.

You are allowed to change the blog URL, by both Blogger and FaceBook.

You are allowed to change the URL of the blog, in Blogger. You can change the BlogSpot URL, to a different BlogSpot name. You can change the domain URL, to a custom domain. You can change both the BlogSpot and domain URLs, if you wish.

Either way you change the URL, you will end up with a different URL, when shared in FaceBook. And with your posts shared using a different URL, you will have Likes counted using a different counter. This isn't a question of what FaceBook lets you do - it's a question of how they count the Likes, that apply to your blog.

You will need to move forward, using your new custom domain URL, and starting with 0 Likes - or stay where you are, using the current BlogSpot URL, and continuing with the current Likes counter. FaceBook will let you do either. They just won't be able to help you do both, at the same time.

This is really just one more detail, in re indexing a blog, after a URL change.

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If you change the URL of a #Blogger blog, #FaceBook popularity will be affected. You (or any reader) can share the blog using either the current or new URL - and any Likes received for a share will apply to the URL used.

The blog will appear under two (or more) different URLs - a known effect of republishing.

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Social Sharing Popularity, And URL Changes

As both custom domain publishing, and social sharing networks, become normal with many blogs, we see anguish when blog owners change the URLs of their blogs, without planning for the effects of the change.

What happened to my Likes?

This blog owner - and many others - do not realise that FaceBook counts Likes, based on the URL, not the blog.

FaceBook Likes, and Google+ +1s, are counted by URL - and are not controlled by DNS redirection, or simple name changes. If you rename your blog, you get a new URL with a new popularity counter, in FaceBook and Google+.

Some social sharing services allow for URL changes.

BlogLovin lets you transfer Followers from one URL to another.

BlogLovin, for instance, provides for transfer of Followers, to a new URL - as long as the blog owner owns both the old and new URL.

First, make sure that you've claimed both of your blogs.

Once both blogs are claimed, navigate to "My blog" and select the "Edit Blog Info" option next to your original blog.

From the "Move Followers" dropdown menu, select the blog you'd like to move your followers to and click "Move". This will remove your original blog and move your followers to your new blog of choice.

Start from any BlogLovin page.

Select "Blog analytics" from the drop down menu.

Click "Edit blog info".

Select a blog, from the drop down blog menu, in the "Edit blog info" wizard - and click on "Move Followers".



Whether you have a blog with a new URL, or a blog with multiple feeds and groups of Followers, BlogLovin lets you consolidate / move Followers so you can address your Followers, conveniently.

Blogger Followers stay with the blog, automatically.

With a Blogger blog, and Blogger Following / Google Friend Connect, your Followers Follow the blog - not the URL. You can rename the blog, and change the URL - but as long as you don't change the BlogID, your Followers remain with your blog.

FaceBook and Google+ give you a new counter, for each URL.

Neither FaceBook or Google+ provide a similar option. To both FaceBook and Google+, if you change the URL of the blog, you have a new blog. Google+ Followers - unlike Blogger Followers - Follow the URL.

With custom domain publishing, and the BlogSpot to domain redirect, the attention of your Followers may end up on your redirected blog - but the +1 counter that was based on the BlogSpot URL stays with the BlogSpot URL. With the blog published to the domain, your blog gets a counter for the domain URL - and starts over.

With a BlogSpot to BlogSpot URL change, and a domain to BlogSpot URL change, everything starts over.

FaceBook Likes are counted, within FaceBook - and Google+ +1s are counted, within Google+. Both are based on the URL of the blog which accrues the Likes and +1s. If you change the URL of the blog, you get a new counter.

A URL change is effective for different changes, to a Blogger blog.

• BlogSpot to BlogSpot name change.
• BlogSpot to custom domain republishing.
• Custom domain to custom domain change.
• Custom domain to BlogSpot republishing.

All of these are URL changes - and are treated as a different blog, for most social sharing services.

BlogLovin supports URL changes. Neither FaceBook, Google+, or LinkedIn provides this ability. You change the URL, you start over with +1 / Like count, and sharing reputation.

