Technorati is a blog search engine which earlier this year introduced the concept of a tag, a self-categorization of your web content. Tagging is how you can tell Technorati what you think the subject of your blog article is. Here's how Technorati describes a tag:
Think of a tag as a simple category name. People can categorize their posts, photos, and links with any tag that makes sense.
Using a few simple customizations to your blog's templates, you can use BlogHarbor keywords to function as Technorati Tags. Now you can assign keywords to your blog articles which will not only make it easier for your readers to find content on your blog using its built in search engine, but millions of Technorati users will also be able to find your pages when searching for content using those same keywords.
Updating your Category Template
In order for Technorati to index your blog articles with your Keywords used as Technorati tags, you'll need to modify your category template. This will not be a very difficult customization, but if you've never worked with HTML or CSS before, then you might want to wait to make this change until you're more comfortable working with HTML or CSS code.
- Login to your BlogHarbor Control Panel through the Login page.
- Click on the Look and Feel tab, then the Templates subtab.
- Now you see a list of the Templates you can customize. We are going to customize the category template, which controls the look of an article when it appears on a category page such as the Main Page, so click Edit in the row that begins with the word category.
- Now you'll be on a page listing the current category templates (there will probably be only one). Go all the way to the bottom of the page and click the Customize button.
- Click the Go button to Copy the Standard template to the staging area. You'll come to the page where you can customize the category template.
Look at the Staging Template Content box, the lower box, and find this code:
<div class="articleBody">
{{if excerpt}}
{{excerpt}} <span
class="articleMore"><a href="{{view_url}}" align="right"
border="0" width="13"
height="13">more</a> <strong>»</strong></span>
{{else}}
{{body}}
{{/if}}
</div> <!-- articleBody -->
Change that code to the following:
<div class="articleBody">
{{if excerpt}}
{{excerpt}} <span
class="articleMore"><a href="{{view_url}}" align="right"
border="0" width="13"
height="13">more</a> <strong>»</strong></span>
{{else}}
{{body}}
{{/if}}
{{if keywords}}
<div style="margin-top:8px;margin-bottom:25px;">
<strong>Keywords:</strong>
{{loop keywords}}
<a href="{{search_url}}" rel="tag">{{var name=keyword
escape=html}}</a>{{unless __last__}}, {{/unless}}
{{/loop}}
</div>
{{/if}} <!-- keywords -->
</div> <!-- articleBody -->
Now click Save and Activate at the bottom of the page. Your blog will now display your Keywords on category pages, and the Keywords will include a marker which allows Technorati to automatically index your article and categorize it using your Keyword as a Technorati Tag.
Updating your Article Template
You only need to update your category template in order for Technorati to see the posts you've tagged, but it's also easy to add an optional customization to your article template which links to a search for similarly tagged content at Technorati.
In order to update your article template, you should follow the 5 steps shown above for updating your category template, though you can probably skip step 1 since you will already be logged in, but instead of customizing the category template, you will be customizing the article template.
Once you have reached the article template, see the Staging Template Content box, the lower box, and find this code:
{{if keywords}}
<div style="margin-top:8px;margin-bottom:25px;">
<strong>Keywords:</strong>
{{loop keywords}}
<a href="{{search_url}}">{{var name=keyword escape=html}}</a>{{unless __last__}}, {{/unless}}
{{/loop}}
</div>
{{/if}} <!-- keywords -->
Directly below it, just add the following code:
{{if keywords}}
<div style="margin-top:8px;margin-bottom:25px;">
<strong>Technorati Tags:</strong>
{{loop keywords}}
<a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/{{var name=keyword escape=html}}" rel="tag">{{var name=keyword escape=html}}</a>{{unless __last__}}, {{/unless}}
{{/loop}}
</div>
{{/if}} <!-- keywords -->
Click Save and Activate at the bottom of the page. Your articles will now automatically contain links to similarly tagged content at Technorati when you add keywords to your articles. Your readers may find this a useful way to learn more about the topics you write about.
Using Keywords to create Tags
Now when you create your blog articles, apply Keywords to your article in addition to optionally filing it under a Category. Not only will applying Keywords help your readers to find content when searching through your blog, but it will also help other bloggers find your content.
When you create new articles, BlogHarbor "pings" Technorati to let them know you've updated your blog. Technorati will later visit your blog and add any new content to its index, and categorize any of your "tagged" content accordingly.
Notes
- If you use keywords in your Photo Albums, you'll want to edit your photo template using the same technique described above for editing the article template.
- Technorati will only pick up the tags of articles which are displayed on your Main Page. If you post an article to a category, but do not select the article to Bubble Up to higher categories, Technorati will not see that as a tagged article.
- You may want to adjust the margins between your Keywords area and Technorati tag area by adjusting the margins of the <div style="margin-top:8px;margin-bottom:25px;"> code.
- Like Technorati tags, our Keywords feature supports only key words and not key phrases. Technorati allows the use of the + symbol to allow you to combine words into phrases, but the use of the + symbol as a keyword is not permitted within a keyword at BlogHarbor.
- This is not a perfect solution for creating tagged content, but it is a solution for users who want to post using the web interface, rather than using a client such as ecto, Blogjet, or Qumana. Blogging clients can offer easier implementation of Technorati tags.
Questions?
If you have any questions or comments about implementing this technique, please post them to our Community Forums.
