Google Search Console

This is a great spot to see if there are any issues with the websites you have under your account.

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home?hl=en

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

FAQ: New Dashboard on Blogger

Blogger has rolled out a new dashboard. You can read about it at this link on the Blogger Blog.

https://blogger.googleblog.com/2016/11/a-first-few-tweaks-toward-better-blogger_22.html

The new dashboard takes you directly to the blog that has the most recent updates to it, however you can go to any of your other blogs by clicking on the down arrow on the top left area where the current blog name is listed. See image.

As all changes do, this new dashboard might take some getting used to. You can give feedback directly to the Blogger team via the feedback link on the dashboard (lower right on page). We recommend using this link for feedback as it goes directly to the Blogger team.

If you are having issues with viewing the new dashboard or are getting error messages, please report them in the forum as you would any other issue. 

NOTE: older browsers might have some compatibility issues with the new dashboard so trying to update your browser might be the quickest way to fix most issues.

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

Adsense with Blogger Information And URLs

These urls are very helpful in answer many of the Adsense questions we see on the forum.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/blogger/-41Vttv5ipU

This is a forum FAQ that Peggy put together that addresses most Adsense questions in regards to Blogger.

https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/9724?hl=en&vid=0-160795791872-1477341732783

This is from the Help Center with some general information about eligibilty with Adsense regardless of whether you are using a blog or not.


Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

URL For Article on Taking Screen Shots in Windows

This is a very useful URL to have so posting it here for reference...

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-take-a-screenshot-in-any-version-of-windows/

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

Appreciation on the Blogger Help Forum

Always feels good when you help someone and they really appreciate it...makes all the hours worth it!!! See quoted text below!

"Thank you so much!!!! Your information made it so easy. I'm up and running.
I am glad you sent the information on getting started as well. I'll be reading that tonight.
More than anything I appreciate your answers tone. I feel like the old joke from IT support-"Is it plugged in?" You must get a lot more challenging questions but you treated me with respect and grace. That really means a lot. If you have a supervisor that I can sing your praises to let me know, I'd be glad to. If you do this because you like to, I think you are made for helping people. I needed this for an online class I'm taking (don't laugh, they take computer illiterates in the class. They are used to "Adult Learners").
Again, Thank You so much for your help."


https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/XR7HioTuCK8


Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

Information for Users getting Moved Permanently Snippets

They need to set HTTPS redirect to No to resolve this.

The posts require a rescrape for Facebook, because FB scrapes a post only once.

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

Facebook Debugger

Need to have this to check the ever-changing requirements on Facebook for sharing my blogs...

https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/


Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

URLs Not Available After Deletion

As of our last update, URLs that are deleted are no longer available to anyone (including the original owner) after the blog has disappeared off the "deleted" list on the dashboard.

The previous setting of making them available after a few months has been removed. If someone wants to give someone else a url, they need to transfer the blog.

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

My FAQs for Blogger

Needed a place to put my list of tools I use frequently.

Blogspot.com Is Blocked, What Can I Do?
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2013/04/faq-blogspotcom-is-blocked-what-can-i-do.html

Do I Have To Use Gmail With Blogger?
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2012/02/faq-do-i-have-to-use-gmail.html

Image Information From Picasa Updated 7/31/2013
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2012/09/faq-image-information-from-picasa.html

Guide For Setting Up Custom Domain
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2012/02/faq-guide-for-setting-up-custom-domain.html

Blogger Country Specific Redirects
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2012/02/faq-blogger-country-specific-redirects.html

Help Articles For The New User Interface
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2012/01/faq-help-articles-for-new-user.html

Links For Blogger Forums In Other Languages
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/11/faq-links-for-blogger-forums-in-other.html

Google Accounts Help Page and Recovery Form Updated November 2012
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/07/faq-google-accounts-help-page-and.html

Creating A New About Me Element Updated April 2011
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-instructions-for-creating-new-about.html

Login Issues Link
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2007/04/login-issues-link.html

Finding Forgotten Things
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2008/02/link-for-finding-forgotten-things.html

Clearing Cache and Cookies
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2009/06/link-for-clearing-cache-and-cookies.html

How Do I Remove +1 From The Share Icons?
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/06/faq-how-to-remove-1-from-share-icons.html

BX Reporting Form Link
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/05/faq-bx-error-reporting-form-link.html

