How to Change the Date of Blog Posts in Blogger

Blogspot gives content creators on the Blogger platform the option to change the date of any blog post. This means that it is possible to both postdate a blog post to sometime in the future or backdate a Blogger post to a date in the near or distant past. In this Blogger tutorial I show you how to change the date of a blog post in Blogger for both old articles and new posts and discuss reasons why changing dates needs to be done with care.

You will learn about:

Backdating a Blog Post in Blogger
Steps to Backdate an Existing Blog Post in Blogger
Scheduling or Post Dating Blog Posts in Blogger
Steps to Schedule or Post Date Blog Posts in Blogger

Backdate Blog Posts in Blogger

Blogger gives you the option to backdate a blog post to any date as far back as about 1970. Postdating blog posts has to be done with care though and should not be overused. The main reason for this is that SEO can be detrimentally affected as Google's algorithm is weighted to some degree toward fresh content.

However if you need to have your blog posts in chronological order for some reason backdating posts is a great way to achieve this. If you have a bunch of old articles you want to refresh and then publish on a current or recent date Blogger will allow you do this too.

For more information on backdating blog posts in Blogger check out my article How to Backdate Blogger Posts or Publish Articles on a Retrospective Date

Steps to Change the Date of an Existing Blog Post in Blogger

1. Log in to Blogger


2. Click on Posts and scroll to find the existing post you want to change the date of


3. Open the Post by clicking on it. The Blogger Post Editor will open.


4. On the right-hand side of the Compose Box in the editor you will see a menu - click on Published


5. Select the Set Date and Time radio button


6. Use the calendar to set a retropective date


7. If you need to change the time click on it and select a new time from the drop-down box that opens


8. Click the orange Update button save the change of date


9. Click Preview to make sure the date and time are showing correctly

Postdate, Schedule or Future Date Blog Posts in Blogger

If you would like to publish your blog post on a date in the future you can do this by scheduling the blog post date to any date of your choosing. Blogger will publish your blog article on the date and time when it rolls around.

The facility to postdate Blogger posts is useful for those on a busy schedule. Improve your productivity and efficiency by planning ahead of time and publishing posts in advance. This is particularly useful if you are going on vacation and do not want to disrupt your posting schedule.

There are virtually no disadvantages of scheduling posts in advance except perhaps that if you happen to make a mistake on your blog post you may not catch it before it goes live. I suggest you check your article thoroughly before setting it to a future publication date.

For a more in-depth discussion on scheduling blog posts in Blogger please refer to my article on How to Future Date / Schedule Blog Posts to a Specific Date and Time

Steps to Schedule a Future Date for a Blog Post in Blogger

1. Log in to Blogger


2. Create a New Post or Open a Draft Post


3. Select Published from the menu on the right-hand side


4. Select the Set Date and Time radio button


5. Use the calendar to set a future date for your blog post


6. Change the time by clicking on it and selecting the time you would like the post to be published on from the times in the dropdown box


7. Under Preview click Save and finish making other improvements to your blog post


8. When ready to publish click on the orange Publish button


9. From the Dashboard select posts and you will see that your post will be labelled scheduled for the date in the future you selected.

Summary

In this Blogger Tutorial you have learned how to change the date of an existing blog post for a Blogspot blog and how to schedule blog posts to publish on a future date. Also discussed are reasons you might want to change the post date. For SEO reasons backdating posts in Blogger needs to be done with care.

Related Links

How to Schedule a Blog Post to a Future Date in Blogger
How to Backdate Blogger Posts or Publish Articles on a Retrospective Date
Easy Ways to Put Banners on Blogger
How to Put a Twitter Follow Icon Next to Blog Post Title in Blogger
How to Add a Facebook Share Button to Blogger
How to Unlock or Delete Locked Widgets in Blogger
How to Add a Sticky Welcome Message Above Posts in Blogger
How to Add a Welcome Message to the Blogger Homepage

Add a Widget or Gadget Above a Blog Post in Blogger

If you want to add a gadget or widget to Blogspot that displays above the blog posts then read on as in today's Blogger tutorial I explain how to open up the main posts section of a Blogger blog so that more gadgets can be added. Despite involving a small change to the Blogger theme it is not difficult and will only involve less than 5 minutes to unlock the main section so you can begin adding gadgets and widgets to Blogger in the Main Section.

