Now Access the Webmasters Academy in Over 40 Languages

When you really want to achieve something, then the limit of your knowledge no longer becomes a hindrance. This has held true for a lot of webmasters, who are self-taught, and rely on their ambition to learn and implement new things that they consider useful. But whether you are a beginner, or a seasoned veteran, there's always room for some improvement - for learning something new. That is why Google set up a Webmaster's Academy to teach everyone from a total newbie to an advanced user on how to better understand Google, and how to perform better in search results. This Academy was set up last year, but was only available in the English language up until now. Now though, thanks to Google, the Webmaster Academy has gone international, with support for more than 40 languages!

The purpose of establishing this Academy was to educate and guide webmasters into creating websites that perform well in search results. For any blogger, this can serve as the ultimate guide or a complete roadmap that webmasters and bloggers can follow towards success, since the ultimate goal is getting the best performance in search results. So if you haven't still heard of the Webmaster Academy, then you should start off with it immediately.

What it has to offer?

The Webmaster Academy is a fully-fledged academy in the sense that it covers a huge scope of topics, vertically as well as horizontally.

There are various sections in the interface for different type of users. These include Beginners, Advanced users, and Small business owners. Each section has a checklist where you can place a check-box next to each resource that you complete, and you will see your overall progress at the top. These steps are organized in a logical pattern, so you can move from one to the next in a sequential manner.

Once you're done with one section, you can move on to the next. It's a really well organized resource that you can master within no time at all. And now, it is available in a wider ranger of languages. Google says that the Academy is available in over 20 languages, but that number is actually 43, including English.

So what do you want to learn today? Head over to the Webmaster Academy, and start your training as a webmaster from Google itself! You'll be the master of your game in no time at all! All the best :)

5 softwares you must have to become a better blogger

A bad worker with full equipment still work more productive than a good worker equipped with nothing. If you know how to design your own blogger template but only use some simple software to do it than that template will turn in to a regular blogger template. In this article I will show you 5 software you must have in order to design a great blogger template for your blog. There are a lot more software, but the reason why I only introduce 5 because it meet three criteria: useful, easy to use and free.
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How To tell Google to Remove your Content or Site from Google Services?

Google, as you might well know has a wide, vertical range of products and services served along the main course that is Google Search. Such services include Google Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Google Advisor, Google Plus Local Search, and so on. Sometimes, some of the content on your site also gets included in these services if relevant. But in some cases, you might not want your content to appear on such products and services. Now you can ask Google not to include your content in search results through your Robots file, but that doesn't really solve the problem does it? It'll take your content off Google entirely. So how to exclude your content from the extra Google services only? Well, Google has now given you a solution in the form of an Opt-out Tool, where you can choose your content to be not included in such products and services.

How to Opt-Out?

Before we talk about the background behind this initiative, let me first tell you how you (publishers) can opt out of these five select Google services, namely Google Shopping, Google Flights, Google Hotels, Google Advisor, and Google Plus Local `Search.

This tool can be found within Google Webmaster Tools. Follow this link to the Opt-Out Tool, and choose a website you want to use this tool for. You must be logged into Google Webmaster Tools to access this tool.

Remember! This tool is only available for domain level sites. Sub-domain websites (such as example.blogspot.com) won't get this option. You will need your own domain (example.com) to access this option.

After selecting a site, and clicking on the Opt Out button will result in the removal of your site's contents from the aforementioned Google Services. However, this won't result in the immediate deletion of the records Google has of your site. That won't happen until another thirty days, giving you ample time to re-think your decision, and roll back the changes if necessary.



Notice that as yet, you can only opt out of all of the five services, or no services at all. An all-or-nothing approach, if you will. You can selectively choose a single service.

Why would you want to get your contents excluded?

Interestingly, not all of these listed services are free. Some require you to pay in order to get your content listed in them. So what exactly is the use of this tool, and why would people want to use it?



From some sites, Google picks up more than just their raw content. It also gathers things like review data from the web, and associates it with product or place listings. Not all publishers would want Google to collect such data, and deliver it in its own way, such as summarizing it, and so on.

Previously, if such publishers wanted Google to not collect such data, then the only option they had was to opt-out of Google altogether, and that includes Google Search as well. And as you might know, Google enjoys more than 66% of the search engine market share. So opting out completely would mean that publishers would lose more than two-thirds of their organic search traffic. So clearly, such an option is out of the question for most publishers.



Google took this initiative in response to its agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over anti-trust charges. Publishers were worried about Google's policies, since they didn't want to get de-indexed from search. Yet at the same time, their appearance in other products wasn't acceptable either. So the FTC won this battle for such publishers.

Google will give websites the ability to �opt out� of display on Google vertical properties. Under the same commitment, Google also has promised to provide all websites the option to keep their content out of Google�s vertical search offerings, while still having them appear in Google�s general, or �organic,� web search results.

So as it appears, by applying its all-or-nothing policy with its services, Google is trying to merely satisfy the FTC, without actually considering the Publishers' concerns. But at least it's a start. Further enhancements might be on their way.



Have you got any question? Feel free to ask in our comments section below. Here's to hoping Google will orient itself towards publishers better in matters like these in the near future :)

Publishers can now review Ads Landing Pages in AdSense

Google AdSense empowers you with a host of options and features with which you can keep your ad-marketing campaign going smoothly. You have an Ad Review Center, where you get various controls that help with the management of ads on your site. Among other features (see a list of latest AdSense features here), you get the luxury of finding and reviewing quickly and efficiently, hence saving you a lot of time. But that's something we all already knew about. However, Google has very recently introduced a new feature in their Ad Review Center. Previously where you could only review ads themselves, now you can also review the landing pages they lead to.

How would this help?

