MSDN Blogs - Help

Getting Started with SEO for Blogs

2011-07-23T00:02:00Z

Are you blogging and not reaching enough readers, or not reaching the readers who need your content? You can use elements of search engine optimization (SEO) to make your content more discoverable and increase your audience reach. Even better, you can make sure your content is answering the questions that real people are asking.

Since most people find content through search, your content needs to follow certain SEO guidelines to appear high in the list of search engine results. Always write for the reader first, search engine second. However, the changes you make for SEO will also help the reader understand and navigate your content better.

How to use SEO on blogs

The first thing to do is to check your home page and several representative blog posts to see if there are any HTML issues that are preventing you from presenting your best content to the world. There are a number of free tools on the Internet, including www.seoworkers.com, that will analyze your page and let you know of any high-severity issues. Here’s a short list of some common problems:

Page marked NOINDEX
Title too long or too short
Description missing, too long, or too short
Multiple H1 tags
Mixed characters in links (upper- and
lower-case)
Missing ALT text in image tags

Page marked NOINDEX: If this robots meta tag attribute is in your header, then search engines are being told to ignore your page, with dramatically fewer pageviews as a result. Work with your blogging software support team to get this resolved ASAP. This isn’t a common problem, but I include it because it’s such a high-severity issue.

Title too long or too short: Your blog title will appear on each blog post page, so it’s important to make sure that it shows your blog focus. Also, keep your blog post titles between 15 to 65 characters, and make sure that your important keywords are toward the front. Your title can be longer if need be; just know that search engine crawlers weigh the first 65 characters more heavily than the rest.

Description missing, too long, or too short: Write a catchy description for your blog between 75-150 characters, that will help readers decide to click on your page from the list of search engine results. Remember to use your blog keywords here, too for extra points in the pageranking algorithm.

Multiple H1 tags: Your blog post title will generally appear as an H1 tag. While it is valid HTML to have more than one H1 on a page, it’s considered bad practice by search engines. This is most likely a platform issue and may not be fixable by individual bloggers. Work with your blogging software support team to get this resolved.

Mixed characters: Using upper-case in a link can cause duplicate content issues. While this shows up in some tools as a high-severity SEO violation, it is most likely another platform problem. Work with your blogging software support team to get this resolved and don’t worry too much about fast fixes.

Missing ALT text in image tags: This is an accessibility issue (describing the art for sight-impaired readers) as well as a medium-severity SEO issue. ALT text is another place to put your keywords and get points for consistency. Note that if you are using general-issue art from a library, you probably won’t be able to customize the ALT text for your blog.

What else can I do for SEO on my blog?

When you take care of these issues, you’ll be ready to start on more SEO work, including keyword research (making sure you are using the same words that your readers are searching on), internal and external links that will increase traffic, and social media promotion. I’ll explain more about these in future blog posts.

Integration of MSDN Blog User Account with MSDN Forums Profile

2011-01-22T06:21:00Z

On January 27th the MSDN blogs user accounts merged with the MSDN Forums Profiles.

This is part of a profile centralization effort, which consolidated our users’ profile suites down to a single account to be used across the MSDN websites.

What is the benefit?

The main benefit of a centralized MSDN Profile system is to simplify the online community experience.
The single Profile model gives you the ability to navigate seamlessly through not only the MSDN Blogs, but also through the MSDN Forums.

How will it work?

There is one of two options you will encounter as a previous user of MSDN.

If you have an existing blog user account but do nothave a MSDN Profile, the system will use your pre-existing Blogs account to create a MSDN Profile.
- When you make your initial visit the Blogs after the update, you will notice that some aspects of your profile (your avatar, for example) may have changed.
- To update this information, you can simply click on your name in the site header, which will take you to your MSDN Profile page, where you can customize your settings.
- Once your MSDN profile has been created, you will be given a chance to review and change your Blog site specific settings.
If you already have both a blog user account as well as a MSDN Profile, you will notice that the MSDN Blogs will now display your MSDN Profile information.
- Clicking on your name in the site header will take you to your MSDN profile page, where you can view and edit your profile.
- The Settings link will now take you to the Blog Site Settings page. It is here where you will be able to manage any Blogs specific settings such as: editor, type, date, format, time zone and so forth.
- From the settings page, you will also be able to manage and find your Friends.

For those who don’t yet have a user account or a MSDN Profile, you will be guided through the new MSDN Profile creation process. From that point forward, MSDN will use the MSDN Profile automatically.

You are not required to create an MSDN Profile to read a blog or other MSDN content. You will need a profile to add MSDN Community Content, and some blogs will require a Profile to post a comment there.

We are very excited about bringing the Blogs to the MSDN Profile. This is a tremendous step forward which will make an already awesome community that much richer!