My Blog Looks Different From The Preview
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/faq-my-blog-looks-different-from.html

Spam Appeal Guidelines Updated January 2013
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2010/02/answer-for-users-needing-review.html

Redirect Or Content On Blog Not Put By Owner
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2010/03/answer-for-redirect-due-to-bad-gadget.html

Link List Gadget For Labels As Tabbed Menu
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/text-for-answering-link-list-gadget-for.html

Picasa WebAlbum Limitations
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/07/faq-picasa-webalbum-limitations.html

This Thread Is Closed
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/faq-this-thread-is-closed.html

I Have A Third Party Template And It Is Not Working Right, What Can I Do?
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/faq-i-have-third-party-template-that.html

What Is My Blog's Feed URL?
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/faq-what-is-my-blogs-feed-url.html

What Is My Comment Feed URL?
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/faq-what-is-my-comment-feed-url.html

My Comment Link Is Not Working
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/faq-my-comment-link-is-not-working.html

How Do I Change The Email Account I Use To Log Into My Blog?
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/faq-how-do-i-change-email-account.html

How Do I Transfer My Blog From One Blogger Account To Another?
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/faq-how-do-i-transfer-my-blog-from-one.html

How Do I Find Other Blogs or Blogger?
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/faq-how-do-i-find-other-blogs-on.html

How Do I Promote My Blog?
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/faq-how-do-i-promote-my-blog.html

I Am Having A Problem With My Blog. What Do I Need To Do To Report It Here?
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/faq-how-do-i-report-problem-on-bhf.html

I Can't Find My Blog On The Search Engines!
http://mishkatestrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/faq-i-cant-find-my-blog-on-search.html

Mishka
Official Blog*Star
Testing Blogger

Google+ Auto-share From Blogger Exceptions

So if you have enabled your Google+ profile instead of a Blogger profile and are trying to use the auto-share feature to Google+ when you create a new post, you should know that there are exceptions to this.

The Google+ auto-share feature will not work during the following times:

- Posts created by email
- Posts created using import
- Posts created using the API
- Posts scheduled and published later

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

Ways To Check The Feed Size

Another reference post here for me so I don't lose this information since it is very handy.

Just to check the size, paste the feed URL into http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html 

and see Content (Length = 146613). 

Save the feed to local file, see the file size in whatever file manager/Explorer you're using. 

View the source of the feed, copy&paste into notepad++ , see the file size at the bottom statusbar. 

Gives better options in counting/finding reasons for a too large filesize. 

(though view-source:URL in Chrome counts pretty well too)

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

New Google Shared Endorsements Settings

I am sure everyone has noticed the big blue bar across the top of whatever Google product they might be logged into today...

Regardless of all your other settings, I find this one in particular to be important to look at. It has to do with sharing across Google's products of your preferences that show up in ads that other users might see.

There is a link in the new TOS, but it might not stand out enough, so I am providing it here too so you can go directly there, if this is a particular interest of yours.

https://plus.google.com/settings/endorsements?hl=en

There is a check box at the bottom. For me it was defaulted to Opt Out but that might be due to the fact that I already have my +1 info opted for off in my Google account settings. Deal is, if you want to share your preferences for particular items to the public or "friends" via ads, you check the box and then click save. If you DON'T want to, then leave the box empty and hit save.

I have to say, I love how Google approached the changes page, explaining things in plain English rather than a bunch of confusing legalese.

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

Content Policy For Blogger

Mostly I just wanted to have this here for my own reference. Nice to have it all in one area.

http://www.blogger.com/content.g

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

Links to Help Articles About Google+ Comments

These links in the Blogger Help Center about Google+ Comments that were activated today can be very helpful for answering some of the questions users might have about this new feature.

http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2981015

http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=3007761

http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=3007766

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

Information For Viewing More Of Feed

In order to see more than just the standard twenty five posts that come up in the feed at any one time, you can add the following to the end of the rss feed url to see 500 (if you have that many) posts instead.

?max-results=500

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

Duh. The easiest way to stop hackers is with real passwords.

This linked article really spells it out in simple terms, how much you can do to protect yourself at your end (READ IT!). Obviously, you can only do so much on this side, but why make it easy for hackers by picking stupid passwords to begin with. Cover you own end and then hope and trust that the big institutions that have all our personal info are covering their part like they are supposed to.