By default Blogger themes on installation do not have the main section open to allow additional gadgets or widgets like a message or a banner to be added. Older default blogger templates have the main section locked in most cases. Therefore, in order to add gadgets the main section needs to be opened manually by tweaking the template. Whether you have a default Blogger theme or a third-party template unlocking the main section will not affect any other function.

Follow this step-by-step tutorial if you want to start adding gadgets in the Blogger posts area like a banner or a welcome message or some other widget. I suggest you also take a look at my other in-related step-by-step Blogger tutorials that show you how to do the following:

Easy Way to Add Banners to Blogger
How to Add a Welcome Message to Blogger
How to Add a Sticky Welcome Message to Blogger

How to Add a Gadget to the Main Posts Section in Blogger

In order to add a gadget or widget like a banner above blog posts in Blogger so that it displays on the homepage and all other blog pages it must first be possible to add a gadget to the main post area.

Check if the Add a Gadget Option in the Main Blogger Posts Section is Displayed

Check whether the Add a Gadget option is available by:

1. From the Dashboard select the Layout menu from the left-hand side menu


2. Scroll down to the Main Section where you will see the Blog Posts gadget in place


3. Check whether the Add a Gadget option is available in the main section.




If the Add a Gadget option is available you can skip
to Step 12

or

If the Add a Gadget option is not available it needs to be unlocked by following the steps below that will first show you how to open the main section and then add the a gadget for affiliate banners, messages and more.





Steps to Open the Main Posts Section in Blogger to Add Extra Gadgets



4. From the Dashboard select Theme from the menu on the left-hand side


5. Click on the down arrow on the orange Customize button


6. Click Backup to back up your template before proceeding then return to the drop down menu under the customize arrow





7. Choose Edit HTML from the drop down list of options


8. Click anywhere in the Blogger template


9. Enter CTRL + F to bring up the search box


10. Enter the search term class='main'
    
    You are looking for these lines:
    
    

    <div id='main-wrapper'>
    <b:section class='main' id='main' showaddelement='no'>

    
    
11. Replace the no with yes to show add element and save.
    
    The code should now look like this:

    <div id='main-wrapper'>
    <b:section class='main' id='main' showaddelement='yes'>

    
    
12. Click Save to save the change to your template.


13. Navigate back to the Layout menu from the Dashboard


14. You will now be see the Add a Gadget link in the main blog post section. If for some reason this still isn't showing up then go back to the template and check if there is a maxwidgets attribute in the same line of code. Make sure that the maxwidgets="1" is set a number greater than one eg maxwidgets="2" and then save and go back to Layout again.




Steps to Add a Gadget Above a Blog Post in Blogger



15. To display your message or banner or other widget click on Add a Gadget above Blog Posts


16. Choose the HTML/Javascript gadget or you could choose Text Gadget if no code is being added


17. Paste the code in the content box in the pop up window that appears for the HTML / Javascript gadget.





18. Click on Save


19. Arrange your new gadget in the Main Section by dragging and dropping so that it occurs above the blog posts gadget in the Main Section


20. Click on Preview (eye icon) in the bottom right corner to see your new banner.


21. Click the Save button to apply your changes to the layout

Depending on the gadget you want to add above the blog posts you may find the following Blogger tutorials helpful:

Easy Way to Add Banners to Blogger
How to Add a Welcome Message to Blogger
How to Add a Sticky Welcome Message to Blogger

Today I have shown you how to open up the main posts area in Blogger to accommodate extra gadgets. You have learned how to add an affiliate marketing banner to your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog) that displays just above the posts on every page.

