yeah, thats what I do!!!
This post’s for all you Bloggers who have a blog at Blogger.com (blogspot.com ).
Do you have a lot of categories (labels as they are called) ?
Do you feel some of your readers would want to subscribe only to a category in your blog rather than subscribing to all the posts on the blog?
There can be many more reasons why you would want category feeds . You may be someone like me who at times blogs about films and then once a while blogs something like this post ;o)
Previously I discussed how to create category feeds for wordpress blogs .
Below are the steps to create category feeds for blogger.com (blogspot.com) blogs :
1. Decide which category(label) feeds you want. It can be a select few or all of them. The choice is yours.
2. Suppose you decide to have a separate feed for a category named example .
3. The feed URL for the category example will be:
http://www.yourBlogName.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/example
That’s it. I swear, you just created a category feed for your blog.
Now you can do whatever you want. Either burn this feed in feedburner or give away the raw feed to your subscribers.
Hope this post has helped you. Please Stumble, Digg etc. if it was useful to you.
Cuckoo
September 11th, 2008 at 6:49 am
Well, not this but am looking forward to similar tips for self hosted wordpress domains.
I know it is very useful.
kiran
September 11th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
No . My question is…like u have categories on the right side in which you can put various kinds of posts- blog stuff, hollywood talk etc…can blogger too have similar categories on its side, in which various posts can be segregated and put?
Nischal Shetty
September 11th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
@Cuckoo i’ll try to blog anything new I get to learn about wordpress
@Kiran Thats what labels are for in blogger. They are nothing but categories. If you want to display them in the side bar then you will find a gadget named as ‘Labels’. Add it to your sidebar and you’ll be able to see the categories
kiran
September 11th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
ok. got it. thanks.
Cuckoo
September 11th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I’ll keep giving you challenges. This is the second one.
One off topic-Do you have any posts on pHp, the lingo used in WP which goes above my head ? I couldn’t find any. Too demanding, right ?
Nischal Shetty
September 12th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
@Cuckoo It’s the same on my end too.. lol… I am a Java developer. So this php stuff is pretty alien to me too
But then how long can a wordpress blogger stay away from php! Will let you know as and when I learn php. And yeah, if you learn it before I do then do tell me about it
Sarah
September 15th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Is there a way to get your rss feeds to list the category posts alphabetically?
Nischal Shetty
September 16th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
@Sarah Ummm.. I went through the Blogger API but wasn’t able to find something that would suffice your needs
I found out how to retrieve posts sorted by name for wordpress blogs though
Sarah
September 16th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Thanks for looking. Yes, I know wordpress has great plugin for that.
What does API stand for?
Nischal Shetty
September 16th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
@Sarah API = Application Programming Interface . It helps developers to build applications on top of the existing ones
Plugins, gadgets etc are made with the help of API’s.
You can get all the info you need on blogger API here
http://code.google.com/apis/blogger/
Sarah
September 16th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Awesome! Just so I understand (very new to the web world if you can’t already tell
), does this allow me to edit individual pages to? Blogger only lets me edit the template…
Nischal Shetty
September 16th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
@Sarah I don’t think pages are allowed. But a lot of workaround’s can be found. I’ll try to blog about this some time soon
I’m pretty new to the Blogger API… just about getting started with it
Keithblog
September 18th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Fantastic post! I looked all-over the Blogger help site for a way to utilise tags for more targeted feeds. Thanks Nischal!
gestalt
September 18th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Thanks!
But I have a problem: I have the old config blog, but with labels. I fear switching to the new config because I would lose config template information (I know, I did it once with another blog in blogger).
But I have labels, though. You can see them on the posts. But since I am not working with gadgets, I don’t know how to work out the template code to access the labels list.
Could you give me advice on this? Thanks!
Nischal Shetty
September 18th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
@Keithblog
glad it helped you
@gestalt
I don’t know how to do that.
Feabionsu
October 5th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
I tried searching for the Labels gadget, but I can’t! I know, it’s the most simple thing, and yet, I can’t do it! I go to Layout | Page Elements and then find an “Add Gadget” link. Then I do a search, but no luck!