To realize that 600K Facebook accounts get hacked a day is really scary...this means that a ton of users are using 123456 as their freaking password...and if that is the case, they almost deserve to get hacked.

Make your passwords a couple of words, that you can remember using upper and lower case letters, and then substitute in some numbers for some of the letters and throw a symbol or two in there between words...it isn't that hard. On top of that, change your password occasionally...make that computer hack program start from scratch and you won't have to worry.

Another smart thing to do is NOT use only one email address for all your logins. If that email gets hacked, you are screwed. You need to have yourself a little bit more diversified than that...and you need to stay on top of your info...logging into an account is the number one way to prove ownership so you need to remember your info.

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

Directions For Viewing Feedburner Email Subscription Details

In your Feedburner account, you can see your email subscriptions.

Note that once you start using Feedburner, you might also have subscribers through Google Reader and iGoogle and those numbers are reflected in the total number of subscribers (so it isn't just email when you see the number for your blog).

Once you are on your Feedburner account, click on the blog in question, then on Publicize Tab and then Email Subscriptions, then Subscription Management, scroll to the bottom and you can click on View Subscriber Details.

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

Answer Text For Template Designer Malfunction

Just thought I would post this here to use for later.

Make sure to back up your template before making any changes.

You need to have the mobile template enabled before trying these fixes...and if you are using Amazon Affiliates, you can't use the mobile template and still be meeting their TOS requirements.

NOTE: If you do not have the mobile template enabled at the beginning of this process, I highly recommend trying to enable it, and then just trying to reinstall your current template (from the backup you made a few minutes ago)....this might keep you from having to do all your customizations over again if it just the mobile template issue causing your problem.

We have been told that this is due to customizations in your blog template that are conflicting with the platform and causing the template designer to malfunction. There are several options for clearing this up, some only have to do a few, and some need to do all and more to get it working again.

1. Use the remove customizations link on the template area of your blog
2. Use the revert widgets to default link on the edit html portion of the template area of your blog.

These are not a cure all...and in some cases, they will not be enough, but they are what you should start with as they are the least invasive way to get the Template Designer working. If they don't work, you can try a fresh template. Switching templates off the bat isn't the way to go since moving from template to template generally doesn't reset gadgets or remove html customizations.

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

URL For Reverting To Blogger Profile

This only works for 30 days after converting to the Google+ profile but it is a good link to have, just in case.

http://www.blogger.com/revert-profile.g

Mishka
Official Blog*Star/Blogger TC
Testing Blogger

FAQ: Spam Appeal Guidelines Updated January 2013

This thread should be started by the owner of the blog marked as spam and will only apply to that original poster. If you are another user and have this problem with your blog, you need to start your own thread so that we can send in the review individually.

Spam Appeal Guidelines:

Given the fact that automated spam detection is not yet a perfect science, the Blogger Team is happy to investigate any reports of false positive spam reviews, posted here in the forum. That being said, before you request an appeal, it's worth describing a few examples of what Blogger regularly removes, as part of its zero tolerance policy to abusive / inappropriate content:

- Affiliate marketing.
- Content created wth scripts and programs, rather than by hand.
- Content scraped from other sources.
- Copyright Infringement (using photos of people without their permission)
- Content or links referencing GPT, PTC, PTS, 'Make money from home', 'Make money fast', or other referral-based activities.
- Large blogs with multiple, unfocused / unrelated subjects.
- Links to Illegal Downloads / Streaming / Torrents/ Games / Movies
- Links to Password sites/Account Hacks

If you are confident that your content doesn't fall into one of the above categories, and you have already requested a manual review in your dashboard, then you can request an appeal on the spam decision and Blogger will review your blog. Just reply here in this thread saying that you've read the Spam Appeal Guidelines and we'll pass your review to Blogger. Make sure you've included your blog URL.

**Please note though that the Blogger Team may look at other blogs on your account as part of their review. If you request an appeal and Blogger discovers other blatantly spam content during the investigation, you risk having all of your content permanently removed. Please consider this when requesting a review.

If your do not have any contact links from Blogger (this would be very unusual) in order to request the initial review, please see this help article to see if any of the links there might be of help before reporting back here.

References:

[1] I can't find my blog on the Web, where is it? - Blogger Help(Help Articles) www.google.com


Mishka
Official Blog*Star
Testing Blogger