Related Articles

How to Add a Welcome Message to Blogger
How to Add a Sticky Welcome Message to Blogger
Easy Way to Add Banners to Blogger

How to Backdate a Blogger Post or Publish Article on a Retrospective Date

In today's Blogger tutorial I show you how to backdate a Blogger post to a date in the past. This handy Blogger feature allows content creators on the Blogger platform to customize blog posts by setting a user defined publication date for a blog post that is retrospective. Backdating a post is possible for any blog post you are about to publish or for an existing post where you want to change the publication date to an earlier date.

If you are looking for a Blogger Tutorial on how to set a future date you could check out my companion article on how to schedule Blogger Posts for a Specific Date in the Future.

Reasons to Backdate a Published Article or a New Post

It is not difficult to change the date of a blog post to a past date but this feature does need to be used with care. There are times when it can be useful to be able to backdate Blogger posts for example to fill a gap or to fit into a particular blog post timeline if your blog is date sensitve. You might change the dates of a blog post if you are intending to publish your blog as a book and want to tidy up the post dates for reasons of continuity.

Change Date of Blog Posts to Past Date if You Need to Reorder the Timeline

Older Posts Can Be Seen as Less Relevant by Search Engines

Do keep in mind that older posts can potentially get penalized by the Google algorithm as they are viewed as less relevant.This is only an issue up to a point though as search engines are still able to recognize the actual date a post was published despite its timestamping. As a rule of thumb it is best not to overdo the backdating of blog articles unless you have a very specifc reason to do so.

Changing the Date of a Blogger Post Has No Affect on the Permalink

Changing the publication date of an blog article does not affect the permalink which is the URL (blog post address) assigned on publishing a blog post. Do not change the permalink without good reason as any backlinks to that article will be lost and search engines like Google will eventually remove the blog post from the search index. A redirect to handle deleted blog posts or changed permalinks can be set up but this is a subject for a more advanced Blogger tutorial that I will be writing about in the future.

Blogger Posts Can Be Backdated to a Date and Time of Your Choice

Steps to Back Date an Existing Blog Post or to Publish an Article on an Earlier Date

1. (a) Navigate to New Post and Create a Blogger post or
   (b) Open a draft post or
   (c) Open an already published post


2. In the Blogger Post editor click on Published which is in the menu on the right-hand side of the compose box


3. From the two radio buttons: Automatic and Set Time and Date click Set Time and Date and use the calendar that opens to set a date before the current date for your Blogger post


4. (a) Click on Save and Update for an already published article or
   (b) Save from the Preview Drop Down Menu and then Publish to publish a new blog post


5. Click on Posts to then view your post in a list of articles. It will now be timestamped for the date you selected.


6. If you now click on the View button (the eye icon) to view the article you will see that the publication date of the blog post has changed to the date you selected. The date in the permalink which appears in the browser search window remains the same.

#blogspottutorial #bloggertutorial #changedate #blogposts

Summary

In this Blogger Tutorial I have shown you how to backdate a Blogger post and discussed reasons why you might choose to set a date for a Blogger post that is retrospective. There are advantages in selecting a user defined date especially if you are needing to reorder the timeline of your blog posts in Blogger for some reason. As a general rule it is best to keep blog articles current otherwise their relevancy in terms of the Google search engine algorithm can be affected.

Related Links

Easy Ways to Put Banners on Blogger
How to Put a Twitter Follow Icon Next to Blog Post Title in Blogger
How to Add a Facebook Share Button to Blogger
How to Unlock or Delete Locked Widgets in Blogger
How to Add a Sticky Welcome Message Above Posts in Blogger
How to Add a Welcome Message to the Blogger Homepage
How to Schedule a Blog Post to a Future Date in Blogger
How to Change the Date of Blog Posts in Blogger

How to Add a Blog Description to the Blogger Header For a Blogspot Blog

In this Blogger Tutorial for beginners new to Blogspot blogging I show you how to quickly add a blog description to your Blogger blog. A blog description is the one line tagline that is displayed in the header under the blog name in Blogger. Adding a blog description to Blogger is easy to achieve and will help both search engines and your audience know about your blog topic.