Okay, another question – labels aren’t exactly like WordPress’s categories, right? I mean, with labels, you can add as many as you want and your blog post will appear in all of them, if say, a user opens each label in a different tab. Categories (real WordPress categories!) on the other hand is the single place where your blog post is stored.
Do you get what I mean? Take a look at this blog as an example: http://www.michaelaulia.com/blogs/. It has both Categories, in which one files a blog post into ONE of the Categories only, so there isn’t multiple copies of blog posts in different categories. This actually makes it easier for users, since then they know they won’t stumble on the same blog post both in “Technology” and “Google” for example, but only one of them.
It also has labels (tags in WordPress) too – and that’s where you CAN add as many labels as you won’t, and where your blog post will appear like many same copies. Do you get what I mean? So my question is – in Blogger, you’d have to put only one label per post if you want to have true categories right? Because you wouldn’t be able to have Categories and Tags (Labels) at the same time.
My other question is: then, why do people use both tags and categories, like in that blog I gave to you as an example? Categories I understand – they definitely help if a user wants to see all the posts about Google. Labels though? What’s the “genius” behind them?
Please reply, if not to the questions, then about how I can find the Labels gadget. That’s first priority after all, categories or no categories!
Nischal Shetty
October 5th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
@Feabionsu
I’ll answer all your questions but first lets add the label gadget to your blog.
When you click on ‘Add a gadget’ in the gadget page click on the ‘Basics’ link on the left side. There will be some 20 gadgets. Look for the one named ‘Labels’
Let me know if you find it
Nischal Shetty
October 5th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Labels in blogger = categories in wordpress
In wordpress too you can have the same post in more than one category.
Tags are used as a good SEO(Search Engine Optimization) technique. You should decide what keywords users would generally type in search engines for which you want your post to be found. Then add those tags to the post.
Do let me know if you have any queries
Feabionsu
October 5th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Hmmm… -thinks for a moment- But if, like you said, you can add a blog post to many categories in WordPress as well, then you could also easily say that “Labels in blogger = tags in wordpress”.
I mean, wouldn’t that be more right? Since usually, people file away their blog posts in ONE category, so that the category fill up quickly, instead of just having one post per category sort of problem. Its tags that you use numerously on a single blog post…
So, according to you, what is Blogger missing? Tags or categories? Or do it’s “labels” act as both – good for SEO keywords and good for categorizing posts so that users can find them later?
I do have lots more queries, since I’m only beginning to write a blog and it seems that I’ve actually found a person that will actually answer my questions! xD But I’d rather not fill this up with hundreds of posts, so how about we contact each other by email?
~Feabionsu
Nischal Shetty
October 6th, 2008 at 4:18 am
@Feabionsu
Yeah, in a way you can say that labels in blogger act as both tags (good SEO) as well as categories
Feel free to ask me any number of queries. I’ll be glad if I’m able to help you out
You can either ask your queries in the comment sections here (which can help other readers too) or you can send your queries to me at :
(Get a similar image for yourself)
Vishwajeet
October 13th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Thanks a lot I was just struggling for a label feed..trying to guess the url myself! Your work is commendable!
Nischal Shetty
October 13th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
@Vishwajeet
Thanks for the encouraging comment
Money Bush
November 1st, 2008 at 1:32 am
I plan on using this on at least one of my blogs.
Cuckoo
November 1st, 2008 at 6:12 am
Hmmm.. I am still waiting for a wordpress category feed.
@Feabionsu
I have three blogs in wordpress. I use both category & tags though I display only categories.
We, at wordpress, can always have more than one category & tag for a single post. Usage is different.
For example on my travel blog I use Category for places (city within country) and tags for themes (beach, mountains, lakes etc)
I hope you understand.
Cuckoo
November 1st, 2008 at 6:22 am
@Nischal
This one is for you. As I said in the prev. comment, I don’t display tags. The reason is that I don’t like tag clouds… the ones that are used more become very big & dominate others.
Can we have them displayed in the similar fashion as categories ? By default categories are displayed alphabetically.
Nischal Shetty
November 1st, 2008 at 6:29 am
@Cuckoo
I had written a post on how to create category feeds for wordpress blogs. You can read it here
About the tags being displayed as categories, I guess there might be plugins for that. Do not know of any right now but will lety you know if I find one
sekarygiorg
February 7th, 2009 at 7:22 am
is the label important for SEO? if not i will erase all my label. can you tell me?