Overview of Site Search Options

2010-06-14T22:24:00Z

General Search Tips

You can begin a search with title: to search within the title of blog posts. For example, a running a search on "title: Windows 7" will search for "Windows 7" in the title field of all TechNet blog posts.
The more specific you can be with your keywords, the better the search results.
If you're looking for a specific phrase then use quotes. For example: "code of conduct" or "how to".
Avoid using words such as 'the', 'of', 'a' - they exist in every article and are ignored in the search except when used as part of a phrase.

Searching Site-Wide

In the screenshot below, note the "Show All..." link. Selecting "Show All" (or pressing Enter) will take you to a search page with more search options.

Advanced Search Options

Selecting the "Advanced Search Options" link under the search box provides three additional search options, which are explained below:

Search In - You can search a number of different areas on the site, the most common being "Blogs" and "People." If you are looking for content within a blog post, select "Blogs." If you are looking for a particular user, select "People."
Date range - Search only the last two days, the last week, the last month, etc.
Authored by - You can change the "Authored by" setting to search only content posted by people on your Friends list.

Search Results

In the "Search Results" section, you can sort the results by Most Relevant, Highest Rated, Most Recent or Alphabetical.

Most Relevant - The Most Relevant tab is the default sorting option for search results.
Highest Rated - Select the "Highest Rated" tab to view posts with the highest rating. Blog posts can be rated from one star to five stars.
Most Recent - Select the "Most Recent" tab to view the newest content related to your search query.
Alphabetical - Select the "Alphabetical" tab to sort your search results in alphabetical order.

Searching Within a Blog

The default location for the search box on a blog page is indicated by the red arrow in the screenshot to the right. You can search the current blog that you are viewing, or you can select the "Search all blogs" option.

Site and Profile Settings

2010-06-10T01:50:00Z

Last Update: Jan. 30, 2011

How to change your avatar and display name

Listed below are steps to change your avatar and display name. For more information on managing your profile, please read our Frequently Asked Questions.

Visit http://blogs.msdn.com/ and click on your username at the top of the page, as outlined in the following screenshot:
Select "Edit My Profile," as outlined in the following screenshot:
From here, you can change your display name and avatar.
To change your display name, edit the text in the "Display name" field (outlined in the screenshot below) and click on the "Save" button.
To change your avatar, click on the "Browse" button, as outlined in the following screenshot:
After you have selected an image, click the "Save" button.
Return to http://blogs.msdn.com to see your updated avatar and display name.
Note: Avatars are stored on a content delivery network (CDN), with many servers across the world. It can take up to 48 hours for all avatars on the CDN to be updated, and for the avatar to appear next to blog posts and comments.

Where is my display name and avatar used throughout blogs.msdn.com?

Your avatar and display name appear next to a comment on a blog post:
Your avatar and display name appear next to blog posts in the "The Latest Blog Posts" section on the home page of blogs.msdn.com:
For another example of the avatar and display name, scroll to the top of this page and note the avatar and display name that appear below the title of the blog post.

Configuring Site Settings

To configure your site settings, click on the "Settings" link at the top right of any page on MSDN Blogs. These custom settings only take effect when you are signed in.

Content Editor - This setting only applies to blog authors. The "Enhanced" editor will display a toolbar with many formatting options when you compose blog posts from your blog's dashboard. The "Plain Text" editor will display plain HTML when you.
Enable Collapsing Panels - Allows for content panels to have buttons displayed for expanding and collapsing them.
Items Per Page in Control Panel Grids - This setting only affects blog authors. Bloggers can adjust the amount of items displayed in their blog's dashboard by adjusting this setting. For example, when you moderate comments, this value determines how many comments to display on each page.
Time Zone - Change this to your desired setting. When you view blog posts throughout the site, the time will be displayed according to this setting.
Date Format - Change this to your desired setting. When you view blog posts throughout the site, the date will be displayed according to this setting.

Email Configuration

Private Email - Site notifications, such as new friend requests, are sent to this email address. This email address is not visible to the public.
Receive Emails - When disabled you will turn off all site emails (including notifications)
Receive HTML Emails - This option is enabled by default. If your email client doesn't support HTML, disable this option.
Send Notifications - If you have email-subscribed to a blog and you want to receive emails each time that blog is updated, enable this option.
Enable Status Message & Comment Email Notifications - This option is only applicable to blog authors. If this is enabled, blog authors receive an email each time someone comments on a blog post.

Blog Activities

New Blog Post - If this option is enabled, other users will see a notification on the home page under "The Latest Blog Posts" section. Bloggers can temporarily disable this setting prior to using theme detection with Live Writer so that the temporary post does not appear in the "The Latest Blog Posts" section on the home page.

Sign-in Information

Sign-in name - Bloggers who use Windows Live Writer will use what is listed in this field as the username when logging in.
Password - Bloggers who use Windows Live Writer can use this setting to change the password they use to post from Live Writer.
Last sign-in - Displays the last time that you signed in.

