The Blogger Country Code Aliases, And Search Engine Reputation

Many blog owners take great pride in publishing a blog that's read by many readers, and that is held in high esteem by the search engines.

Some owners have even installed various badges on their blogs, which automatically retrieve the Page Rank achieved by the blog, as distributed at the most recent Page Rank calculation. Recently, we've been seeing cries of anguish, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I lost my Page Rank! My blog, as a ".com", had PR of 2 - but as ".in", it has 0! Woe is me!!

These owners do not understand that search engine reputation is still calculated and indexed using the ".com" alias.

If you are in Australia, and you're now viewing your blog as "myblog.blogspot.com.au" (with PR of 0), use the "no country redirect" URL modifier, and view the blog as "myblog.blogspot.com/ncr".

Your Page Rank badge should pop back up with the correct PR number, once again. Unfortunately, this won't do anything for your readers, who are now viewing the blog as "myblog.blogspot.co.nz", "myblog.blogspot.in", or what ever alias is relevant to their location.

If your PR badge uses the displayed URL (and is affected by the country code aliasing) - and if you're worried that your readers will be unduly influenced by seeing that they are now viewing a blog with PR of 0 - you're going to need a different PR badge, to decorate your blog.

Try and find a Page Rank badge / calculator that either

• Observes the "canonical" tag in the blog header.
• Lets you hard code the blog URL (so you can continue to specify "myblog.blogspot.com").

Blog accessories, and search engines, which blindly use the viewed URL - and ignore the "canonical" tag" - will be a problem, under the Blogger country code based redirects.

Using A Robust Sitemap, With Your Blog

For a Blogger blog, proper indexing by the search engines is critical to the success of the blog, in getting readers.

Some blog owners are disappointed to find that their blog has no page rank, and no visibility in the search engine results - and little to no chances for getting readers.

Not all blog owners understand details about the custom domain migration process, any issues related to renaming the blog, or simply how to get a blog properly indexed.

One of the most useful tools, that you as a blog owner can use, is the sitemap.

With a Blogger blog, that is typically a collection of posts indexed by date and maybe by topic, the sitemap, properly presented to the search engines, helps the search engines index all of the posts methodically.

Submit a Sitemap to tell Google about pages on your site we might not otherwise discover.

That's the simple advice, from Google, which you should see.

When I created this blog, and submitted my first sitemap, Google setup a default.

http://bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated

Had you looked at the "robots.txt" file, when this blog was published as "bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com", that's what you would have seen.

Having later published this blog as "blogging.nitecruzr.net", Google setup a new default sitemap.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated

You may look at my current "robots.txt" file, and that's what you will see.

The default sitemap indexes the most recent 26 posts. For most blogs, especially new ones, you will seldom publish more than that number between each indexing pass by the search engines - and a 26 posts submission is generally sufficient.

For a blog that's been published for a while, and has more than 26 posts, you will need a more robust sitemap than the default. When you change the URL of the blog, or when you use Jump Break on main page posts, you need a sitemap complement that indexes each individual post, one by one.

Note that any sitemap will be much more useful, with the blog publishing a "Full" feed.

In the example of this blog, which now has over 1,500 posts, I would add 4 sitemaps (each sitemap to submit a maximum of 500 posts)

1. http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500
2. http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=501&max-results=500
3. http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1001&max-results=500
4. http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1501&max-results=500

Having added the right complement of sitemaps, you watch the display in the Sitemaps wizard:

Submitted URLs
1,539
1,535 URLs in web index

Having submitted those sitemaps last week, 1,535 out of 1,539 posts, allowing for some search engine indexing latency, is about right.

Your blog, having a different number of posts, may use a different complement of sitemaps - but you can use a similar strategy, in determining the number to use. And however you look at it, adding a new sitemap segment for every 500 posts beats manually updating the sitemap for every new post.

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Blogs Viewed, Using A CC TLD Alias, Will Continue To Be Indexed Using "BlogSpot.Com"

We're starting to see some evidence of confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about the impact of the new CC TLD aliases, upon indexing and reputation.

There's no cache for my blog, after redirecting to a ccTLD!

This is an example of the confusion, from a concerned blog owner.

99% of all Blogger blogs will see no difference, in indexing or reputation, to their blog, in Blogger / Google services.

