Why Blogspot Archive Has A Negative Impact On SEO

Aim: Explaining why the Blogspot archive system has a negative effect on SEO and how this can be resolved in two easy steps

I read up on an article recently how duplicate content on a blog can really effect SEO. For us as Blogspot users, the archive system can be detrimental to how we rank in Google for any particular search. Google uses two indexes for it's search results; main index and supplemental index (partially removed now due to a Google update). The main index contains the listed results of the top websites for a related search query (if I typed a common search such as 'SEO', the websites Google would show me are very likely from the main index). However, the supplemental index are search results that will only appear if there are very few or no related websites from the main index that matches the users search query. If posts are being duplicated twice by Blogspot (main post and archive post), it's quite possible Google might add that page to the supplemental index rather than the main index. Unless your writing for a Blog with a very unique theme, it's highly doubtful any of your posts are going to rank high in the SERP's. As a twist to the post, Google removed the supplemental index page label in an update, but I still strongly believe that search engines punish duplicated content (on the same website or blog) and consequently rank it lower in search results for your chosen keyword.

The instructions for removing the archive system can be found below (this only applies to Blogspot users that have the archive widget installed on their blog):

1) Navigate to the 'Blogspot Dashboard' and then go to 'Design'->'Edit HTML'. Make sure to check the box 'expand widget template' to make the next process easier. If your unsure what your doing, please back-up your Blogspot template before moving on to step two!

2) Using the search facility provided with most modern internet browsers (I am using Google Chrome, you can easily access this by holding Ctrl key and press the F key), find this piece of code in the template code.

<b:includable id='interval' var='intervalData'>

<b:loop values='data:intervalData' var='i'>

<ul>

<li expr:class='"archivedate " + data:i.expclass'>

<b:include data='i' name='toggle'/>

<a class='post-count-link' expr:href='data:i.url'><data:i.name/></a>

(<span class='post-count'><data:i.post-count/></span>)

<b:if cond='data:i.data'>

<b:include data='i.data' name='interval'/>

</b:if>

<b:if cond='data:i.posts'>

<b:include data='i.posts' name='posts'/>

</b:if>

</li>

</ul>

</b:loop>

</b:includable>

2) Replace the above with the below code by copying and pasting.

<b:includable id='interval' var='intervalData'>

<b:loop values='data:intervalData' var='i'>

<ul>

<li expr:class='"archivedate " + data:i.expclass'>

<b:include data='i' name='toggle'/>

<data:i.name/>

(<span class='post-count'><data:i.post-count/></span>)

<b:if cond='data:i.data'>

<b:include data='i.data' name='interval'/>

</b:if>

<b:if cond='data:i.posts'>

<b:include data='i.posts' name='posts'/>

</b:if>

</li>

</ul>

</b:loop>

</b:includable>

3) Make sure to save all configuration changes and your done.

Any questions on the code, how it can be modified and problems with the code I will try my utmost best to answer in the comments section below. I hope this has helped; please drop a comment and subscribe to my blog for the latest updates on the goings on at Blogspot SEO. I am also making an SEO eBook for Blogspot blogs that will be free to all subscribers, so subscribe now and spread the word!

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