Some of you might be saying 'meh, big deal' at this point. But if you've guessed the implications, then I'd like to congratulate you on your wit :D. Anyhow, this feature will help publishers align their website (content and ads) towards the users (we all know how big an issue user-friendliness is with Google).

Previously, you could only review ads, and see if they weren't irrelevant, or not suited for your audience. Now, you can also review the landing pages they lead to. This way, you can gauge your users' reaction ahead of time, and make adequate adjustments. For example, if you see a landing page that you think your users won't like, you can opt out of that ad.

Examples of landing pages where users might not comfortable can be irrelevant pages, cramped and spammy landing pages with a lot of ads or calls to action, inconvenient pop-ups, difficult navigation, and so on. As a general rule of thumb, if you don't like the page after clicking on the ad, then your users won't like it either.

How to get this feature?

Log into your AdSense account, and click on the Allow and Block Ads tab. Here, you can review individual ads. Hover over any ad, and you will see a magnifying glass appear on its bottom-right corner. Click on this to see the ad and the landing page it leads to. Easy as pie :)

Do note that this feature is currently available only to those accounts which have their language preference set to English. Google, however, is trying to add more language support. In the meantime, please feel free to ask questions in our comments section if you have any confusion. Stay tuned for more updates :)

P.S. Please try to keep your comments and questions as relevant as possible. This ensures easier and faster replies to your individual queries. Thank you for your cooperation :)

New Features for Verification Management in Google Webmaster Tools

Businesses these days, whether they be online or otherwise, often tend to be backed up by a partnership of some sort, where more than one individual is running the show. In such situations, the distribution of tools and online resources can be a bit tricky. For example, imagine having to share your website's passwords, or Google Analytic property with your business partner(s). An immediate problem arises here, because you cannot trust anyone with a password. Luckily, Google makes it incredibly easy to share vital tools and resources between partners, such as Google Analytics properties, website verifications through Google Webmaster Tools, mutual-sharing of fan pages, and so on. Google has  now introduced some latest features to go with its management of multiple users feature.

Verification details

Now, for every verified owner of your website, you can view the method by which that user was verified, so that you can keep track of who you add, and who got in by somehow tricking you. To access this information, log into your Webmaster Tools account, and click on your site. Now, from the Configurations menu, click on Users.

Now, you'll see a Manage Site Owners option at the top-right. This will take you to the verification information.

You will be able to see what owners are verified for your website, and what methods they have used. Click on the verification details next to each user to find out more.

Unverifying an owner

You can no longer un-verify a website owner if the method(s) they used for verification still exists. For example, if verification was done through meta tags, then Google Webmaster Tools will prompt you with an error, and won't let you un-verify an owner as long as that meta tag is still there. 

CNAME verification

CNAME verification strings have now been shortened in order to support a larger number of DNS providers. Systems used by some providers restrict the number of characters that can be used for a DNS record, and as a result, many users couldn't use this method of verification. Now, with shortened strings, they will finally be able to do it. However, this won't change the existing strings, and the old ones will continue to work just fine.



Questions? Feel free to ask us. We'd love to respond to your queries. Peace and blessings :)

Google gives Guidelines for Monetizing Flash Gaming Sites

Small flash games account for lots of hours wasted as pastime. People love playing these small games online, just to take their minds off things for a while. Whether it be a simple game of pool, or a make-believe world of farming, people get hooked up to these games pretty fast, which is why a lot of people like to add them on their sites. There are also a lot of dedicated flash gaming websites out there, and they seem to be making quite some money out there (not a very bad idea for a new blog niche, by the way). For the flash gaming geeks who like to put such games up on their sites, here are a few guidelines from Google you need to be mindful of before monetizing your websites.

Mind your distance!

People will every now and then confuse animated ad sections with your flash games if placed very near to each other. Some games also require frantic clicking, which leads users to click outside the flash content. And while resizing a web page, or opening it on a mobile device, accidental clicks on ads instead of the flash content are inevitable.

All of this leads to invalid click activity, which might result in your AdSense account getting banned. To avoid such an inconvenience, it is recommended that you keep a distance of at least 150 pixels between flash content and ads. Check out the following image provided by Google to get a better idea.

Ads within games

What websites normally use is AdSense for Content (AFC). Most ads you see on a website are AFC. You can't however, use these kind of ads in games. It is against Google's policies. If you want to display pre-roll or mid-roll ads inside your games, you might want to look into another program by Google known as AdSense for Games (AFG).

As always, Google doesn't allow you to add sexually explicit or profane content on your flash content. It's family safety rules are pretty strict about such things. For a more detailed list on what content Google discourages on your blog, check the following link.

• 11 activities that will cause your blog to be deleted

Still have questions? Feel free to ask in the comments below. We're here to help. Cheers :)

Balance a Free Responsive Blogger Theme

Hi buddy's, It's been a While since we publish a new Blogger theme. After Publishing Minimum a Responsive Blogger template we didn't publish any new theme. OK, Lets come to the point. Now We are happy to publish another WordPress converted Blogger theme, Balance A responsive blogger template.

Like Minimum theme, Balance is also a WordPress Child theme Which is Designed by studio press. This theme is a Responsive theme with grid layout, Clean And Elegant look. It's also has a opt-in subscribe widget in homepage and a opt-in sidebar subscribe widget in post page. You can also see a live demo of the theme using the link below. ;)
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How to Boost your Adsense Earnings

Every blogger wants to make money from their blog and the make money from Adsense is the best and popular way among all of us.In this post I'm going to tell you how to make more money with Adsense.

Also Read : 3 Best Ways to Get AdSense Account Approval

In order to Boost up your earnings you must have to take care about the Adsense policies. There are simple fundamentals to monetize your blog with the Adsense. Below is the list of the such a points that you have to keep in mind in order to boost up the earnings.
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How To Schedule Pins on Pinterest?