Properly constructed Blogger blogs always reference a "blogspot.com" URL.

Every BlogSpot published blog, which uses a standard blog header, has a "Canonical" tag, defining the "BlogSpot.Com" URL for that blog.

Search engines which recognise the Canonical tag will simply index all BlogSpot content, whether accessed as "blogspot.com.au", "blogspot.in", or whatever new CC TLD alias is deployed in the future, under the base URL, "blogspot.com". Blogs such as this one, published outside "blogspot.com", will continue to be indexed under the current non BlogSpot URL.

<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/' rel='canonical'/>

That's the Canonical tag for this blog, "blogging.nitecruzr.net".

Search engine metrics are always checked as "blogspot,com", if no custom domain.

When you check the Page Rank, you should continue to check the "blogspot.com" URL - if your blog is published to "blogspot.com".

Some non Google services such as Alexa - and some third party accessories such as commenting, provided by Disqus and Intense Debate - are known to require tweaking of their code, so they will recognise the Canonical tag for the host blog. Once the code is properly updated, they should simply reference the host blog under the "blogspot.com" alias - no matter where the blog viewer may be geographically located.

It also appears that the Stats "Traffic Sources" display is displaying the different CC aliases, rather than aggregate inlinks using the canonical URL. This is causing some confusion with people who are not yet aware of the CC aliases, and their purpose.

Some Blogger features only reference the Blogger blog name.

The "Forgot?" wizard, on the other hand, uses only the blog name. Whether you are seeing your blog as "xxxxxxx.blogspot.ca" (in Canada), as "xxxxxxx.blogspot.mx" (in Mexico), or "xxxxxxx.blogspot.com" / "xxxxxxx.blogspot.us" (in the USA), you'll always use only "xxxxxxx" when recovering access to your Blogger account.

If your blog uses no third party accessories or services, relax just a bit - then get back to work on your blog.

What's The Canonical URL Of My Blog?

This blog is (for those of you not familiar with it) "The Real Blogger Status".

The URL of this blog is currently "http://blogging.nitecruzr.net". As long as I publish the blog properly (as "blogging.nitecruzr.net"), I am allowed to advertise the blog using any combination of lower case and upper case letters, that I like. This blog can be accessed as "blogging.nitecruzr.net", "Blogging.Nitecruzr.Net", or even "BlOgGiNg.nitecruzr.net". We say that Blogger URLs are case insensitive.

Even with my readers allowed to use any combination of lower and uppercase letters, to access this blog, I don't want the search engines to index (and determine page rank) my blog using the exact URLs, as typed by each different reader. Even with this blog being addressed as "blogging.nitecruzr.net", "Blogging.Nitecruzr.Net", or even "BlOgGiNg.nitecruzr.net", the search engines index this blog as "blogging.nitecruzr.net".

To help this happen, Blogger uses the "canonical" tag, in the blog header.

The "canonical" tag is not unique to Google.

The "canonical" tag is a cooperative standard.

It was developed as a standard in 2009, jointly, by Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

Every Blogger blog, which has a standard and up to date header, contains a "canonical" tag.

A Blogger "canonical" tag is used to convert the blog URL to lowercase characters.

The "canonical" tag provides the base URL of the blog, in all lower case letters, so the search engines know how to ignore various syntax variations.

• Case variations.
• CC TLD aliases.
• Any other reader generated variations.

All links are indexed under one unified URL, providing better SERP positioning, and more search engine generated traffic.

Look at the source for this blog home page, in the header. Note that you have to look at the online "source code" - not at the raw HTML, using the Template Editor!

Here's an excerpt of the header for this blog, with a few line breaks added - and some lines removed - to make it more readable.

<head>
<meta content='IE=EmulateIE7' http-equiv='X-UA-Compatible'/>
<meta content='width=1100' name='viewport'/>

...

<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/favicon.ico'
rel='icon' type='image/x-icon'/>
<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/' rel='canonical'/>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - Atom"
href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - RSS"
href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss" />
<link rel="service.post" type="application/atom+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - Atom"
href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24069595/posts/default" />
<link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml"
title="RSD" href="http://www.blogger.com/rsd.g?blogID=24069595" />
<link rel="openid.server" href="http://www.blogger.com/openid-server.g" />

There it is.

