Googlify your Movable Type Blog

First, create a new index template. You might want to name it "Google Toolbar Button" and then set the Output File to toolbar_button.xml. Then, copy the following text and paste it in as the body of the template.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <custombuttons xmlns="http://toolbar.google.com/custombuttons/"> <button> <title><$MTBlogName remove_html="1" encode_xml="1"$></title> <description><$MTBlogDescription remove_html="1" encode_xml="1"$></description> <site><$MTBlogURL$></site> <search><$MTCGIPath$><$MTSearchScript$>?search={query}&IncludeBlogs=<$MTBlogID$></search> <send><$MTCGIPath$><$MTSearchScript$>?search={selection}&IncludeBlogs=<$MTBlogID$></send> <feed refresh-interval="3600"><$MTBlogURL$>atom.xml</feed> <icon mode="base64" type="image/x-icon">AAABAAEAEBAAAAAAAABoBQAAFgAAACgAAAAQAAAAIAAAAAEACAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAD///8A//f3APf39wD39+8A9+/vAO/v5wDv5+cA5+feAN7e1gDe3s4A3tbOAN7WxgDW1sYA 1s7GAM7GvQDOxrUAxr2tAMa9pQDGtaUAvbWlAL21nAC1rZQAtaWMAK2ljACllHsApZRzAJyMawCU hGMAlHtaAIx7WgCMe1IAjHNSAIRzUgCEc0oAhGtKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAHR0dHR0dHR0dHR0dHR0dHR0dHR0dHR0dHRoNGh0dHR0dHR0dIR0dHR0EECIdHSIdHR0dHR0d HSIVABciHR0YHR0dHR0dHR0iDgAFHSIdBx0dHR0dHR0dHQUAAAcNBQkdHR0dHR0dIhMAAAAAAAUa HR0dHSIdHRUAAAAFCRAcHR0dHR0UDQQAAAAQGiIiHR0dHRoIDQ4IAAAQIh0dIR0dHR0JDSIiGgUE HR0dHR0dHR0dBBoiHSIQDSIdHR0dHR0dHQUXIh0dDRAhHR0dHR0dHR0VABodFQAaIh0dHR0dHR0d HRUHAAkaHR0dHR0dHR0dHR0dHR0dHR0dHR0dHR0dHQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=</icon> </button> </custombuttons>

Save the template, rebuild it (if necessary), and your new button code should be all set. By default, your output should look something like this. Then, your last step is to make a simple link to your new file. That should look like:

<a href="http://toolbar.google.com/buttons/add?url=[your blog URL]toolbar_button.xml">Add to Google Toolbar</a>

The results will give you a link that says Add to Google Toolbar. So what are you waiting for? Click the button! Then you'll have a new toolbar button updating you on the latest Movable Type news, along with a new search function that lets you have direct access to the Movable Type knowledge base and help documentation. Then be sure to post your own button link on your blog.

Still not appeased the Googlebot enough? Be sure to check out Niall's Sitemap instructions, which let you simply and easily make a Google Sitemap XML file, which lets you instruct Google's spiders on how to crawl your site, while letting you as the site owner have access to more statistics and information about your site.

If you want to make your site as reader-friendly (and Google-friendly) as possible, it's easy to start with Movable Type today and you'll be button-making, sitemapping and blogging in no time.