Pinterest is a pretty interesting visual social network that poses quite a conundrum. On the one hand, the idea of pinning and sharing images, and interacting with people over these images seems quite appealing. But on the other hand, there aren't very many marketing features employed by Pinterest, which causes some small businesses to ignore this really useful opportunity. With Facebook, you can schedule your posts, analyze your statistics, and generally spice up your posts. Sadly, no such functionality as stock from Pinterest. Luckily though, there is a tool that will help you schedule your Pins, and enhance/analyze them for more effectiveness.

Scheduling pins using Pingraphy

Pingraphy is a free tool that is designed to add an extra layer of features to Pinterest. You don't have to create a separate account to be able to use it. You can just log in with your Pinterest credentials. Enter your Pinterest username and password, and then proceed to the next step.

When you log in for the first time, you are prompted to add a Pingraphy bookmarklet to your browser. Just click on the button that says 'pingraphy' in Step 1, and then drop it into your browser bookmarks bar. This is a piece of JavaScript code that will help with the easy sharing of pictures you find on the web. This, however isn't necessary. But I did this anyway.

Next is Step 2, where you actually get to post or schedule pins. Click no the Schedule button, and you will see some more options. You can select a board to pin to, the picture to pin, and when to pin it. If you click on the schedule button, you will see options to set the time, and the time interval (in case you want to pin multiple images). If you want to pin multiple images at once, you will still have to set an interval. This interval can be as long or as short as you like.

Once scheduled, you can see your pins from your dashboard. Unfortunately, you can't change the schedule for a pin, and have to delete it and then schedule it again properly to change its time. But otherwise, it's a pretty useful tool that can help save a lot of time on Pinterest, and manage pins more effectively. Check it out for yourself, and let us know what you think. Cheers :)

Download Google's Latest Cheat Sheet eBook To Optimize your site

Whether you are a beginner looking to make a mark on the internet or just wanting to learn some stuff, or a pro who wants serious business online, Google is always there to help you. At the Google Webmaster Central blog, you will find any number of news, tutorials, tips, and best practices involved with webmastering. Google wants to help you out in making your content available to the world, and has released many items related to Search Engine Optimization, Google released an eBook some time ago which contained all the basic SEO tips you could think of in a nutshell. Well now, for starters, Google has released a new one-page quick-start eBook which captures the essence of SEO as it is used today.

Dubbed as a 'first steps cheat sheet' by Google, this eBook is specifically designed for people who have set up a blog or an online presence, but haven't given much thought to search. They might have made some content, but don't know the ABC of getting their website into Google Search.



This book is a very short and concise guide on search engine optimization, with tips on how to create SEO friendly design, This will help search engines like Google itself to better understand the content on your site, and hence will increase its visibility.



Take a look at this amazing one-page SEO eBook here.

How to download this eBook?

Here's the direct download link to this eBook;



Download: Google One Page SEO Guide



If you're more of an advanced user, we something for you too! You can check out the more extensive Google SEO Starter Guide that will detail you through most of the basic SEO aspects.



This eBook is free to use, and you can distribute or print it as you like! Give it a read, and share the knowledge with others too and increase awareness! All the best :)

How To Build Your Blog Readership To Increase Traffic

Your blog is not only a blog to deliver content to the visitors. It's your voice who speaks in behalf of you. You need to write for readers not for the visitors. If visitors land on your blog and they don't understand what you are trying to say then surely they will not convert into your readers. Generating traffic is not enough if you are not able to build strong readership for your blog.

Good readership can help you to achieve your goals of blogging. Don't work to build only traffic, works for maintaining and building best reading experience for your visitors so that they love to read what you write for them.

Today, I am going to share my own way to build a consistent readership to convert your blog into a diary for internet world.
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Can Someone Steal Ownership of your Site in Webmaster Tools?

For webmasters, verifying ownership of their website is very important, since it establishes an official connection between you and your website. It is one of the factors among many others that decides a site's trust. Every webmaster has to get his site verified in Google Webmaster Tools to help Google recognize ownership for that site, and provide some advanced tools to the webmaster. But there's one thing that might concern a few people regarding ownership. There are many blogs and websites where people who aren't the owners have access to the site's source code, at least the <body> part of a website. So what if someone adds a meta tag with the body tag and steals ownership of your website?

People who have rights to post on your blog, and even people who comment have some level of access to the body section of your website, since the content they create goes into the body tag.

Usually, website verification require you to add a meta tag to your site. This meta tag is provided by the service you're verifying from, and you, being a website owner, can add this meta tag to your site's source code (usually the head section) and get your website verified.

So what if people who don't own your site add a meta tag for website verification in the <body> section of your website?

As Google's Matt Cutts clarifies, Google only checks for meta tags embedded into the <head> tag of your website. And the head does NOT mean the header. The head contains all the definitions, stylings, rules, and so on. And it is where meta tags should be added. Meta tags with the body don't make much sense.



So as long as others are only editing your website's body section, you needn't worry about any attacks or verification attempts, should any be made. But if you're giving others access to your site's head section, then you should think again by granting such permissions.

If you found anything confusing, please do let me know. I'm here to help. Cheers :)

How To Add Watermark To Your Image Using Photoshop?

Photoshop is widely used software to create stunning images. It is an awesome image editor too. Sometimes you need to create copyright mark(watermark) or impressions on your image to prevent it from getting copied. This would not only help you to protect your images, but the people who will copy your images would come to know about your site thus increasing your traffic in an indirect way. Today, I have made a simple video tutorial on creating impressions on images, like Copyright 2013, and so on with the help of Photoshop. Please continue....
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How to Verify Your Site with Pinterest to access Web Analytics?