<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/' rel='canonical'/>

My test blog, "Nitecruzr New Template Laboratory", is still published to "nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com".

<link href='http://nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com/' rel='canonical'/>

The "canonical" tag is essential for the country code domains.

These records are essential, for blogs published to "blogspot.com", now that Blogger is aliasing our blogs using country code TLD URLs.

My test blog, for instance, published to "nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com", will be accessed as "nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.in" in India - but the search engines, which observe the Canonical tag, will still index any links as "nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com".

BlogSpot Published Blogs Being Accessed Using Country Code TLDs

Recently, some blog owners outside the USA have been asking about mysterious redirects which they (or their readers) are seeing, when accessing their blogs.

Why is "xxx.blogspot.com" now redirecting to "xxx.blogspot.com.au"?

and

Why was my blog address recently changed from ".com" to ".in"?

Blogger will host our blog content using country code relevant aliases, according to the unique laws of each different country.

The local country domain URL is determined using geolocation.

The relevant CC alias will be accessed automatically, according to the network location of the reader in question. These aliases are being added on a country by country basis, with Australia ("blogspot.com.au") and India ("blogspot.in") apparently recently deployed.

This will let Blogger remove content, that's illegal in one country, without having to remove that same content for all of your readers, worldwide. You benefit, because your blog won't go offline, for the entire world, when you publish something that's illegal in one single country.

A BlogSpot blog, with a standard header, will be indexed under "blogspot.com".

With any BlogSpot published blog containing a standard Blogger header, the blog will have a canonical reference to the "blogspot.com" alias. The search engines will index the blog, using the "blogspot.com" alias - even when following a country code specific link.

The search engine ranking of your blog won't be affected - except that a blog, left online in most countries, will get more traffic than one taken offline worldwide. When you check the Page Rank, you should continue to check the "blogspot.com" URL, because all search engine reputation will accumulate under the "blogspot.com" alias.

Owners of blogs with custom templates should check the template.

Owners of older or uniquely developed blogs, possibly using Classic or highly customised templates, may want to check the headers in their blogs, and make sure that they have a "canonical" tag referencing their "blogspot.com" alias.

Blogs published to non "blogspot.com" URLs, using properly setup and fully operational "custom domain" publishing, will not be affected - as the default "blogspot.com" URL is already redirected to the domain URL. While a newly purchased custom domain is "In Transition", the domain redirect will not be in effect - and the "blogspot.com" URL will be subject to CC alias redirect.

Any reader using a browser or computer that's affected by domain based filters will need to check all filters. Add "blogspot.com.au", "blogspot.in", "blogspot.jp", or any other relevant country, wherever "blogspot.com" is specified.

Note that geolocation will produce anomalies in odd cases.

Note that the redirect uses geolocation, to identify a relevant country code. Readers in small countries, or located near the border of other countries, may be using an ISP located in a different country, and may find their personal redirect reflecting the other country.

Any reader wishing to bypass the local alias can access a "no country redirect" alias using the URL of "blogspot.com/ncr". Similar to the "ncr" URL modifier used to bypass local language redirects of "blogger.com", this will give access to the U.S. English alias of the blog of your choice.

Getting Traffic To Your Blog Involves Indexing

We continue to see evidence of frustration about getting a blog indexed, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I can find the blog using the URL - but my visitor log shows nobody is reading the blog!

and

My blog was #1 for my title, in Google, 3 months ago! Last month, it dropped out of sight!! Why does Google let people hack their results???

People who report these problems do not understand that getting traffic to the blog involves more than simply getting the blog indexed, using the Author, Title, or URL of the blog.

Getting your blog indexed, so you get useful traffic from the search engines, requires effort.

1. You have to get the blog indexed.
2. You have to get the blog indexed, in searches which people actually use, when searching for blogs to read.
3. You have to get the blog indexed, with good position, in searches which people actually use, when searching for blogs to read.
4. You have to repeat #3, constantly - because you are competing with everybody else who wants their blog indexed, with good position.

Note that your blog will be indexed faster, if the search engines can read the content. If you have a custom domain, it's best to set the domain up, properly.

How useful is it, to index the blog by title or URL?

