Update: This feature has now been added to all blogs. You will find it on blogger.com also. Its indeed one of the most awaited SEO devel...
Update: This feature has now been added to all blogs. You will find it on blogger.com also. 
Its indeed one of the most awaited SEO development for all blogger users. Blogger users can now write custom URLs for their posts using Blogger in draft. You will now find a permalink option in post editor if you log into Blogger account using draft.blogger.com and not blogger.com. This option would let you create custom permalinks for your blogger posts. Permalink or "permanent link" in layman terms is the URL that appears in your browser address bar. Previously blogger would automatically create a 35-40 Characters long permalink after you published a post and most often the keywords picked were not SEO friendly and made no sense but now you can create a custom URL with as many rich keywords as you want with complete control over the structure. I must tell you its one of the best features introduced after the Search Preferences which offered control over Meta Tags, redirects, and 404 error page. It gives you many benefits like more ranking power and better click through rates in SERPs.
Its indeed one of the most awaited SEO development for all blogger users. Blogger users can now write custom URLs for their posts using Blogger in draft. You will now find a permalink option in post editor if you log into Blogger account using draft.blogger.com and not blogger.com. This option would let you create custom permalinks for your blogger posts. Permalink or "permanent link" in layman terms is the URL that appears in your browser address bar. Previously blogger would automatically create a 35-40 Characters long permalink after you published a post and most often the keywords picked were not SEO friendly and made no sense but now you can create a custom URL with as many rich keywords as you want with complete control over the structure. I must tell you its one of the best features introduced after the Search Preferences which offered control over Meta Tags, redirects, and 404 error page. It gives you many benefits like more ranking power and better click through rates in SERPs. Permalink Character limit
Amazingly there is no limit on how long you may choose to write a URL for both options i.e. Automatic URL and Custom URL. But since Google only displays 70 Characters of a URL and chops the remaining, therefore you must make sure to write no more than 4-5 rich keywords in your title. Avoid using conjunctions, prepositions and articles. In layman terms use these words rarely: to, from, and, in, on, at, etc.- Use our character counter tool to count entries
Which Characters are accepted?
As an SEO standard search engines only accept three characters which are colon (:), forward slash (/) and a dash (-). Out of these three, only a dash is under your control because the remaining two are used in http protocol (colon) by browsers and for directory creation (forward slash).Never use underscores in URL because this symbol is often used in writing algorithms and using it in a URL badly misguides a robot as per Matt Cutts. Watch the details and his video in this post:
The following special characters will not be accepted and are invalid characters:
The following characters are accepted:
- ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) = + ` ? ; ' " : / | \ [] . , etc.
- Space
- ASCII characters
- - i.e. dash (always use it to break words)
- _ i.e. underscore (Never use it, not SEO friendly)
Good and bad Permalinks
A good permalink is one that is precise but targeted. One that uses important keywords that describe the entire content of the post and is an accurate description of the article in few words. A SEO friendly permalink will catch visitors attention more and would increase the click through rate of your blog on Search engine results page (SERP). It also wont get chopped and would give complete sense.
Take an example of the following permalink
The above permalink contains all rich keywords but its long and will surely get chopped in SERPs into an incomplete sentence that makes no sense. Therefore in order to grab both robots and visitors attention, make it precise and more sensible like this:Bad permalink
www.mybloggertricks.com/2012/06/learn-15-hot-tips-to-optimize-your-blog-in-no-time
Now such permalink would grab better attention because it gives complete sense and lets visitors understand the entire story of the article. Remember the rule of KISS!Good Permalink
www.mybloggertricks.com//2012/06/15-tips-to-optimize-blog
Permalink Tips from Google
Watch the video below to learn some tips from Google webspam head, Matt Cutts:Have any questions?
I hope the tutorial today explains the core basics behind SEO permalinks and explain every bit of required information. If you still need some more clarification please feel free to let us know. This feature is still under beta testing and can be used at Blogger in draft only. Once it receives a good feedback from BlogSpot users, it will be officially added to Blogger.com. I am really pleased with this great SEO addition and I hope it benefits most of you to better utilize this option and increase your blog traffic.
Please let me know how do you find this latest news? Do you think permalinks play vital role in driving organic traffic? Do share your views on this. Take good care of your selves and your loved ones. Peace and blessings pals! :)
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