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With most social sharing services, if you change the URL of a #Blogger blog, you start over accumulating +1s, Followers, and Likes. BlogLovin appears to be alone, in letting you transfer Followers from one blog to another - if you create a new blog, or change the URL of an existing blog.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/ZiozKZOS07Q

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/gkmBV6s03Ck

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Changing Your Custom Domain - The Next Chapter

We see some blog owners deciding to change their custom domain URLs - and discovering an unexpected limitation, in re indexing the blog, under the new URL

I received email from Google, advising that my previous domain is pulling up a number of 404 errors. I've noticed that these are for individual blog posts.

When you change one custom domain to another, you may not see the domain re indexed, transparently.

Changing a Blogger blog, from one custom domain to another, is a reasonably simple project - if you're able to plan the change.

A domain change should involve simply re indexing the blog.

A simple custom domain name change involves republishing the blog, under a new domain. Retaining readers, and search engine access, requires slightly more work.

Renaming a custom domain - if it involves a BlogSpot rename - becomes significantly more complicated.

Renaming a custom domain - and having the individual post URLs in the old domain working, after the change - will require slightly more effort, than any of the above requirements.

With GoDaddy, using specific settings, you may be able to forward post URLs.

In one forum topic, a domain owner was able to forward a domain, using instructions provided by GoDaddy - so individual post URLs redirect properly.

In the GoDaddy domain settings for the old (original) custom domain, activate Domain Forwarding.

1. Set the "Forward to:" address to the new custom domain.
2. Choose the Redirect Type as "301 Permanent".
3. Choose the Forward Settings as "Forward only".

This may not be the effect seen, by all blog owners. Not all registrars will provide this ability.

This is the GoDaddy DNS wizard, as of 2016.

If your domain was not registered by GoDaddy, you will have a different wizard - and most likely, ""Forward only" will be a different option. Maybe, "Forward without masking" will be a useful description.



Blogger does not support redirection, from blog URL to blog URL.

Blogger does not support redirection, between BlogSpot or custom domain URLs - as transparent redirection would simply encourage spam activity. Any redirection, from the old custom domain, has to be provided by the domain registrar.

Most registrars provide simple DNS forwarding, from one domain to another - if you are able to pay for both domains, simultaneously. Generally, most registrars will setup forwarding, from the old domain to the new published blog URL.

Not all blog owners may get the redirection, for their domain, correct.

With a domain forwarded to the published URL - using most registrar provided instructions - readers who click on the URL to a specific post, using the old domain URL, will find themselves unexpectedly viewing the blog home page, under the new domain. This will cause some confusion.

Search engine bots won't find a specific blog post, under the new domain.

A search engine bot, indexing a specific post, using the old domain URL, will be redirected to the blog home page, under the new domain URL. This will not enhance indexing of the blog.

Some search engine bots may report this as a "404 Not Found" - and blog reputation will suffer.

Here's an example of the problem.

The specific post URL ("www.chloellio.co.uk/2016/05/ fashion-river-island-plus.html") redirects to the main page ("www.chloeincurve.com").



For most obvious benefit, "www.chloellio.co.uk/2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html" should redirect to "www.chloeincurve.com/2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html" - not to the blog main page "www.chloeincurve.com".

Let's look at an HTTP trace. This shows an individual post in the blog, with forwarding provided by GoDaddy.

http://www.rexswain.com/cgi-bin/httpview.cgi?url=http://www.chloellio.co.uk/2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html&uag=Mozilla/5.0+(X11%3B+CrOS+armv7l+7978.66.0)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Chrome/50.0.2661.91+Safari/537.36&ref=http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html&aen=&req=GET&ver=1.1&fmt=AUTO

Sending request:

GET /2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.chloellio.co.uk
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; CrOS armv7l 7978.66.0) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/50.0.2661.91 Safari/537.36
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close
• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 79.170.40.4
• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...
Receiving Header:

HTTP/1.1·302·Found
Date:·Sun,·15·May·2016·17:17:57·GMT
Server:·Apache/2.2.24·(Red·Hat)
Location:·http://chloellio.co.uk/2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html

http://www.rexswain.com/cgi-bin/httpview.cgi?url=http://chloellio.co.uk/2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html&uag=Mozilla/5.0+(X11%3B+CrOS+armv7l+7978.66.0)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Chrome/50.0.2661.91+Safari/537.36&ref=http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html&aen=&req=GET&ver=1.1&fmt=TXT