Pinterest is a relatively new social network that revolves around the concept of image-sharing. With over 50 Million active users, it is fast becoming the largest such social network, which gives site owners and webmasters a good reason to get their websites verified with Pinterest. Recently, I wrote a post about Pinterest's latest Web Analytics program, after which a lot of people asked me how to get your site verified with Pinterest to access this analytics feature. So here's my attempt to answer the question, and tell you a bit about why you need to verify your site with Pinterest.

Verifying your site

To verify your site, go to your Pinterest profile. Click on the arrow next your profile picture on the top-right, and select Settings from the drop-down menu.

There, you'll find a website field. Enter your website's complete URL in that field, and then click the Verify button right next to that field.

You will get an option to verify your site by uploading an HTML file. This file will be given to you once you click on the verify button. Download this file, but don't close the Pinterest verification page. Go to your website's Cpanel or FTP account, and upload that HTML file to your root directory (www.yoursite.com/). Once you're done, go back to the page you were on, and click on the 'Click Here' link given in step 3 to complete the process.

If you run a Blogger blog, or some similar platform where you can not directly upload an HTML file, then you can go into your site's source code (template, or theme code), and upload a meta tag provided by Pinterest. You can get to this option from the same page as HTML file upload verification. Just click on the link at the bottom that says Verify with a meta tag. You can add this code in the header of your website.

Why verify your site?

For one, website verification establishes a link between a website and a Pinterest account. Accounts linked to a websites have more authority. These accounts are marked with a checkmark which displays next to their website on their profile page and below their name in search results

Besides, after verifying your site, you can access Pinterest Web Analytics which can give you insights into how well your content is doing, and what content is working and what isn't.

So get your website verified right now, and if you face any problems, just leave us a comment, and we'll try to reply it as best as we can. Cheers :)

Pinterest Introduces Web Analytics to help out Webmasters

Pinterest has gained quite a bit of popularity over the course of its life, short as it may be. This image-based social media is a great way to share pictures you like with other people. A lot of the pins, or image shares on Pinterest come from other websites, from where people can easily pin pictures in much the same way they can Like or +1 a post. Since so much of the data on Pinterest comes from outside sources, Pinterest has finally decided to launch a new Web Analytics program which will help website owners understand what sort of images interest people, and how best to harness their potential streams of revenue.

"The goal is really to help websites understand what content is resonating with people on Pinterest," Cat Lee, Product Manager, said while talking to Reuters. Pinterest has laid out all the ground-work to monetize its popular pinboard-like service. It is a free service to start with, but experts believe that it might start drawing revenue by providing premium services to business in the future. This is backed up by the fact that Pinterest has a large following, and is being heavily used by popular retailers such as Dell, The Gap, and Patagonia etc.

What can you expect?

From Pinterest, you will have access to a variety of analytics data regarding pins from your website. For example, you will be able to see how many people pinned from your site, how many people saw those pins, and in turn, how many actually visited your site. Besides this, you will also see your most pinned, most clicked, and most recent pins. This will give you an idea of what is popular on your website, and what isn't.

To access Pinterest Analytics, you need to verify your website. If your site isn't verified, you need to visit this verification help page from Pinterest, and then get your site verified in very simple steps. Verify your site now, and if you have a confusion, feel free to ask us.



Once verified, go over to your Pinterest profile, and switch to Pinterest's new look by following this link. Once this is done, visit your Pinterest again, and look for the Analytics option in the top-right corner.



You will now have access to your website's analytics! Explore the, all you like, and see what you can do to improve your content. If, for some reason, you have problems accessing your analytic, please tell us about it. We'll try to help as best as we can. Peace :)

Fix Duplicate Meta Description Error in Posts and Homepage

This is a quick post on a crawling error that was causing issues for most of you. For over a year we were all scratching our heads on why Blogger is showing two meta descriptions for homepage and post pages. Webmaster tools shows duplicate meta description error for blogger homepage and individual item pages that are posts. If you view your blog's source file then you will find two meta descriptions for the same page. One below <head> tag and one just above <title> tag. This double occurrence of meta tags for description appeared when blogger introduced Search preferences last year that offered blogspot users to insert dynamic description for every post they publish. This option is present inside Blogger's Post editor as "Search Description".

• Check out: What is Meta Description?

How to fix duplicate Description error?

Last year we shared the code that will install dynamic search description option even in custom templates. If you are using that code then its extremely easy to fix the error. If in case you have not yet added that code or you use Blogger Template's styles then you may simply add the code I will share in today's tutorial.

• Read this: Why Meta Description is not showing up in Custom templates? 

Follow these easy steps:

1. Go To Blogger > Template
2. Backup your template
3. Click Edit HTML
4. Search for the following code:

<b:if cond='data:blog.metaDescription != &quot;&quot;'>
  <meta expr:content='data:blog.metaDescription' name='description'/>
</b:if>

  Note: If you can not find this code then do not panic and skip this step and follow step#5.

    5.  Now replace the above code with following set of codes:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != &quot;index&quot;'>
      <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != &quot;item&quot; and data:blog.pageType != &quot;static_page&quot;'>
        <b:if cond='data:blog.metaDescription != &quot;&quot;'>
          <meta expr:content='data:blog.metaDescription' name='description'/>
        </b:if>
     </b:if>
    </b:if>

Note: For those of you who could not find the code in step#4, then you may simply copy the above code (in step#5) and paste it just below <head>

• The purple code will disable duplicate occurrences on homepage and Search/Archive pages
• The green code will disable duplicate occurrences on Post Pages and Static pages

       6.  Save your template and you are all done!Now visit your homepage or any post page and click CTRL + U to check its source file. You will find only one occurrence of meta description. :)  

Need help?

