Google, why hast thou forsaken us?
So it's pretty well known that Google has not been devoting that much dev time to Blogger in recent years. Oh, there's been some background stuff going on, like a new back-up system last summer. And about three months ago they did some Beta testing with new Google Search tools. With varying degrees of success.
The first one was totally cringe, and if I had been one of the designated Beta testers I'd have been howling in protest. From the description: "Based on your blog content, Blogger will automatically identify key words and phrases in your post and insert Search links in case your readers want to explore more." Can you imagine? AUTOMATICALLY insert Search links into your blog!? Oy vey. Posts must have been bogged down with links! It goes without saying, that one did not survive Beta. The second Search link tool was much more useful. It’s a little “G” on the editing menu. You can click that, Google for a Search term, and then it’ll create a link (with image preview) in your post. I like it! And it's still there, so I guess that one made it.
But there's so much that we want. Things that used to be part of the Blogging experience, things we miss, things we never had but that would be so damn cool.
Here's a partial list:
1. Tool for capturing the Google Search Terms (Keywords) that led users to the blog, thereby seeing our organic traffic.
As far as I can tell from reading the Google Search Console and Google Analytics documentation, there's no way to do this now. I think some tech company makes a paid plugin for capturing Keywords, but shouldn't that be part of the Google Search Console and Google Analytics? Why not? Before I switched to Blogger, I was on Diaryland, and I had installed a tool called Site Manager that captured my Keywords. It was so cool.
2. Tool for seeing other Bloggers currently on blogspot.com, sorted by most recently updated, thereby making Blogger feel more like a community.
It seems to me this shouldn't be that outrageous an ask. Not to bring up Diaryland again, but Andrew always had this feature on his platform. Right now on Diaryland, I can see the most recently updated online diaries (D'land predates the term "blog".) It's pretty cool to be part of an online community like this. You can read and follow other blogs on the platform easily. I remember when Blogger had a little directional pointer at the top of the page that let you access "previous blog" and "next blog." Not that great, but at least it was something!
3. Bring back "Subscribe by Email"!
As I wrote in my entry To Blog Or Not To Blog (And If So, Where?): A Round-Up Of Blogging Platforms,"Google has canceled the "Subscribe by email" function as of 2021. It's a mystery as to why they would do this, as it places Blogger at a disadvantage to other blogging platforms. It was called Feedburner, and Google didn't install a replacement for it! There are other tools out there that you can install using Blogger's "HTML/Javascript" gadget under Layout, it's just annoying that Google left Bloggers to figure it out on our own." You're freakin' Google, you can't code a replacement for Feedburner? PLEASE bring back "Subscibe by Email."
4. Index us, dammit!
It's not fair that our blogs don't get indexed regularly, without jumping through a whole circus full of hoops, and even then your blog is not served up in Searches. One consensus seems to be around the the length of time your blog is up, and how often it's updated. Another theory is your Site Map needs optimizing. There are more theories, but I'm sick of reading about it and thinking about it and messing about in Search Console. As my old pal T Max used to say about technology he was fighting with, "It should just work!" Right. It should just work. Why doesn't it work?
I feel strongly that blogs are coming back. Because social media is blowing it--by contrast, blogs have no AI, bots, or algorithms, Just real people writing about real things. I link to a LOT of such blogs on Diary of a Low Budget Superhero, and I'm always adding more. There are thousands of Blogger template designers online adding to the templates in the Blogger interface. Lots of Bloggers would even pay a small fee to post on the platform. Google has a real opportunity to be at the top of the blogger list. Don't let Substack take that spot.
Long live Blogger!
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