Sending request:

GET /2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html HTTP/1.1
Host: chloellio.co.uk
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; CrOS armv7l 7978.66.0) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/50.0.2661.91 Safari/537.36
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close
• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 79.170.40.4
• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...
Receiving Header:

HTTP/1.1·302·Found
Date:·Sun,·15·May·2016·17:17:58·GMT
Server:·Apache/2.2.24·(Red·Hat)
Location:·http://www.ChloeInCurve.com

http://www.rexswain.com/cgi-bin/httpview.cgi?url=http://www.ChloeInCurve.com&uag=Mozilla/5.0+(X11%3B+CrOS+armv7l+7978.66.0)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Chrome/50.0.2661.91+Safari/537.36&ref=http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html&aen=&req=GET&ver=1.1&fmt=TXT

Sending request:

GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: www.ChloeInCurve.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; CrOS armv7l 7978.66.0) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/50.0.2661.91 Safari/537.36
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close
• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 74.125.28.121
• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...
Receiving Header:

HTTP/1.1·200·OK(CR)

<meta·content='blogger'·name='generator'/>
<link·href='http://www.chloeincurve.com/favicon.ico'·rel='icon'·type='image/x-icon'/>
<link·href='http://www.chloeincurve.com/'·rel='canonical'/>
<link·rel="alternate"·type="application/atom+xml"·title="ChloeInCurve·-·Atom"·href="http://www.chloeincurve.com/feeds/posts/default"·/>
<link·rel="alternate"·type="application/rss+xml"·title="ChloeInCurve·-·RSS"·href="http://www.chloeincurve.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss"·/>
<link·rel="service.post"·type="application/atom+xml"·title="ChloeInCurve·-·Atom"·href="https://www.blogger.com/feeds/5573572064729110417/posts/default"·/>
<link·rel="me"·href="https://www.blogger.com/profile/03895481660022671513"·/>
<link·rel="openid.server"·href="https://www.blogger.com/openid-server.g"·/>
<link·rel="openid.delegate"·href="http://www.chloeincurve.com/"·/>

Even if the domain, redirected to the new domain home page, does not generate a "404", blog reputation will not benefit. An individual post, will not be indexed immediately, when hidden behind the home page.

Not all registrars will help you change domain URLs - and retain post URLs.

If you are going to change custom domain names - and transparently redirect readers and search engines, you will need the extra effort, as described above.

Alternately, simply forward the domain, to the published Blogger URL (generally, the "www" domain host) - then concentrate on getting the blog re indexed, under the new URL. Once the blog is completely indexed under the new domain URL, people won't bookmark the old domain - and the new domain URL will be the reference, for the blog. That's what you want, at the end of the day.

Your readers will see the home page of the blog, when clicking on individual posts, indexed under the old domain URL. Then add a Featured Post, mentioning the domain change - and maybe setup one or both blog searches, for reader convenience.

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It's possible to redirect a #Blogger blog, as published under a custom domain, to a new domain. It's not always possible to transparently redirect an individual post URL, to the new domain, however.

If you change your custom domain, you may have to expect some problems from readers and search engines.

https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/ZiozKZOS07Q/discussion

https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/9rTL7U2ZMvU/discussion

https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/Yd5qUg77wUw/discussion

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Wording The Blog Title And URL - Same or Unique?

Some blog owners setup a new blog - and want to know if the blog title and URL may - or (alternately) should - be the same.

There is no policy for Blogger, about blog title and URL - either that the "words" in each can, or cannot, be the same. Some SEO experts suggest benefits from having relevant words, in the URL - and some blog owners confuse this advice, as suggesting having identical titles and URLs.

Be wary of advice that references websites, in discussions about blogs. There are subtle, but real, differences between dynamic blogs, and static websites. Rules that may be important for websites may not be relevant, for blogs.

The most obvious differences, between blogs and websites, are found in content - but blog design may have similar differences.

SEO strategies, for a dynamic blog, and a static website, will be different. Dynamic blogs have many exciting opportunities.



I have suggested that it may not be possible to make the blog title and URL the same, in all cases.

• Most subjects won't be unique. Many blogs will share a subject.
• The blog URL must be unique. Two blogs cannot share a URL.
• The blog URL will have restrictions, in characters allowed.