I hope this improvement will further optimize your blogspot code structure and will help robots to better crawl and index your content. Please let me know if you needed any help. A great surprise is coming for those who live in our city. We are coming in public again with several new business strategies and ideas. Would love to see you guys this time. Peace and blessings buddies :)

Top 4 Practices To Become A Successul Blogger

Nearly everybody is involved in blogging now. The number of bloggers and blogging sites have increased tremendously in the last year of so. One of the main reasons for this increase in blogging is the panda and penguin update by Google. As Google clearly states that content is a crucial factor in deciding the search engine ranking, companies and webmasters all are getting involved in blogging and pushing out content.

How do you differentiate yourself from the rest of the bloggers?

How do you blog for success?

Again, it�s not that hard, if you follow some basic rules and best practices your blog will be very successful and attract some good traffic. So here are some of the blogging tips for success:
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6 Actions Taken against Blogs that are Flagged

Yesterday, we did a post on some of the things that are against Google's policy, Writing about these things on your blog might result in your blog getting deleted, or at least flagged. It also might get flagged as a result of other people reporting your blog for a violation. When this happens. your blog is automatically entered into Google's flag queue. A team will then review those flags, and if no violation is taking place, they will simply let that blog go. Otherwise, appropriate action against the blog is  taken to maintain the safety of the network, and to ensure no such thing happens again from that party in the future.

So how can you tell when your blog has been penalized? Google does send the blog owner an email message detailing them on the situation, and a recourse to be taken (if any). You can also tell when any of the following happens to your blog. These are the actions Google takes against flagged blogs indeed found guilty of violation(s).

Actions taken against blogs that are flagged

Mature content interstitial - This usually happens in case of adult-content hosted on your blog. Your blog will be placed behind a 'mature content interstitial', which means that it will no longer appear in safe search. It can only be searched by users who have their family filter turned off, which effectively reduces your traffic.

Blog becomes visible only to the author - Others won't be able to see or search your blog. Only you would be able to see it.

Deletion of offending content - Frankly speaking, this is the least that could happen to your blog. Google will only remove the content that's violating its policies. So as long as your website isn't filled with such content, you're fine.

Disabled Blogger account - OK, now this is getting serious. If you have been copying content, or spamming, you might end up getting your account banned.

Disabled Google account - Google won't just stop at disabling your Blogger account. If your offense is serious, then your entire Google Account, with all the associated profiles related to other Google products.

Reporting to law enforcement - OK, things are getting pretty real now, so you might as well snap out of it. If you're involved with cyber-crime, or are promoting illegal activities, you might get reported to law enforcement agencies. Now would be a pretty good time to pack your bags and run away :

How to report a violation?

These steps, harsh as some of them may sound, are necessary for the sake of the safety and sanctity of the Blogger network. If you see someone violating Google's guidelines by doing any of the things forbidden by Google, please don't hesitate to report that particular blog to Google.

To report a blog, simply visit Blogger's Help Canter section about reporting abuse. Do give Google's guidelines before filing a report. If you're sure that a blog is violating the policies, then you can use the different links given at the end of the report abuse page in Blogger Help Center to file a report. Help make the internet a better place by reporting policy-violators. Stay blessed :)

11 Activities That will Cause Your Blog to be Deleted

Google Blogger is a very popular publishing platform. Millions of blogs run on Blogger, adding a vast inventory of knowledge to the internet. It is a free service designed for communication, self-expression and freedom of speech. But while that stands, Google also has to uphold its image of quality and safety for its users. If a blogger violates Google's quality guidelines, then Google will take action against that Blogger blog to protect its users. A lot of people ask us why their blog was suspended or deleted, even when they seemingly didn't do anything wrong. Well, there must be something they were doing, which is why Google had to do it. In this post, we discuss what things go against Google's policies, and which things you must avoid to stay safe.

11 things to avoid in Blogger blogs

1. Hate speech

Hate speech is something which, even though is very common on the internet, isn't appreciated by Google. Promoting racism, and hate against a specific religious or ethnic group is a crime, and is not tolerated by Google.

2. Violence

Google is used all over the world by people from different geographic and demographic groups. Promoting violence on your blog would not be suitable to many people, especially children who are easily effected. Also, promoting violence against a certain group comes under racism, which is also not allowed by Google.

3. Illegal activities

Blogging about any sort of illegal activity, such as drug or alcohol use, is illegal. The general rule is, if you could get into trouble by talking about something in front of a cop, then most probably that thing also comes under this section, and is punishable by a ban.

4. Gore

You must not have images, videos, or other graphical content that contains gore, or that could be disturbing to some people. For example, you can not show a man getting brutally killed by a shotgun, or a horrific accident that resulted in gore/death.

5. Adult content

Google has some strict laws against pornography and adult content. Although Google doesn't directly denounce this stuff, you still need to mark your blog as 'adult' from your Blogger settings, otherwise it won't be treated any differently. Google, however, doesn't allow you to make money off adult content.

6. Child Safety

According to Google, it has 'zero tolerance' when it comes to content that might manipulate or harm children. It is strictly against child pornography and paedophilia, and will immediately terminate the account of any blogger who is promoting such stuff.

7. Copyrighted material

No one likes it when someone copies their content and gets away with it. Google has a pretty effective system of curbing this problem as best as it can. First of all, copyrighted content will result in a lower rank, and the suspension of Google AdSense for that site. Continued plagiarism will result in the deletion of your blog. So be ware! (If you find someone copying your content, you should report it to Google).

8. Violating privacy

Please don't publish someone's confidential details without that person's express permission. Posting other people's credit card numbers, phone numbers, contact information, and other such private information is against Google's policies, and must be avoided.

