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More Traffic To Our Blogs?

Recently, we see periodic queries about strange visitors to our blogs.
Why does my StatCounter log show odd links into my blog?
What is "www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID=", and why do I see traffic from that link?
Why am I getting strange traffic to my blog after I publish changes?


All of these questions, until Mid November 2009, were related to the same thing - the "Next Blog" link in the Navbar. Now, all of this is changed.

When you publish to your blog, your blog goes into a huge database, listing blogs just updated. You can see a replica of this database in the Recently Updated Blogs list. The RUB list is huge - it shows a 10 minute slice of Blogger publishing, and at any time, will have from 4,000 - 8,000 entries, with new entries constantly being added (just as old ones drop off the list).

The RUB database is important to the Blogosphere. When anybody clicks on the "Next Blog" link in the Navbar, an entry from that database results in the link leading to someone's blog. If your blog was just updated, chances are that someone will land on your blog, and your visitor meter will show another entry.

In the recent past, there were hundreds of thousands of illegal blogs, created by spammers and being constantly published. Until January 2008, many people clicking on "Next Blog" would have landed on such a blog, which was created for the sole purpose of hacking your computer, and delivering spam to your desktop, and to other peoples email.

A bit over a week ago, Google put a stop to this. Now, owners of many (but not all) genuine blogs, like yours and mine, are seeing more traffic, when we publish changes. The traffic comes from the "Next Blog" link, which is seen in visitor logs as originating from "www.blogger.com/navbar.g".

If you see the new traffic in your logs, don't be alarmed. It's not somebody trying to hack you, or to steal blog content. It's ordinary bloggers, and bloggers readers, surfing to random blogs, using "Next Blog". It's what the "Next Blog" link was created for.

Enjoy the traffic to your blog. Publish more, and enjoy more. More readers for you, which is why you blog, right? Having said all of that, I will advise you that, if your blog contains any questionable content, particularly interesting pictures that you wouldn't want your kids to see, you need to be aware of, and you may need to use, the Content Warning setting in Settings - Basic. Or, you can block traffic from "Next Blog", if you really feel the need.


Note that this post is about the "Next Blog" link in the navbar. It's not here so you can get more traffic to your blog, by posting
Great post!
Here's my blog: http://mypimpedblog.blogspot.com
If that's your intent, go away. Or, if you are trying to publish spam here, feel free to include the URL of your blog - I'll see you in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken one day, and you can have a lesson in the Blogger 4 Step "Hey, my blog isn't spam!" - followed by my arrogant reply "Yes, it is!".


(Update 2009/11/12): The next generation of "Next Blog" is here, and it's totally different.

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Comments

Anonymous said…
bebright02
I am somewhat new to bloggers and I would like to build traffic to my blog. I know it's going to take a lot of work, but i'm still in it. thank you bebright02
Unknown said…
Thanks for the advice. A friend told me I should start blogging and stop hassling her with my political views.
Cassiopea said…
Good info. Now I know how it works a bit more.

Crazy question maybe but do you think one should post according to some particular time frame...

I mean is there more people posting at night or in the morning? More people meaning more possible traffic to a site?
Or is it all the same?...

Thanks.
Jansen Norico said…
hello there! can u help me with my problem.. i created a blog site here at blogger, but when i searched my blog on search engines (google, yahoo etc.)my page doesn't appear. what should i do? i already switched my rss feed on. and i already activated "Let search engines find your blog?" (switched to YES)

pls. help. thanks. my page is: http://thebloggerspage.blogspot.com
This answers my question perfectly! Last night I wondered why, just after I posted, I got a spate of visitors that had never visited my site before - it was strange, I literally got 20 in the space of 20 minutes! The Referring URL always began "http://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID=", and I had no idea what this was and got very worried that it was something dodgy. Now I know where they came from. Thanks, nitecruzr!
ehlngreeneyes said…
very new at this, cant remember how or why I started, but I am SO enjoying releasing my thoughts, and discovering all the other bloggers out there!!
Thanks for this! It was kinda creeping me out seeing that strange traffic on my traffic feed with those ridiculously long URLs. Thank you.
Susan said…
And you know what else? I'll bet the amount of traffic you get from "next blog" depends on the time of day you update your own blog. I've noticed a difference depending on whether I publish in early morning or afternoon (morning is worse).
Until I read the above information about RUB and "next blog" I didn't figure out why that was. Thanks.
pau.luv.musik said…
Nice to know since im new to this lol..
Chinachix said…
thanks, this was helpful!
ichiziro said…
Does this mean if i disable the navbar, i will get less traffic?
Nitecruzr said…
Disabling the navbar will not decrease your traffic, unless Blogger has added code that prevents navbar inclicks to blogs with no navbar. And I don't see that happening, reliably. A blog with a "hidden" navbar won't be easily detected as a blog without a navbar, imho.
Mary said…
I have start blogging 2 months ago but until now i don't have a followers yet what should I do?
Alas said…
thank you for the info
cardiologist said…
very nice post

