Blogger Magic - Adding Label Search URLs

One of the simplest ways to make a blog useful is to add label searches.

Adding label searches, in page / post text, is not easy - unless you know how to build the URLs. Here's a label search from this blog.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/search/label/Blogger%20Magic

All that I want, when using that label search, is to add another reference to my "Blogger Magic" post series.

"Blogger Magic" emphasises how easy it is, to use Blogger. How easy is it, to remember that syntax - to add a label link? Maybe, a "Blogger Magic" reference, in this post?

When you read a blog post, that has label references, look at the bottom of the post.

---

Please note the advice, at the bottom of the post.

---

Look in the post footer, for the "Labels" section.

Here's the bottom of another post, from this blog.

Here's the bottom of this post.



Note that not all blogs will provide a "Labels" posts section. That is an owner choice.

Look at a label link, in the "Labels" section of the post - when provided.

There's the bottom of two of my "Label Search" posts - "Blogger Magic - A Blog Within A Blog", followed by this post "Blogger Magic - Adding Label Search URLs". Now, look at the Labels links.

In most blogs, the Labels links would be labeled "Labels". I call mine "Topics". As owner of this blog, that is my personal choice.

Also, in most blogs, the "Labels" section will be found, in the post footer. Some blog owners have chosen to position their "Labels" in the post header. This, too, is their choice - and carries with it, some risk.

See "Label Search"?



Look in the browser status area, when hovering over the link caption.

Look at the "Topics" section. See "Label Search"? Hover the mouse cursor, over the "Label Search" link.

See the label search URL, in the browser status area?



Look in the browser status area, when hovering over the link caption.

Hover the mouse over "Label Search", and look in the browser status area.

blogging.nitecruzr.net/search/label/Label Search

For a blog using an HTTPS redirect, you might see a slightly different URL.

If this blog uses the "HTTPS: Redirect" option, you might see it slightly differently.

https://blogging.nitecruzr.net/search/label/Label%20Search

Click on either of the above 2 links. OK, I cheated with the second link - since this blog, right now, does not support HTTPS - and I obviously don't want you looking at an HTTPS Error display.

Whether HTTP - or HTTPS - is in use, there is the label search link.

Whichever you see - and decide to use - with your blog, there is a label search URL. Now, get a label search URL from your blog - and use the URL, in another page or post in your blog.

This post opens many links in new tabs / windows, intentionally.

BTW - and if you have clicked on any of the links above - and since you have apparently read to this point - I have to warn you that many of the links, above, are intentionally coded to open in a new tab / window. That is necessary, based on the nature of the links in this post.

Many of the links in this post are clickable, simply to illustrate to you the content in label searches - as opposed to links which lead you to additional information in the blog. So as not to lead you away from this post, you should not lose context after clicking on a link - as long as you simply close the new (illustrative) tab / window.

My sincere apologies, if my seemingly gratuitous opening of new tabs / windows inconveniences or offends you.

---

Some #Blogger blog owners want to use label search URLs, in page or post text. Getting a label search URL is easy enough, when you look in the post label search section - which is generally in the post footer.

Read More

Blogger Magic - Links And Colors

We see an occasional question in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue about blog links - and the captions that change colour, mysteriously.

Some blog owners seem to regard the colour changes as one more Blogger pecadillo - ignoring the fact that colour changing link captions have been part of Internet design, since the early days.

In most blogs, you can change link colours - and prevent the colour changes - using the Blogger dashboard Template Designer.

You can change any color using the color code, or a color chart, part of any colour wizard.



To access the Template Designer, start from the dashboard Template page.

The Template Designer is behind the "Customize" button, on the dashboard Template page.

From the dashboard Template page, click on the "Customize" button.

Start with the Template Designer main page.

Click on Advanced - and look for "Links".

On my blog, I can adjust "Link Color", "Visited Color", and "Hover Color".



Template Designer menu and wizard combinations may vary.

The Template Designer menu / display can be adjusted according to the decision of the template designer.

Your template, when customized, using Template Designer, may have a "Links" section, with "Link Color", "Visited Color", and "Hover Color". It may have additional colours - or colours and fonts may be combined. All of this is as setup in the template "Variable definitions" section.

You can change any colour using the colour code - or a color chart.



If you want your links - including titles - to remain one colour constantly, change the 3 colours (or whatever your blog has) to one common value.

My blog uses "Link Color" = "2d25ce", "Visited Color" = "ce25c5", and "Hover Color" = "583fff". Your blog may use a different colour combination.

For a useful color number / visual chart, you can use W3Schools: HTML Color Picker.

---

Not all #Blogger blog owners understand link captions - and how the caption colours change, to indicate pages that have been visited from a given browser. Some think the colour changes are a Blogger novelty.

In reality, link caption colours have been a feature, since browsers were first used in the Internet.

Read More

Is There A Purpose To Referer Spam?

We've been experiencing - and discussing - referer spam, since 2011.

We still see unaware blog owners, asking in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

When I checked my stats for my blog, and looked at traffic sources, I noticed a link from a different country - and it just seems weird that Russian readers would then go to a US site.

When we explain that they're probably seeing another referer spam attack - and that clicking on the links is not always a good idea, we get a variety of responses. Some want to know if there is a purpose, to this noise.

Referer spam has a variety of purposes - ranging from commercial, to dangerous, to deceptive.

Garbage? Or a purpose?



Here are just 3 examples, from Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

• Advertise any paying customer.
• Lead you to a website with hacking content.
• Attack innocent third parties.

Advertise any paying customer.

This is the commercial possibility. If there's money to be made from publishing informative, interesting, and original content, there is probably lots more money to be made herding innocent third parties to ads on any website needing traffic - and lacking informative, interesting, and original content.

This may even represent a variation of GPT. And with the volume of referer spam that's possible, there are surely enough naive blog owners to make this a very lucrative activity.

Lead you to a website with hacking content.

This is the dangerous possibility. With hacking activity as a possible destination, clicking on a Stats link blindly is like playing "Russian Roulette", with your computer.

And, don't expect the website URL to provide a clue as to the destination. "www.innocous-name.com" could itself be hacked - and might unknowingly serve content from "www.hacking-website.com" - or redirect to "www.hacking-website.com".

Attack innocent third parties.

This is the deceptive possibility.

My blog was a "victim" of referer spam attack, in 2011. I have seen similar referer spam reports, that suggest this is not an unusual use of referer spam.

Protect yourself - if you must investigate your referers.

Surely, there are still actual people surfing - and some referer links are genuine. Eventually, you will want to check out some of the more intriguing URLs, in "Traffic sources".

If you decide to investigate one of the links, copy the text of the link URL - then use a proxy server.

Just don't investigate links, without protection. That's what proxy servers are for.

---

Some #Blogger blog owners want to know if referer spam has a purpose - or if it is simply random noise. It actually has a variety of purposes - commercial, dangerous, and deceptive.

Read More

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.

Read More