Why is a Good Blog Description Important?

A Blogger blog description needs to clearly and succinctly say what the blog is about. It needs to be well-crafted if you are going to use it as a tagline in your header to hook potential readers to your blog. With just a few well chosen words the role of your blog description is to spark a reader's interest enough to decide to visit your blog.

If you would like to know more about how to write a good blog description for showcasing your Blogspot blog / Blogger blog take a look at my companion article where I discuss tips for writing a well-crafted blog description and the SEO benefits for search engines and visitors. I will also show you some examples of well written blog descriptions to help you write the best blog description for your blog.

Also bear in mind it is possible to hide the blog description if you want to write a longer description for your blog that doesn't display to readers but is visible to search engines. If you are interested in hiding the blog description on your Blogger blog I will be discussing how to do this in an upcoming post.

Steps to Add a Blog Description to Blogger

Step 1
Login to Blogger

Step 2
Go to the Settings Menu on the lefthand side

Step 3
In Basic Settings below Blog Name you will find the space to enter a blog description

Step 4
Click on the word description to bring up the dialog box

Step 5
Enter your chosen description
For example I have used "Tips, Tricks and Strategies to Customize a Blogger Blog"

Step 6
Click Save

Step 7
Click the Preview Button located at the bottom of the Layout Menu on the righthand side

Step 8
View how your description will look on your live blog. Check for any errors.

Step 9
Click the back arrow in your browser to go back to the Settings menu.

Step 10
Go ahead and click the Save button located at the bottom of the Layout Menu on the righthand side to commit your changes. Or if you need to make any further changes click on the Description again and repeat Steps 5 to 9.


#blogspottutorial #bloggertutorial #blogdescription

Summary

In today's Blogger tutorial I have discussed the steps to add a blog description to a Blogger Blog. I also covered the importance of writing a good blog description that is well-crafted and will attract visitors to your blog.

Related Articles

How to Choose a Great Topic for a Blogger Blog in 2020
How to Add a Blog Welcome Message to a Blogger Homepage
How to Change the Color of the Blogger Navbar
How to Change Image Sizes in Blogger Posts
How to Resize Images in Blogger to User Defined Dimensions
How to Schedule Blog Posts in Blogger for a Specific Future Date

How to Change Image Size in Blogger Posts

In this Blogger Tutorial I show you how to change image size in Blogger posts depending on how you would like the image to look. Resizing images to fit in with the look and feel of your blog will enhance the overall look of your blog and so it is worth changing images to the optimal size. This tutorial is suitable for all Blogspot bloggers wanting to learn more about image size for Blogger posts but is written with beginners in mind.

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Suitable for: Beginners

How to Change Image Size Blogger

Blogger displays uploaded images using 5 different pre-set image sizes:

• small - 200 px
• medium - 320 px
• large - 400 px
• extra large - 640 px
• original size - actual dimensions of the image (should not be wider than the width of your blog post area)

By default images are uploaded as medium size which means they are displayed at a width of 320px. You can make the image larger or smaller depending on the look of your blog and its theme. To set your own custom dimensions instead check out: How to Set Custom Image Dimensions in Blogger

I suggest that early on you settle on an image size you like and then consistently use the same image size to keep all images a uniform size across your blog posts. Also try to resize your images before you upload them so that you are not using large files that may slow down loading times of your blog. For more information on resizing images check out 8 Tips for Uploading Images to Blogger.

• Decide on a default image size for all your post images and use the same size.


• Resize large images prior to upload to speed up page loading time

Steps to Resize an Image in a Blogger Post

1. Login in to your Blogger blog


2. From the Dashboard select Posts from the left-hand menu to modify an image in an existing post
   or
   Select the New Post button to create a new post with images.


3. Check you are in the Compose View (click the down arrow of the first icon of the tools menu.


4. Find the image you want to resize.


5. Click on the image once to highlight the picture.





6. Click on the gear icon (little wheel) that appears in the menu bar below the image


7. Select the size of the image that best suits the look of your particular blog (Note: do not make your image larger than the width of your posts (an extra large setting displays at 640 width).