Most subjects won't be unique.

Any popular subject will have many blogs published to that subject. Every blog, about the same subject, will have a different URL.

If a blog is published, to a subject which has no competition, it will be a subject which interests nobody. A blog with no competition will likely have no readers.

The blog URL must be unique.

Two blogs cannot share a URL. One URL == one blog.

That does not mean that title and URL cannot share "words" - just that it's not possible that they will be identical, for all blogs.

There can be only so many ways to mention your favourite, top level movie star, in the title - and there will be even less ways to construct a unique URL. A less famous celebrity, on the other hand, will have less blogs to compete - and less readers also.

The blog URL will have restrictions, in characters allowed.

URLs can use only certain characters.

a sequence of characters beginning with a letter and followed by any combination of letters, digits, plus (+), period (.), or hyphen (-)

That syntax is somewhat limited, compared to characters that may be used in blog titles - and in the blog description and content. Less choice of syntax leads to less possibilities for uniqueness, while providing some clue as to the purpose of the blog.

A Blogger blog is dynamic - and you SEO using content.

Blogger blog content is dynamic. You get more performance, from a blog with regularly published, unique content, that's informative and interesting.

You get less performance, from imaginative naming strategies. Acme does not make an "SEO Kit", for Blogger blogs.

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Some #Blogger blog owners worry about the need to publish a blog with the Title and URL containing the same words. Some suggest that having identical words is necessary, others that having identical words is not permitted.

Fortunately, neither possibility is relevant to Blogger / Google Content or TOS regulation. Blogger and Google care about content quality - and prohibit scraping and spam.

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Blogger Magic - Supporting A BlogSpot URL Change

Blog owners are always changing the URLs of their blogs - then asking why Blogger does not provide automatic redirection, to the new URL.

We see the occasional query, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger.

How do I redirect my readers, to my new URL?

And this is a need that will likely go unfulfilled.

If Blogger provided automated redirection, spammers would abuse it, as part of a spam publishing strategy.

Blogger wants to keep the Blogger infrastructure as free from spam, as possible.

Changing the URL is simple enough.

Just use the Publishing wizard, in the Settings - Basic page, and Edit the "Blog Address". Subject to availability, your blog will have a new URL - as you watch.


The change is not difficult. Just Edit "Blog Address".


But with a new URL, unplanned, you'll lose traffic.

Blogger does not support automated blog to blog redirection.

Trying to keep the Blogger ecosystem clean from spam, Blogger actively discourages automated redirection. Neither JavaScript or meta refresh redirection is recommended.

You can use passive redirection, though - and give your readers the choice, to read the blog using the new URL.

• Setup a blog cluster.
• Setup a stub blog, at the old URL.

Setup a blog cluster.

Publish a blog at the old URL - and pair the old and new blogs, actively. There are a number of possible techniques to use, to combine two blogs as equals.

You will need informative, interesting, and unique content, for both blogs, to get the most from this approach.

Setup a stub blog, at the old URL.

Publish a blog at the old URL - and add a single post, advising your readers about the change - with a link, taking them to the new blog. You can use a custom 404 display, to collect all existing links to posts in the blog, which will take your readers to the single post.

A Featured Post is perfect, as the single post in the stub blog.

You can redirect the blog posts feed, even though you can't redirect the posts themselves. Just redirect the old blog feed, to the new blog posts feed URL.

Combine the two approaches, if you like.

There's no need to consider the two approaches as mutually exclusive. You can use techniques from each, if you like. Simply pick an approach that suits your readers.

Just don't look for automated redirection. That's not likely to happen.

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Some #Blogger blog owners decide to change the URL of their blog - then ask how to setup automated redirection, from the old URL to the new. That is, however not likely to be an option provided, or even allowed, by Blogger.

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Verify BlogSpot And Domain URLs

Whenever dealing with any problem with a blog, you should verify the URLs involved.

Some of the most baffling problems, with blog connectivity, identity, or ownership, can start from simple typographical errors. This possibility will involve both native "blogspot.com" and custom domain URLs.

The Publishing wizard window, in the Blogger dashboard Settings - Basic page, is essential for identifying errors. Whether you paste or type a URL into the registrar's zone editor, the Publishing wizard, or the browser address window, you can make a mistake. Checking the Publishing wizard is as important as examining a Dig log extract - or as viewing an HTTP trace.