i started to make more posts

thank u
bristolbudgie said…
Thank you for the info at least I know what Im doing now. I think
Sujatha said…
I keep my posts coming every two days, but still have trouble attracting more readers. But yeah, I am always told patience is the key for blogging....there are so many sites that talks about SEO and things to enhance blog traffic, but still a layperson like me is finding it hard to follow :) Your posts seem to make my life a bit easier....thanks :) And yeah, I read the small print, will not post my blog here :)
Minnie said…
Thanks!! i kinda know what i have to do now. im new too, and i am being patient but i just want people to come read my blog. well thanks anyways!!
Dan Wilkens said…
Thanks for posting this, its very easy to start a blog, and even to write content for it, but attracting readers is extremely difficult.
Unknown said…
Visit this site you will get the answer
A newbie here! Thanks for all the advice. ; )
Jashim said…
Excellent points and great post! Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts and the post for all of our readers!
Anonymous said…
Thanks for all the ideas you all share.
Ashwini said…
A very nice and encouraging post for newcomers like me. Does the posting time has any effect on the traffic? I generally post an artical per day in the afternoon. But still not getting any traffic even from "Next Blog" :( Can anybody help me find out what's wrong?
Nitecruzr said…
Does the posting time has any effect on the traffic?

I've postulated that detail, to a few folks, before. I'm sure that posting time is relevant - but I am doubtful that it's predictable, to any degree that you will gain anything from stressing about it.

If you feel the need, you're welcome to ask this in BHF: How Do I?. Maybe some interesting discussion will arise.
usi2506 said…
Please help me, friend. I want my blog indexed by search engine. I have been a long time created my blog, but it doesn't index by search engine yet. so, what must I do?
Nitecruzr said…
I want my blog indexed by search engine.

Get to work.
Viano said…
Very nice post,.. but i still can not understand why my blog is still not being indexed by any search engine..
sword42 said…
Very helpful.Even for a dozy old pensioner like me,many thanks
Sam said…
Thanks for the insight.
Hello,
My name is Nora. I created a new blog last month and I love your information. I am new to blogging and I am trying my best to learn as much as possible so I can get more followers and more traffic to my blog.
So again, thanks for your information. Thanks to bloggers like you, new bloggers like me get to learn more about blogging and improving our blogs.

Have a great day!!
SimpleLifeStyle
Hi, And thanks for you help. I am still blogging, but each time I put in my URL it goes nowhere. But maybe I will research it out.
I do like you blog however, and I am working hard so maybe someone might want to read mine.
I write about what I know and what interests that I have--which might not be interesting to anyone else.
Thank for letting me vent.
KACHY said…
hey! thanks, this was helpful..but are there other ways to get more traffic apart from using the next blog
Nitecruzr said…
Infamous,

There are many ways, apart from "Next Blog" inlinks, to get traffic to your blog.
Unknown said…
iam also new to blogs. thanx for your advice.
Thank you so much for taking time to help new Bloggers. As I sometimes think that maybe I got it, and then something comes up that I have not heard of; and my computer chip brain pops out again.Thanks again, I feel we have a Blogger Angel, that guides us into the right lane of Blogging.
Tina Mohammad said…
Thank you very much for the information. It is very helpful to new bloggers like me.
Anonymous said…
Great Post!!
Thanks.
Lacy said…
Great post!
Here is my blog http://ladala.blogspot.com/
NER said…
Hai, great post, seriously. I've been blogging for a long time, but it just this year I start concerning about traffic. hehe thank you!
maheading said…
That is great info, thank you for sharing that one. hopefully I can increase my traffic on my blog, I guess over time.
likeatotallie said…
Lol. It's only until I read all the comments that I found out that I can actually see the number of visitors. Anyway, thanks for this helpful article. Love your sense of humour.
Dhiraj said…
One authentic stop for a newbie's queries.
addy said…
nice.. thanks
Lou said…
Hi, I am a newbie and appreciate your help. I'm a little worried I will get labelled a spammer. I started my blog to share with friends, so every so often post the link to fb to remind them. Is this not allowed then? Do I need to ask them to bookmark the URL instead?
Thanks
Nitecruzr said…
Lou,

Be aware of the ways to reduce the risk of spurious spam classification - and do what you are doing. I don't see you describing anything dangerous.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/02/how-to-avoid-getting-your-blog-locked.html
Lou said…
Thanks heaps. I don't understand what half those terms mean, but I do know my content is all from me, so I won't stress :D
BonusRoom said…
You are right - Real Blogger Status comes up as top option on google search - i can't even find mine on google search. Even by doing a very specific name search - this worries me. Thanks for the information though - very interesting.

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