8. Click Preview to check the look of your image as it will appear in your blog post


9. Make an changes to the image size if necessary by clicking on the gear icon again


10. If satisfied with the size of the image go ahead and save by either clicking save under Preview if creating a new post or if you are ready for your blog post to go live click Publish


11. Click on the eye preview icon in the listing of your blog posts to see your image resized in your live blog post.

In this article you have learned how to change image size in Blogger. Image sizes can be changed to any of the default sizes in the Compose View in Blogger: small, medium, large, extra large and original size. It is helpful for the overall look of your blog to ensure that Blogger Post images sizes are the same size across your blog.

If you want to learn how to override the default image settings in Blogger then check out my other post which teaches you how to set your own custom image dimensions.

Related Articles

How to Add a Welcome Message to a Blogger Homepage
How to Change the Color of the Blogger Navbar
How to Choose a Great Topic for a Blogger Blog in 2020
How to Resize Images in Blogger to User Defined Dimensions
How to Schedule Blog Posts for a Specific Future Date in Blogger

How to Schedule Blog Posts in Blogger in 2022 to a Specific Future Date

When posting on the Blogspot platform it is possible to set a future date for a blog post. In this Blogger tutorial I show you how to schedule your blog post ahead of time so that posts will be published on an advance date and time of your choosing. The Blogger tutorial is targeted at beginners who are maybe new to Blogspot and want to learn how to schedule blog posts the easy way so they can concentrate on creating great blog content.

Benefits of Scheduling Blogger Posts for a Future Date

Scheduling posts for publication ahead of time provides the flexibility for Blogspot bloggers on a busy schedule to create blog posts at a time that suits them. This is a great feature if you want to write a bunch of posts before you go on vacation but without disrupting the consistency of your blog posting. Blogger allows you to schedule posts so that you can stagger their release daily or every couple of days or weekly whatever. The choice is totally up to you.

The facility to schedule blog posts ahead of time to be published on a specific day makes it possible for bloggers in business to coordinate a whole marketing strategy where social media releases coincide with blog post publication. Not only does it afford streamlining of you blogging operation it will save time and reduce stress to keep ahead with your blog posting. It also offers a welcome cushion if some adverse event or unforseen circumstance disrupts your publication schedule.

Steps to Schedule a Blog Post in Advance in Blogger

1. Log in to Blogger.com


2. From the Dashboard navigate to New Post as usual to create a new blog post or select draft post to continue working on an unfinished article.





3. In the Blogger Post Editor that opens up go ahead and write your blog post as usual. Either Compose View or Edit HTML view is fine.


4. When ready to publish click on Published on: (formerly Schedule) which is in the menu on the right-hand side of the compose box.





5. Click Set Time and Date from the choice of two radio buttons: Automatic and Set Time and Date.





6. Using the calendar click on a date that you want your blog post to appear on.


7. Now select the time you want to publish by clicking on the date and then selecting a time from the dropdown menu that appears. You could also skip this step if you are happy with the original time set.





8. Click on Save.





9. Click on Publish but check first that you have included some appropriate labels and that you have set up a suitable permalink



10. A confirmation popup window will appear. Check you publication date and time before clicking on Confirm





11. To find your scheduled blog post click on Posts in the Dashboard and then Published to find and view your schedule post.
    
    Scheduled posts are denoted by the word "Scheduled" which appears in green under the post title. If you change your mind about the date and time to publish simply click on the chevron arrow to revert the article from published back to draft status and then go ahead and make your changes as usual.

In today's Blogger Tutorial you learned about how to schedule blog posts for a specific future date. The main advantages of setting a date in the future is if you want to stagger your posts either because you are going on vacation or you are planning your blog publishing schedule in advance of the creation date. If you enjoyed this post and found it helpful consider following me here on Blogger or on other social media such as Pinterest and Instagram.