Verifying the URLs involved, in the dashboard Publishing wizard, is as important as examining a Dig log extract, or an HTTP trace.

This will be the case, when dealing with various "blogspot.com" connectivity problems, researching a custom domain problem, or a dashboard or ownership problem.

Both screen prints, and text copies, are very useful - and not redundant.

Both a screen print, and a text copy, of the Publishing window (and / or the browser address window) is very useful, when diagnosing connectivity problems - or possibly, researching ownership issues, or similarly vanished blogs. And with a custom domain, similar detail from the registrar zone editor is useful.

A text copy of the contents is needed, to avoid having to re type the URL - and maybe cause a different problem when comparing the URL. And a visual copy of the Publishing wizard is good, to identify the context of any problem.

Let's look at two blogs - and what we need to examine / verify.

My test blog, published as "nitecruzr-test-ssl.blogspot.com".

Here, we see a "blogspot.com" URL, in the browser address window.

http://nitecruzr-test-ssl.blogspot.com

Here, we see the Blogger dashboard Settings - Basic page, for a "blogspot.com" published blog.

And the Publishing display, for a "blogspot.com" published blog.



And essential text details, from Publishing, for a "blogspot.com" published blog:

nitecruzr-test-ssl.blogspot.com                                 Edit

If you are requesting assistance with your native Blogger blog, the latter details, in both a screen print and text copy, will be useful.

My blog, published as "blogging.nitecruzr.net".

Here, we see a custom domain URL, in the browser address window.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net

Here, we see the Blogger dashboard Settings - Basic page. for a custom domain published blog.

And the Publishing display, for a custom domain published blog.



And essential text details, for a custom domain published blog:

blogging.nitecruzr.net                                                 Edit
bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com                               redirects

With a custom domain published blog, always click on "Edit", and make a second screen print.

The second page of the Publishing display - which only applies to a custom domain published blog.

You maybe have seen this display, similarly formatted, in an infamous "Error 12" or similar display.



The latter display is seen, frequently, in an "Error 12" et al domain ownership verification demand.

And the domain root redirection, properly selected.



More essential details, for a custom domain published blog:

Third party domain settings
http:// blogging.nitecruzr.net
  X   Redirect nitecruzr.net to blogging.nitecruzr.net.

If you are requesting assistance with your custom domain published Blogger blog, the latter details, in both a screen print and text copy, will be useful.

And a zone editor display, for my domain "nitecruzr.co.uk".


A zone editor display, from GoDaddy. Every registrar will have a different display.


Comparing the URLs in the browser window, and in the Publishing window - and in Dig logs and zone editor displays (for custom domains) - we can identify typographical errors, and other mistakes. Typographical errors can be a cause of various problems, when publishing blogs to custom domains - and to "blogspot.com".

Some problems result from failure to copy and paste, properly. They can be as challenging to diagnose, as failure to observe registrar name server syntax.

Having verified the URLs, in some cases, you will continue with an affinity diagnosis, and with a differential diagnosis. This is all part of my simple 12 link test set.

You, the blog owner, may consider "duplicate" and "redundant" to be synonyms. When we research a blog problem, "duplicate" != "redundant". Many confusing problems have been solved, by comparing combinations of various above details - and by finding inequality, in one or more displays.

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Diagnosing problems with #Blogger blogs can require careful diagnostics, using details found in dashboard screen prints and detail text copies, in Dig logs, and in HTTP traces. All details must be carefully compared, both visually and using text extracts, to diagnose some problems.

Much of this may seem superficial, to experienced support analysts - yet be obscure to some blog owners.

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Search Engine Reputation, And Vanity Domains

One hot Internet topic, these days, involves specialised ("vanity") domains.

The hot names seem to change, by the week. This week, enom is hyping ".family", ".live", ".rocks", and ".social". Other registrars may have other recommendations.

The blog Address (Name) is a key blog identity element, in a well designed blog. It's visible both to people, and to search engine crawlers.

The requirement that addresses must be unique is a supposed benefit of vanity top level domains - but vanity TLDs, alone, will not provide blog uniqueness. There will always be competition for some names, in any useful Top Level Domain.