9. Impersonation

Stealing someone else's identity and impersonating someone is a crime punishable by imprisonment and/or fine. For example, pretending to be someone else, or using their aliases is not OK.

10. Spam

Spam is something not appreciated by Google, or any other search engine for that matter.Google is forever trying hard to keep spam out of its system. It rolls out algorithmic updates regularly, and does not appreciate it when you start spamming.

11. Malware

Virus and malware isn't something users appreciate. That is why Google takes initiatives to keep malware out of its system. If your site is infected by a virus, you should check it out immediately. If you are involved with spreading malware more than once, then you run the risk of inadvertently getting banned by Google.

Please note that there might be a few exceptions to these rules due to educational, scientific or artistic considerations. These exceptions are made when there is a benefit gained by the public from such information. Otherwise, blogs with such content will be banned or deleted. So always play safe. And remember! When in doubt, always ask. We're here to help :)

Now you can Contact and receive free consultation from AdSense!

The AdSense team, as you know, is quite eager to work with publishers, because Google values them for the sake of its interest. AdSense has always been helping out publishers by providing access to many tools and resources for problem solutions, such as FAQs, the Fix a problem troubleshooting section, and the AdSense Academy. Now, AdSense is bringing in another feature; a new personalized contact options page. There is a tab called HELP at the top-right, using which you can find solutions to your queries, or send feedback to the AdSense team by automatically sending a snapshot of the page you are on. A really great flexibility for AdSense users.

Recommended for you: Complete List of AdSense Features released in 2012

Contact options page

This new contact options page will now act as a central source for most commonly used troubleshooters. This means that you will find solutions to most of your problems under 'one roof', which will help you solve your queries within minutes. 

Another great thing about this new page is that, some troubleshooters will lead you to contact pages related to different issues. This will speed up the process, since the email messages will be sent to respective departments or teams. Google has also developed some automated tools that enable it to reply to queries sometimes within hours!

Free consultations

This contact options page is available to everyone who has an approved Google AdSense account (banned or suspended accounts do not count). Such publishers also have access to the troubleshooters, and specialized contact forms. To see these features, simply follow this link to the contact options page.



However, if you are a high earner, and have a revenue of $25 or above per week consistently, then you qualify for some special treatment :). This special treatment includes free consultations with members of the AdSense team via email! These members will help you manage your AdSense account, and/or discuss strategies to grow your business. Accounts that qualify for consultations, you will see an alert notifying you on the contact options page.



As was the case with Premium AdSense Publishers accounts, Google closely monitors your progress over a long period of time, and only then deems you fit for qualification. So even if you have a revenue of more than $25 per week, you might not immediately be able to see this option.



Are you excited about this new feature? AdSense is working hard to help out publishers, which will ultimately help Google in turn. Whatever the reasons though, publishers don't have any complains to make regarding this, because it'll help themselves. So, are you excited? Let us know what you think. Cheers :)

How to Manage Your Blog During Exams?

Exams! Exams! Exams!

Now a days, everyone is facing huge exams. In almost all Asian countries, March is the month for final examinations. So, in these exams, your schedule becomes very hectic. You have to manage your visitors, site, papers and have to make your parents proud too! In all these, the thing on which you least concentrate is your website. However, you can take benefit of exams and make your traffic jump! In this post, I would show you some cool tips to take the advantages of exams!

Exams can really be a headache. But if you would manage properly, then you can easily manage exams and site well together. Simply carry on and read these premium tips. But before that, know how does irregular blogging during exams affect your blog! Read more �

Tips to Protect your Adsense Account against Bad Clicks and Invalid Activity

Have you ever wondered how Google actually generates an income? It has a very large network of ads, with which it earns and also shares some revenue with publishers (people who put up AdSense ads on their websites). It's a very elaborate system, with Advertisers trusting Google, and investing their money with it in order to grow their own exposure. Google then shares some of that revenue with the publishers. Now it naturally follows, that Google has to make provisions to maintain the trust of its advertisers, and for that, it has to ensure that publishers don't cheat, or use fraudulant methods of clicking on ads to glean more money out of advertisers. Such bad clicks might result in the ban of your AdSense account. So what can you do to prevent such a thing from happening, even if you're not creating any mischief on your side?

Unfortunately, this happens to the best of us. You can't always control invalid click activity on your blog. Indeed, there are some bad fish out there who feel jealous or threatened from other blogs, so they perform invalid click activity in spite. In this way, even good publishers might come under the spotlight, let alone bad publishers who get banned outright.

If you were in Google's position, you would see how bad clicks are against the best interests of Advertisers, and ultimately those of Google. Advertisers wouldn't like it if they had to pay extra for clicks that didn't really help them. So Google has some tools that keep bad traffic and bad sites out of their network. Unfortunately, these tools can't tell when you're a good publisher who is just subjected to unknown bad-click activity. So to solve this problem, here are some changes Google is making that you might find helpful.

Trusted publishers

Google will now be considering tenure more actively in response to detected invalid activity. If you are a good publisher, and don't have a notorious history, Google will just suspend your account, instead of terminating it. So you should always try to keep it on the safe side of Google. Also, Google is working on a new system wherein it will work more closely with publishers to ensure that they don't even face the inconvenience of getting their accounts disabled, provided that they are trusted publishers.

Activity reports

Google also will send you emails and notifications in case invalid activity is detected. It will let you know about the type of activity, so that you can get to root of the problem. It will also provide you further instructions on getting rid of the invalid activity. So keep checking your email at a regular basis.

Support

Google is now providing publishers with tools to help them submit appeals. The new forms let them tell Google about their plight in more detail, and provide more information. This would hopefully improve the process of submitting appeals and reconsideration requests to Google.