#bloggertutorial #blogspottutorial #blogposts #postschedule

Related Articles

How to Add a Copyright Notice to a Blogger Blog
How to Add a Sticky Message Above Blogger Posts
How to Add a Welcome Message to a Blogger Homepage
How to Change the Color of the Blogger Nav Bar
Why Blogger is a Better Blogging Platform than Wordpress
How to Choose a Great Topic for a Blogger Blog in 2020
How to Change the Date of Blog Posts in Blogger
How to Backdate Blog Posts or Publish Article on Retrospective Date

How to Enable or Remove the Blogger Navbar Using 2 Methods

Want to learn how to get rid of or delete the Blogger Navbar? The Blogger Navbar is the navigation bar menu at the top of a Blogger blog above the header that appears on older Blogger themes. It is easy to get rid of the Blogger Navbar and in today's Blogger Tutorial I am going to show you two different methods to disable, hide or delete it or to reinstate it if that is your goal. You would use the second method only if for some reason you cannot enable the Blogger Navbar by the easy method which is by turning it on and off in the Navbar gadget in Layout Designer. (Updated April 2022)

Advantages vs Disadvantages of the Blogger Navbar

Most people dislike the Blogger Navbar and want to delete it because it looks unprofessional and in the past it encouraged readers to leave a blog by clicking on the Next Blog link. If you are using a custom template the Blogger Navbar is likely to already be hidden but if you are using one of the older default Blogger templates eg Simple, there will be times when you will need to remove it manually to stop it showing up.

Before you get rid of the Blogger Navbar completely though remember that it has some pretty useful features such as:

• Follow Me link to encourage your readers to follow you (Blogger has removed this unfortunately)
  
• Share via email, Facebook, Twitter
  
• Blog search
  
• Quick links to Blogger New Post, Design and Blogger Dashboard
  

I would suggest that if you do decide to hide or delete the Blogger Navbar that you add the custom search box gadget and some social sharing icons to your blog to partially compensate for the features you will be losing.




If you simply want to change the color of the Blogger Navbar please refer to my Blogger tutorial How to Change the Color of the Blogger Navbar.

2 Ways to Disable the Blogger Navbar - Navigation Search Bar

There are two methods to disable the Blogger Navbar: Method 1 involves turning it off in the Navbar Gadget while Method 2 is mostly geared at bloggers who are using an older Blogger theme and need to hide the Navbar by adding HTML code to the template itself.

Method 1: Steps to Remove or Hide the Blogger Navbar

The following method is a step-by-step guide to turn off or disable the Blogger Navbar using the Navbar Gadget.

1. Sign in to Blogger
2. From the Blogger Dashboard go to Layout
3. Find the Navbar Section which should be the first Gadget at the top of your blog in layout
4. Click the edit link or pencil icon to edit the Navbar Gadget
5. In the Configure Navbar window that opens up scroll down to the bottom





6. Click the on radio button to turn the Navbar Gadget off. Green light for off and clear for on. (If you are trying to reinstate the Navbar make sure the radio button on the Navbar Gadget is clear.)
7. Click Save
8. Click Preview (eye icon at the bottom right-hand corner) to Preview your blog without the Navbar displaying above the header
9. Click the Save icon (located next to the Preview icon)

Method 2: Steps to Remove or Hide the Blogger Navbar

This second method of deleting or removing the Blogger Navbar is done through a change to the Blogger template. Essentially it hides the Navbar with code but does not actually delete the code.

1. Sign in to Blogger and select the blog you wish to change
2. From the Blogger Dashboard go to Theme
3. Click the orange down arrow next to the Customize button
4. Click Backup to back up your blog before proceeding
5. Once backed up click on Edit HTML from the drop down menu by clicking on the down arrow once again
6. Click anywhere inside the template and then search the following code using CTRL + F (PC) or CMD + F (Mac) to bring up the search box: ]]></b:skin>
7. Insert the code below just before the ]]></b:skin> tag
   
   
   #navbar-iframe {
   height: 0px;
   visibility: hidden;
   display: none;
   }


8. When you are satisfied click on the Save button to save your changes
9. Click on View Blog to admire your Blogger blog with the Navbar removed

