How to Add a Blogger Sitemap to MSN Live Search

BLOGGER TUTORIAL

Although MSN Live Search gets a fraction of search engine traffic compared to Google and Yahoo it is still worthwhile submitting your Blogger (Blogspot) sitemap and blog. This tutorial covers the steps involved to add your site to MSN Live Search by visiting the Webmaster Center. As this tutorial is specifically tailored to beginners and those new to blogging with Blogger.com little knowledge is assumed although it would useful to anyone wanting a walkthrough of the MSN Live Search submission process.

Steps to Add Your Blog and Sitemap to MSN Live Search
1. Login to WWW.webmaster.live.com/ with a hotmail account if you have one.

2. By default you will be taken to the Site List - Webmaster Tools page.

3. Click on Add a Site and enter the URL address of your site in the box provided
4. Enter the address of your sitemap in the box provided:
http://yoursitename.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Be sure to substitute yoursitename with the actual name of your site

5. Enter your email address if you wish MSN Live Search to contact you if it encounters problems

6. Sign up for periodic news updates if you wish otherwise uncheck the box

7. Click on the Submit button

8. Next you will be taken to the Authenticate Ownership of Website Page. You will be given two authentication options choose the Meta Tag Authentication Method by highlighting the code provided and copying it using Ctrl + C. Keep this browser window open as we will come back here.

9. In a new window of your browser login in to your Blogger blog and navigate to Layout > Edit HTML. It is a good idea to backup your template at this point in case you inadvertently overwrite some code. To backup your site Click on Download Full Template

10. Locate the tag which will be about 5-10 lines from the top. You can paste the code anywhere in the head section. I suggest after this line:


11. Save Template

12. Return to MSN Live Search Webmaster Centre and click on the Return to Site List button

13. All going well you will now be able to see your Blogger website listed in the list of your sites

14. Click on your site and you will be taken to the Site Summary - Webmaster Tools page

15. It is now a matter of waiting for MSNBot to crawl and index your site. You will need patience as this is by no means a fast process. Don't forget to sign out of MSN Webmaster Tools.

For a quicker response you can also try submiting the sitemap of your blog to Moreover.com. Historically Moreover has provided the submitted feeds to MSN for crawling and indexing. I am not entirely certain this is still in force but it is simple to do so worth a shot I say. Simply copy the code below and paste it into your browser address bar

WWW.api.moreover.com/ping?u=http://yoursitename.blogspot.com/rss.xml
Be sure to substitute yoursitename with the actual name of your site

If successful you will receive the following message:

Thank you for your ping. The moreover database will be updated with the new data from your url - http://yoursitename.blogspot.com/rss.xml as soon as possible

In this tutorial we have discussed in detail how to submit your Blogger Blogspot blog to MSN Live Search, authenticate your site and add a sitemap