Google has also launched an expanded AdSense Academy, which will detail beginners and pros alike on the do's and don'ts of AdSense. In addition, Google is starting a video series that will explain AdSense policies, and discuss best practises.

We're really looking forward to seeing these changes being implemented, and we'll keep you updated on the latest happenings in this regard. Stay tuned, and keep reading :)

Top 5 Necessary Expenses for Pro Bloggers

If you are reading this site, you are most certainly a blogger. Since it takes about five minutes to place AdSense, or an AdSense alternative, on your blog, chances are most of you make money blogging. By the loosest definition, that makes you a pro blogger. Of course, not every blogger is, in reality, a pro. It takes a lot more than a menial income stream to declare oneself a professional.

What makes a pro bloggers?

• A pro blogger makes a schedule and sticks to it.
• A pro blogger will emphasize page design over ad space.
• A pro blogger interacts with his or her readers.
• A pro blogger is active in his or her online community.
• A pro blogger understands all facets of blogging, from WordPress to SEO to Google's myriad rules, and more.

It is not easy to become a truly professional blogger. Even then, it is not a title a blogger merely attains. It is one he or she lives every day.

Here's another trait: pro bloggers don't skimp on expenses. The pro blogger makes money and understands that the key to growth is re-investment. This isn't arbitrary reinvestment, but well-planned expenditures that make a difference.
Read more �

Copied Text ending with #sthash in Blogger - Fix

Just recently many readers complained that copying text from BlogSpot and wordpress blogs is resulting with some text ending with a "- See more at:" string followed by the URL of the page or A unique #hashtag is appended to your URL. The same problem was present with our blogs too. Many readers complained that the tutorials are no more working. This problem is occurring due to the latest integration of CopynShare addon of ShareThis plugin in Blogger blogs. If you are using any widget powered by sharethis or using our Floating Share bar then you must be experiencing the same problem. Follow this simple tutorial to disable or uninstall the CopyNshare widget from your wordpress or blogger blog.

What is CopyNshare?

Just like Tynt Publisher tool that tracks social activity on your site, ShareThis team introduced CopyNShare widget using which you can track all the sharing that occurs when a user copies and pastes your website�s URL or content. Blogspot domains copied were ending with #sthash and some random extension like dpbs or dpuf.

• Read: Add Attribution or credit links to content copied from your blog

Uninstall CopyNShare in Blogger

In order to keep using ShareThis sharing counters but deactivate the tracking feature then you must follow these easy steps:

1. Go To Blogger > Template
2. Backup your template
3. Tick the box "Expand widgets templates"
4. Search for the following similar code:

<script type='text/javascript'>stLight.options({publisher: "xxxxxxxxxxx-xx-xxxx"});</script>

or simply find this:

stLight.options

Now replace this entire script with the following code:

<script type='text/javascript'>stLight.options({onhover:false , doNotHash: true, doNotCopy: true, hashAddressBar: false});</script>

 

   5.  Save your template and you are all done!

Now your readers will not see a - see more text added to content copied from your blog.

 

Disable CopyNShare in Wordpress

In wordpress the steps are much easier.

1. Go To Plugins > ShareThis
2. Simply uncheck the option that says "Enable CopyNShare Beta"

For more details on enabling or disabling extra features linked with ShareThis plugin please read: Installing Sharethis on Wordpress

How this works?

In the above script for ShareThis light options I simply inserted some variables which are:

1. doNotHash: true
2. doNotCopy: true
3. hashAddressBar: false

• doNotHash: This variable is set to true so that no attribution link is added to content copied from your blog. If in case in future you would like the tracking feature to work again then simply set it to false.
• doNotCopy: Disables the pasting of "See more: yourURL.com#SThashtag" after a user copies-and-pastes text
• hashAddressBar: This will deactivate the tracking of URL copying.

As simple as that. Let me know if you needed more help. Apologies for the inconvenience caused to all our readers who were finding it difficult to apply our scripts due to this uninvited feature. I am extremely busy these days but I had to publish a fix to this bug in order to make things more comfortable. Peace and blessings buddies :)

Note: I have updated the Floating bar widget and all plugins that needed an update.

10 Important Questions Answered By Google On Paid Links

If you have been around here for some days, you might have noticed that there's a lot of talk going on about paid links on different platforms; social media, forums, etc. Even Google Webmaster Central blog repeatedly covered it, which makes us believe that Google might be working on a new algorithm or an update which will enhance the accuracy of search results more by shunning paid links even further down the drain. Anyhow, in our previous posts, we talked a lot about paid-links - indeed, we made a whole series out of it. So in this post, we won't be going into much detail. Instead, we'll just look at some important questions answered by Google about paid links, and then we'll try rounding up all our posts on paid links.

Paid links series;

Part1: Use Google's Link Disavow Tool to Remove Bad Links

Part2: Google Strict Penalty on Sites That Sell Link To Pass PageRank

Part3: How Google Tells the Difference Between Paid and Normal Links

Part4: 10 Important Questions Answered By Google On Paid Links

Important questions answered by Google

1. Why do paid-links violate Google's guidelines?

Google owns more than 2/3rd of the search game. This points to the fact that most users trust Google's results, since they are more relevant. Paid-links provide websites with an unfair advantage, and help them get higher search positions. This effects the accuracy of search results, something which Google cannot afford, what with such a large user-base.

2. So do paid-links effect other search engines as well?

Of course they do! Just like Google, other search engines also want to maintain their user-base by keeping their accuracy in check. Like Google, they too roll out updates to ensure that such practises are kept at bay.

3. Do paid links impact PageRank of a website?

Without a doubt. A high PR means that Google trusts a website. But paid-links aren't looked upon with favor. They reduce a website's trust ratings, since it is getting unfair advantages. So such practises will undoubtedly impact your trust, and ultimately your PR.