Adding and Managing Friends

To add a user as a friend, sign-in to MSDN Blogs and search for them using the search box located at the top of the home page. Once you locate the user, click on the "Add as Friend" link, as highlighted in the screenshot below:
To view and manage your friends and friend requests, click on the "Settings" link at the top of any page on MSDN Blogs. Next, click on the "Friends" link on the right side of the Settings page.

Sign In & Account Creation

2010-06-08T00:19:00Z

Today I’d like to go over some information regarding the sign up process as well as the account creation and association process. It seems the introduction of Windows Live ID with the MSDN and TechNet blogs has confused a few too many of you – we are sorry about that, it wasn’t our intention… really :-)

Why am I being asked to sign up just to read the blogs?

Technically, you aren’t. Anyone can read the blogs without signing up. But in reality, you are. What’s happening is that you are signed into another Windows Live ID enabled web site. The blog platform sees that and then signs you in “silently” or in other words, signs you in without you explicitly asking to. This works really well once you’ve completed the create an account/associate an account process because you can move from site to site and maintain your sign in across many of the Microsoft properties. However if you’ve not completed the sign up process, you’ll be prompted to do that even if you just want to read the blog.

The other situation you may be asked to sign in is if you click a persons name to view their profile. See the “Why Should I Sign In?” section below for more information on that.

So at this point either click Sign out if you don’t want to create the account or complete the sign up and you’ll be set moving forward. We are reviewing this configuration and we may modify this silent sign in if it’s too confusing to our blog readers…

How do I Sign In?

When you click the Sign in link on any page in the blogs you’ll be taken to the Windows Live ID sign in page. You can select any Windows Live ID account you already have or create a new one at that time. The first time you sign in with a Windows Live ID account you’ll be presented with the “Create an Account OR Associate an Account” page.

If you’ve never created an account with the blogs before, fill in the Create an Account section. It’s just a username, a confirmation of the email address you want any communication to go to and finally a time zone which will then allow the blogs to present date and times accurate to your location.
If you’ve had an account previously on the blogs then enter your username and password you used to use in the Associate Account section. This will connect your Windows Live ID account up to your old blogs account and you can then use the WLID from then on.

Why Should I Sign In?

Signing in gives you a bunch of benefits that anonymous readers do not get. Some of these include:

A customized profile for your account.
- You can have a custom display name that supports characters beyond the set for a username.
- You can upload your own personal avatar image that will go alongside any comments you make as well as on your profile.
- A customized profile including contact details, web sites, facebook, twitter connections etc.
- You can manage the email address you receive notifications at.
- Update your time zone settings.
You’ll have the ability to follow and friend other members in the blogs.
- You can then more easily track their activity within their profile or on the home page.
Commenting
- You’ll no longer have to fill in your name every time you post a comment.
- There are some blogs that do not have anonymous commenting enabled. You’ll need to be a member then to comment anyway.
Viewing others profiles
- If you want to view anyone else’s profile you need to be signed in. There are contact details on profiles and those are limited to people who have agreed to our Terms of Use.
Future features…
- We will integrate into the MSDN and TechNet profile, activity and recognition systems in the future. Without being a member you can’t build your reputation.

Hopefully that gives you a little more insight into the sign in and sign up process. More information on profiles, settings etc. coming soon!

Home Page Overview

2010-05-23T22:00:00Z

By the time you read this, you’ll have seen the new home pages of the MSDN and TechNet Blogs. I wanted to give a little more insight into what’s on there and how it all works. I’m using the MSDN home page in the images but it’s the same on the TechNet site.

The home page is based on the overall MSDN and TechNet site themes. You’ll find those themes continue through the site in the profiles, settings, search etc. Now, the blogs are more than just a collection of individual blogs by different teams and individuals from around the company. They are a huge collection of knowledge to help you, our readers, customers and partners do your job, learn technology and hopefully have some fun!

Let’s walk through the home page together...

Home Page Header

The header section contains a few interesting things of note.

You can access the rest of the MSDN and TechNet sites and information through the tabs.
You can use the search box to search all of the MSDN and TechNet blogs.
After you’ve signed into the blog sites, you can click on your name to manage your profile, Settings to manage your site settings or Sign in and out.

The Latest Blog Posts

This section of the home page contains a list of the most recent blog posts across the site. You’ll see the post title, avatar, author and time of each post. Click on the title to see the actual post. You can subscribe to that feed by clicking on the RSS icon. You can also click on the "View All Blog Posts" link for an in-depth view of all recent blog posts. On that page, you can see excerpts of all blog posts and change the view from Excerpt View to Full Post View. You can also sort the posts by Most Recent, Most Views and Most Comments.

Got Feedback?

This is a big update and I’m sure many of you will have feedback. We want to hear it! Click this link and fill in the subsequent form to share that with us.

Legal and Abuse Reporting

Besides the usual legal links, you’ll find a link to Report Abuse on the home page and on every page throughout the site. If you find inappropriate content or users within the sites please report it!

And with that, I’ll let you go play in the new sites.