My suspicion is that the shinier the TLD, the more competition you may see, between people who plan their uniqueness around choosing the perfect name.

Any popular blog / website subject will have name competition.

I could publish this blog as "chucksblog.com" - and that would be a shiny and unique name. Until another "Chuck" registered "chucksblog.us", or maybe "chucksblog.name". How unique would "chucksblog" be, then? How many readers could I expect, if they know "chucksblog" - but can't remember if it is "chucksblog.com", "chucksblog.info", or "chucksblog.name"?

If your blog has a popular subject, you won't have a unique name - unless you register your name, in every possible TLD that might be relevant to your name. And that will be a financial limitation, for many blog owners.

What name would you want your blog to have? For a truly shiny domain, you'll have competition.

Complete uniqueness == No competition == No interest == No readers.



McDonalds, for instance, may be able to register "mcdonalds.com", "mcdonalds.franchises", "mcdonalds.hamburgers", "mcdonalds.smallbusiness", etc (as each hypothetical TLD comes online) - and local domains "mcdonalds.co.uk", "mcdonalds.de", "mcdonalds.us", and so on.

Very few of the readers of this blog will be in a financial position to do all of that.

enom is hyping ".family", ".live", ".rocks", and ".social" - this week.



Your uniqueness strategy should include content.

You will have to develop a "uniqueness" strategy based on content - not solely on the address. You will need to understand that your blog may lose traffic, from people who know the blog "name" - but may not remember if "yourname" is a ".com", ".net", or ".us".

Of course, if you publish only to "blogspot", you will automatically have "yourname.blogspot.com", "yourname.blogspot.co.uk", "yourname.blogspot.de", and so on. You won't have "yourname.com", "yourname.net", and "yourname.us", however - unless you pay for the privilege.

Are you getting a feeling for the complexity of the branding issue? Good. Concentrate on content. The search engines index your blog - and provide you traffic - based on informative, interesting, and unique content.

Google denies the value of vanity domains, for raw SEO.

AdWeek weighs the issue, in What’s in a Name on Social?.

When it comes to vanity domains, Google has long denied that they affect search rankings. Their in-house tech team advised way back that registering a vanity domain for the sheer, hopeful sake of page rankings would be a fool’s errand. But there’s a solid number of marketers that disagree, and they watch these things very closely. Chalk it up to wishful thinking, if you like, but time will tell. And there are only so many .com domains available.

Only time will tell. I suggest that you keep your traffic and uniqueness strategy diverse. Don't depend upon a vanity domain, alone, for search reputation and traffic.

For best results, keep it in perspective.

Consider the name issue, if you want. But keep it in perspective. Blogger blogs will benefit from well written and unique content - as much as from a carefully chosen name / URL.

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Some #Blogger blog owners are intent on publishing a blog to a custom domain, using a top level domain that relates to the blog subject. They do this, hoping to have a unique blog name.

They may overlook the idea that Blogger blogs benefit from well written and unique content, as much as from a shiny and unique URL.

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Use A Canonical URL, With Page URL Conditionals

Not all blog owners can successfully add a conditional display of a template object, to their blog.

Some owners carefully copy the conditional code that I provide, add it to their blogs - and it does not work (for them). In some cases, it may work, for me, when I check their work.

Conditional code, that involves people in countries subject to the country specific domain redirect, won't always be comparing against "blogspot.com". People in the UK may see their blog as "blogspot.co.uk", for instance.

People in the USA, right now, will always see BlogSpot blogs, as "blogspot.com".

This blog, and other blogs published to custom domains, will always be viewed under their domain URLs - so there is no worry about country specific domain redirect.

How do you compare a blog URL, with country specific domain redirects in use?

But what of blogs published to "blogspot.com", outside the USA? How do they conditionally display objects, with the conditional URL varying according to the country specific code of each reader?

When you do a URL comparison, to conditionally display a template object - and the blog is published to "blogspot.com" - check against the canonical URL.

Use the canonical URL, for conditional comparisons in BlogSpot blogs.

Since your blog could be read by readers in any country, if your blog is published to "blogspot.com", you will want to base any URL comparison against the Canonical URL.