Blogger Tip:
If you decide that you want to reinstate the Blogger Navbar you can do one of two things:

1. Simply remove the code you inserted:
   
   #navbar-iframe {
   height: 0px;
   visibility: hidden;
   display: none;
   }


2. Or comment out the code like this
   
   /*
   #navbar-iframe {
   height: 0px;
   visibility: hidden;
   display: none;
   }*/

Summary

Today I have explained how to turn the Blogger Navbar off and on in the Navbar Gadget. I have also shown you an easy trick to remove or alternatively hide the Blogger Navbar using the hardcode method. By adding a short piece of code to your Blogger template the Blogger Navbar can be hidden from view. I have also shown you what to do if you need to reinstate a missing Blogger Navbar.

Related Links

How to Change the Color of the Blogger Navbar
How to Add a Copyright Notice to a Blogger Blog
How to Add a Print Friendly Button to Blogger
How to Backdate Blogger Posts to Publish Articles on a Retrospective Date
How to Remove Blogger Labels Counter
Add a Follow Me Twitter Icon Button to Blogger
Make Money From Affiliate Banners with Blogger
How to Get More Adsense Clicks with Blogger
Easy Ways to Put Banners on Blogger

How to Change the Color of the Blogger Navbar Menu

This Blogspot tutorial shows you how to change the color of the Blogger Navbar which appears above the header in older Blogger themes when enabled. Changing the color of the Blogger Navbar so that it matches the color scheme of your Blogger blog takes less than a minute and is an easy trick that requires no change to the Blogger code as all changes are done in the Navbar Gadget. Updated April 2022

To go straight to the step-by-step tutorial on how to change the color of the Navbar or read on for details about the Navbar and its purpose.

What is the Blogger Navbar?

The Blogger Navbar is the colored or sometimes transparent search bar menu that appears by default at the top of older Blogger themes above the header. The Navbar provides quick navigation links that make it easy to jump to the Blogger Dashboard, start a new post, access Theme Designer or share a page directly from your live blog.

Blogger Navbar Example

Currently Blogger offers the choice of 6 different Blogger Navbar colors: blue, tan, black, silver, transparent light and transparent dark. Transparent light and transparent dark are the most recent additions. It is uncertain how likely it is that Blogger will continue to offer more color options for the Navbar in the future as Google has announced that it will not be developing the Blogger platform anymore.

The Blogger Navbar Gadget Can be Customized to 6 Different Colors
along with the option to turn it off

Which Blogger Themes Have a Navbar Enabled?

Historically Blogger had the Navbar enabled by default on all blogs however these days the Navbar only displays at the top of a blog on some of the older themes like Simple, Picture Window and Awesome Inc. If you are using a newer theme or have a third party theme it will not show up automatically and would need to be enabled. If you want to know more about how to turn on the Navbar keep reading as this Blogger tutorial covers this too.

If you would like to learn how to remove the Blogger Navbar to stop it showing up I touch on this in this tutorial but for more in-depth coverage of the topic I discuss several methods in my Blogger Tutorial on How to Remove or Disable the Blogger Navbar

How To Change the Color of the Navbar / Search Bar / Menu Bar on Blogger

Below is a step-by-step walkthrough of how to change the color of the menu bar above the header in Blogger.

1. Sign in to Blogger and select the blog you wish to change


2. From the Blogger Dashboard go to Layout Menu


3. Find the Navbar section in Layout typically found at the top in the Blogger Layout Designer.


4. Click the Edit link which appears on the right side of the Navbar Gadget.






Click on the Edit Link to Open the Navbar Gadget
in the Layout Page of Blogger








Former Blogger Navbar Layout Circa 2009
Showing Position of the Edit Button




5. Select the color of your choice by clicking on the radio button on the left side of each color in the pop up Navbar Configuration window that appears.
   
   If you want to turn off the Navbar altogether click on the off radio button found at the bottom of the menu of choices in the Navbar configuration window.