Nischal Shetty
February 7th, 2009 at 7:44 am
@sekarygiorg
As far as I can tell, Labels do help in SEO. After all, every label has its own url.
I’m not a regular blogger user, but as a wordpress user I can tell you that tags in wordpress have helped me get good search engine traffic. I think the same should hold good for blogger labels too
Khaz
February 25th, 2009 at 12:28 am
hi. I wanna be able to categorise my labels into groups. how do i do that?
Nischal Shetty
February 25th, 2009 at 1:19 am
@Khaz
I’m sorry, I’m not sure if that can be done. If I get to know of a way I’ll inform you
Vanessa D. Alexander
February 25th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Labels at Blogger.com are categories and keywords for SEO. Problem is the labels also work as another archive just ordered a different way.
Users end up viewing the same content they find in the archives. Wordpress has a separate tag system. Blogger does not.
If you create a label for your post it is also archived.
If you have the Archives and Labels on the sidebar as most of us do, the Archives allow visitors to read by calendar dates.
The labels allow them to read things in separated topics such as: books, home, leisure, etc. Search engines pull the labels=keywords.
But visitors are still reading the same content in both. The labels are for SEO value and to allow visitors to focus on one topic rather than going through an entire archive by dates.
If you create the archive and opt for weekly they can read posts published from week to week. If you opt for monthly every post for the entire month will appear. That’s a lot.
If you file your posts under several labels it will be great for SEO but since labels are a kind of archive as well it could be a bit overwhelming for readers.
Nischal Shetty
February 26th, 2009 at 1:36 am
@Vanessa
WOW!! Thats a nice write up! Informative and clears a lot of doubts for first timers… Thank you so much
Nischal Shetty
February 26th, 2009 at 1:38 am
P.S. If any of you want to blog for iSimplyBlog.com let me know. I’m soon planning to have others on board too. You would have the option of placing your own ads on the posts you write.
Looking forward to a great association with all of you
Ovalis
June 25th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Hi Nischal,
I create a titles archive from the label gadget but I wanted to remove the number that appear next to each title. I suppose I should change something from the template just I don’t know what.
Thanks
Nischal Shetty
June 25th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
@Ovalis
Go to “Layout” -> “Edit HTML” and click on “Expand Widget Templates” check box.
Now, search for “
(<data:i.post-count/>)” and remove it (it would be present in more than one place)Before you save do check the outcome in the “Preview” or try this in a test blog first. I don’t want you to be breaking your template code
Do let me know if it helps!
softwaregal
July 24th, 2009 at 1:40 am
Okay I am now trying.. hope this will works for me. I am looking for something like this to show my posts sorted under few selected categories. maybe 5 posts per categories for 5 main categories/labels.
Bill Bartmann
September 4th, 2009 at 12:17 am
Cool site, love the info.
Claudiu Constantin
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:44 am
Very interesting!
Thanks!
blogger seo
November 5th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
This post really helped me. I was looking for this for a couple of weeks. Thanks BUDDY.
frank
November 8th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Hi, i want to create a page that can have several sub page categories. How do i do that? Also, how do i add ’serch’ for each page?
Riya
January 29th, 2010 at 7:23 am
Hello Frnd,
I make a new & my first blog at blogger, I m just fond of writing stories , & want to share expe, with all, So I make a blog , but I want some catagories in it like personal, education, movies, professional etc….. Hope you understand what I mean .
Pls help me in this & I want to learn more , I m new presently I doing MBA from SCDL pune. & doing job in SEO.
Waiting for your reply.
Regards,
Riya
Nischal Shetty
January 29th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
@Riya
When you write a blog post, at the bottom you would find a text box which says “Labels”. Blogger calls its categories as labels. Just add whatever category name you wish to give. You can get in touch with me if you need any help
PWD
February 27th, 2010 at 8:49 am
Ok, so I have a blog with four categories (I fooled around with the HTML, and finally got them all up at the top somehow). But now, when I create a new post, I want to be able to put it in a specific category (why else would I create them?). I would do the whole Labels thing that’s been suggested, but i already worked hard to put these Categories up. For example, if I create a post and want to put it in Album Reviews…? HOW? Thanks!