• Compare "data:blog.canonicalUrl" - not "data:blog.url".
• Compare against the URL, ending in "blogspot.com".

Your readers could be in any country - either the same as you, and subject to your country local domain - if one applies. Or, they could be different from you, and subject to a different country local domain - again, if one applies.

<b:if cond='data:blog.canonicalUrl != "http://mypersonalblog.blogspot.com"'>
<style>
#Text1 {display: none !important;}
</style>
</b:if>

or possibly

<b:if cond='data:blog.canonicalUrl != data:blog.homepageUrl'>
<style>
#Text1 {display: none !important;}
</style>
</b:if>

Just avoid using

<b:if cond='data:blog.url != "http://mypersonalblog.blogspot.com"'>
<style>
#Text1 {display: none !important;}
</style>
</b:if>

and

<b:if cond='data:blog.url != data:blog.homepageUrl'>
<style>
#Text1 {display: none !important;}
</style>
</b:if>

This way, everybody in every different country can see the gadgets only when necessary, as you design. And maybe, you can check your blog using a service like GeoPeeker.

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Blogger blog owners, in some countries outside the USA, occasionally observe that they cannot conditionally display template objects, in BlogSpot published blogs, as people in the USA can do.

Owners who live in the USA may not realise that people outside the USA may not see their blogs properly, with conditionals added. If you want your blog gadgets to display properly, in BlogSpot published blogs, use a canonical URL in the comparisons.

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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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How You Should Backup Your Blog Will Depend Upon How You Plan To Restore It

We see signs of naivete, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, from blog owners concerned with malware / spam deletions, and with other unexplained disasters in Blogger.

How do I backup my blog, to protect the contents against unfair spam deletions?

Not many concerned blog owners realise the first principle of backups, known by any experienced network administrator.

• Never plan a backup, without first planning the restore.

How you backup your blog depends upon several details.

• What problem do you expect, to require a backup?
• How do you plan to recover, from a problem?

One of the simplest solutions for a backup, which some Blogger experts will suggest, is to use the Export / Import wizard, in Settings - Other.

• Before disaster strikes, Export your posts and comments.
• After disaster strikes, simply Import your posts and comments, from a convenient backup.

Besides backing up comments and posts, backup the template.

Similarly, some experts may suggest backing up the template.

• Before disaster strikes, use the dashboard Template "Backup / Restore" wizard, to backup the template.
• After disaster strikes, use the wizard to restore the template.

But consider other components, too.

There are many components of a Blogger blog - not just the comments, posts, and template.

• Accessories.
• Comments.
• Decorations.
• Gadgets.
• Posts.
• Layout.
• URL.

Before you plan how to backup your blog, you need to decide which of these features is most important to you, and what problem from which you wish to recover.

Backing up accessories right now is not so easily done.

The accessories (decorations, gadgets) is one component of the blog which is most frequently missed, after a deleted blog is recreated / restored using a "comments / posts / template backup" restore strategy. Both graphic decorations, and XML based gadgets, may not be easily backed up, and may present a challenge when the blog is restored, or recreated.

XML gadgets, such as bloglists and linklists, may contain a lot of detail, which is installed into the blog one entry at a time - and there is no known way to automate a backup or restore of these gadgets.

The URL cannot be recovered, by creating or restoring.

Recovering the URL is one of the most subtle details, that may not always be considered by many blog owners. The URL is relevant in two ways. Most blogs which are important enough, for the owner to want to backup, have acquired reputation - both with people (readers, subscribers, and viewers), and with search engines.

Some blogs will link the various posts to each other - as I do with this blog. In either case, the recovered blog is not as useful, unless the URL is also recovered.

If the blog is deleted, the URL may not be recoverable.

If the blog is deleted by Blogger - or by the owner - the URL may not be available, for blog recovery. When Blogger deletes a blog as a suspected abusive content host, the URL is locked to the blog. The only way to recover the URL is to have the blog reviewed, and restored to availability.

When a blog is deleted by the owner, the blog must be restored by the owner - within 90 days after deletion. In either case, a backup is useless.

If you have a personal blog, containing just posts (and maybe comments from known family or friends), backing up the comments and posts makes sense. For a publicly known blog, containing various accessories, and having a known URL, you'll want to plan your backup / restore strategy using a bit more effort.

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