Turn Blogger Navbar Off By Clicking on the Radio Button
at the Bottom of the Navbar Configuration Pop-up Window





6. Once you have made your selection click on the Save Button to save your changes


7. Click View Blog to see the effect of changing the color of the Blogger Navbar to more closely match the design and style of your blog.
   
   Or if you have turned the Blogger Navbar off you will see that the Navbar has disappeared from the top of your blog.

Summary

In today's Blogger Tutorial I have discussed what the Blogger Navbar is, its uses and what Blogger themes have it by default. I have shown you how to change the color of the Blogger Navbar on your blog via the Navbar Gadget to one of six custom choices so that it matches the color and design of your blog.

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How to Add an Atom Blogger Sitemap to Google Search Console 2022

In this Blogger tutorial you will learn how to create an atom Blogger sitemap and add it to Google Search Console to improve search engine indexing of your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog). There are different kinds of sitemaps but for today we will be submitting an atom sitemap to Google. This is a quick five minute task which regardless of your technical skills can easily be achieved and will help discovery of your blog posts.

Benefits of Adding a Blogger Sitemap to Google Search Console?

Google Search Console is a free tool from Google formerly known as Google Webmasters that will help you track indexing of your Blogspot blog on the Google Search Engine. The benefits of creating and adding a sitemap of your Blogger blog to the Google Search Console is to aid crawling both of new posts and pages and those your have updated.

The atom sitemap we will be adding today tells Google to index the first 500 posts on your blog as a batch. Once your blog is nearing 500 posts you will need to add another sitemap for 1000 posts to the Google Search Console.

The atom sitemap will help the Google crawler find posts and pages up to 500 in total and encourage it to check back often for changes. The end result is that Google is more likely to discover posts and index these which in turn will mean better SEO and increased traffic to your blog.

Follow the easy steps below to learn how to create a sitemap for your Blogger blog and how to submit a sitemap to the Google Search Console.

How to Create and Add a Sitemap to Google Search Console for a Blogger Blog

Step 1
Login to Blogger

Step 2
Select Settings from the left-hand menu

Step 3
Scroll down about two thirds of the way until you find Search Preferences in the menu that opens up

Step 4
Then click the Google Search Console link to open Google Search Console in a new page.

If for any reason you are unable to bring up the Google Search Console then go to:
https://search.google.com/search-console


Step 5
Once in the dashboard of Google Search Console find your blog by selecting it in the property selector. If you only have one blog then click on your blog's name in the selector window. If you have more than one blog you will need to select it using the down arrow found at the top left-hand corner under the Google Search Console logo.

Click on the domain name of your Blogger blog next to the Blogger icon that appears in the property selector.

If your Blogger blog is not listed in the property selector list then you can add it by clicking on the +  add property icon found at the bottom of the dropdown list.  You may need to start typing the name of your blog to bring up the + Add Property icon.

Step 6
Having selected your blog from the Property Selector now click on Sitemaps from the left-hand menu

Step 7
In the Sitemaps main page you will see any sitemaps already added.

Under Add a New Sitemap enter the following to add a sitemap of your Blogger blog

https://yourblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500

Note: Change yourblog in blue to the name of your Blogger blog

Step 8
Click Submit

Step 9
You will then get a popup message advising that the submission has been successful. You will see the atom sitemap has been added to the list of sitemaps for your Blogger blog.

Other information that you will be able to see:

• type of sitemap
• date submitted
• date last read
• status - this should read success
• number of discovered URLs  - the number of URLs found automatically by the sitemap

Note: If you have a lot of URLs not found by the sitemap it might be because your Blogger blog is older and Google is not able to easily discover these posts in which case adding an HTML sitemap is a good idea.

Summary

In this Blogger tutorial you have learnt how to create and add an atom Blogger sitemap to Google Search Console to encourage Google to index your posts and pages. The advantage of adding an atom sitemap is help the search engine crawlers discover pages on your Blogger blog and index these. As the number of blog posts increases on your Blog you will need to eventually add another sitemap and this needs to be done prior to the total number of posts exceeding 500.

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