4. How come Google decides what webmasters should do with their sites?

Actually, this isn't a matter of who controls whom. Google isn't controlling what webmasters can and can't do with their websites. Google reserves the right to restrict any site that tries to pass PageRank and manipulate search results. Such sites are against Google's interest, and can be penalized. Webmasters can do whatever they like. But if they want to stay in good favor with Google, they need to abide by the quality guidelines.

5. What to do if your PageRank gets effected?

If you were selling links, and your PR got effected, don't panic. Remove all your paid links, or disavow them. Then, file a reconsideration report so that Google will review your site again. If it still doesn't work, then work on building your PR again. The following posts might help.

• 3 Reasons why your PR is not increasing


• 10 Tips to increase Google AuthorRank to increase Traffic

6. Is Google trying to snuff out other forms of advertising?

Not really. Google isn't against advertising. In fact, it supports various third-party advertising networks. As Matt Cutts pointed out, Google doesn't have a problem with paid-links used for getting targeted traffic. Google just wants you to tell it when a link is an ad (see the answer below).

7. How are paid-links different from paid ads?

Well, for one, ads are usually accompanied with a rel="nofollow" tag, whereas paid-links are dofollow. Also, paid-links attempt to manipulate search results, whereas ads don't. Ads only attempt at raising awareness, increasing traffic, reaching out to more people, and so on.

8. How does Google know when a link is paid or not?

We discussed this at some length in our previous post (Part 3 of this series), so I will just brush over this topic. Google tells them apart through keywords and relevancy. Paid-links usually aren't relevant to the content they're linked to or from.

9. Reporting paid-links

If you think a website is selling or buying paid links, you can report it to Google. Check out this Google Webmaster Central blog's entry on reporting links to Google. Google will review your report, and take due action. This feedback also helps Google improve its algorithm.

10. Where to go for more information?

If you need to know more, you can always join the Webmaster Help Group, and ask questions there. Additionally, you can check out some more information as discussed by Matt Cutts on his site. If you still have confusions, you can directly ask us for help in the comments below. We'd be glad to help. Cheers :)

How Google Tells the Difference Between Paid and Normal Links

So we have been talking in some length regarding paid links, and why they are bad for you. The whole purpose of this exercise is to highlight the fact that things are changing in the online game. While they are not paradigm changes as yet, there does seem to be a change coming in the way people think about the internet, which in-turn effects how search engines think, or rather, act. Getting a boost in SERPs through paid links that pass PageRank is a thing of the past - I assume you all know that much. But how can you avoid using paid or chap links? And how does Google actually tell the different between paid links and actual links?

Before you read any further, you might be interested to know that this post is part of a series. So if you missed out on any post, here's a listing of this series.

Part1: Use Google's Link Disavow Tool to Remove Bad Links

Part2: Google Strict Penalty on Sites That Sell Link To Pass PageRank

Part3: How Google Tells the Difference Between Paid and Normal Links

As indicated by Google, if you have a high PageRank, say 4 or above, you might be getting emails from various companies asking you to give them a link-back in exchange for money, or paid links, if you will. Tempting as it might be, such links can do you more harm than good. Google is strictly against this practise as we mentioned in our previous post, and you must not fall for such offers.

Why ads are okay, but paid links aren't?

Some of you asked us this question, and I think it's a very genuine question. And with a very simple answer too. You see, the whole concept of paid-links revolves around the idea that some website wants to get an unfair advantage by 'buying' backlinks, and hence increasing its authority. This will in-turn improve its ranking in search results. This is not how Google wants websites to rank, however. Google wants high quality, and the most relevant results returning to its users. And paid links will inevitably impact the accuracy of those search results. So anything that manipulates search results is against Google's quality guidelines and TOS.

Ads, on the other hand, do not manipulate search results. They are used for increasing awareness, improving traffic, and reaching out to more potential customers. They don't have anything to do with search results, which is why they are deemed completely safe by Google, and permissible (except for some type of ads Google doesn't approve of).

How Google tells paid links apart from normal links?

At the back-end, it's mostly a game of keywords. But then again, we don't know what exactly goes on at Google's end, so we can just speculate. But one thing we can be certain of, and that is relevancy. Google will check the relevancy of the site you have linked to the content you have put the link in. Now in most cases, paid-links won't be highly relevant to your blog's content. Google will decide the content on both sides to verify the authenticity of the link. A lot of the times, these paid-link buyers end up automating the process by using robots, which is manifested by the fact that many links might have the same, or similar anchor text, among many other facts. That's a pointer to Google right there.



But what about links you make to other blogs that are not paid? Well, Google has a way of checking that as well. Google will analyze what sort of links are present on the linked website, and what sort of links it is getting. It will also evaluate links on your site to get a feel of the bigger picture. So most likely, your link, if not paid, will pass the scrutiny. We will, however, recommend that you avoid linking to sites not related to your own.



A few people also asked me about guest posting. Well, when you guest post on another blog, or accept others' posts on your own, you usually are accepting content that matches up with your site's keywords. In such situations, putting up links is fine. This is probably why you should mostly guest post about stuff related to your website, and not something random.



If you must link to other websites or content that your own content doesn't really relate to, you can always use the rel="nofollow" tag to identify links you don't want crawlers to follow. And this is basically how ads work. They should be marked with a nofollow tag, otherwise there might still be a bit of a penalty.



Here's something I really want all of you to understand. I don't claim to be a Google expert. I am just sharing my experience. Google, of course, uses advanced algorithms to identify paid-links, and also some other methods known only within Google. All we can do is speculate, because Google has never really told anyone how they do it. If you think some of the above information is wrong, feel free to tell us in the comments below. We'd be glad to correct our mistake. Cheers :)