Getting the blog indexed, so you can find the blog by searching for the title or URL, gets the blog indexed by the title or the URL. Use Search Console, and look at the "Search queries" list on the dashboard.

How many Impressions do you see, which reference the blog by the Title or the URL? How many Impressions are from people, other than you, checking to see if the blog is indexed?

How valuable will the blog be, if you publish to a vanity domain - which may (or may not) give you a unique URL?

How useful is it, to have your blog indexed, using terms that people search?

If you want new viewers, you need to get the blog indexed, appearing in a search engine results page (aka "SERP") that people (besides you) are using - and appearing in a good position on that page.

To benefit from any search used by a potential viewer, your blog needs to appear at the top of the search list.

• Any position on SERP Page 1 is better than any position on SERP Page 2.
• SERP Page 1 Position 1 is better than Page 1 Position 2.

Which SERP positions, when clicked, yield the most traffic?

All SERP positions are not going to produce the same amount of traffic, to your blog.

Look at the observations, discussing SERP Page One results, from Click Distribution & Percentages by Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Rank. Which positions, on Page One, get more clicks - and more traffic to your blog?

Position #1: 45.46% of all clicks
Position #2: 15.69% of all clicks
Position #3: 10.09% of all clicks
Position #4: 5.49% of all clicks
Position #5: 5.00% of all clicks
Position #6: 3.94% of all clicks
Position #7: 2.51% of all clicks
Position #8: 2.94% of all clicks
Position #9: 1.97% of all clicks
Position #10: 2.71% of all clicks
Total: 95.91% of all clicks occur on SERP Page One

Your blog, linked from SERP Page One Position One, stands an equal chance of getting a new viewer, than appearing in All Other Positions, combined. And only 1 in 20 viewers will even look beyond SERP Page One.

How different will each SERP page be?

Every different search, from people looking for blogs to read, will produce a different list of blogs.

No matter what the subject - or search terms - there can be only one blog, linked from Page One Position One.

• The more potential readers, searching using a given subject or search term, the more readers you have a chance to get.
• The more potential readers, searching using a given subject or search term, the more other people will publish their own blogs to that subject.
• No matter how much hard work you may do with your blog, you are not guaranteed Page 1 Position 1, in any given SERP.

Would you prefer being a small frog, in a large pond - or a large frog, in a small pond? A pond without other frogs - or even with lots of larger frogs - can be a lonely place.

When you have a new blog,you're better off in a community of blogs. As your blog becomes mature, and you have your own reputation, you're better off on your own. You control your domain - and your own destiny.

Try to find a pond which interests you - not one which other people tell you should interest you. And if you're important in your pond, that's good - just don't expect to be important in other ponds, consistently.

How important is unique content?

Finally, if you want new viewers who will return, and who will send you other new viewers, you'll need informative, interesting, and unique content, that is regularly added - and properly targets your potential readers.

Renaming Your Blog, And Using A Sitemap

For a Blogger blog which needs a sitemap for indexing, changing the URL requires creating a new sitemap.

For a blog newly published to a different URL - either a non BlogSpot URL, using custom domain publishing, or simply a different BlogSpot URL - the first few days under the new URL are critical to the success of the blog. Some blog owners find, to their horror, that their blog suddenly has no page rank, and has dropped out of visibility in the search engine results.

I bought a domain from Google, and my blog is now invisible. Obviously, this is another swindle by Google, stealing my money!

These blog owners have not done any research, about the custom domain migration process, or about any issues related to renaming the blog. The successful migration process starts with getting the blog, under its new URL, indexed by the search engines.

One of the most useful tools, that you as a blog owner can use, is a sitemap, now provided automatically, by Blogger.

The new automatic sitemap will index the most recent 2,500 posts. For most blogs, that will be sufficient.

When you re publish your blog under a new URL, you want all posts reindexed promptly. To get all posts reindexed, if your blog contains more than 2,500 posts, you are going to need a more robust sitemap complement.

A sitemap, to support a blog with more than 2,500 posts, will require new entries, in Webmaster Tools.

You want your blog, under the new URL, to be visible under that new URL as soon as possible, so setup a proper sitemap, if necessary - then get to work publishing new posts, and increase search engine activity. And, use Jump Break for all new posts, to focus search engine attention on the individual posts.

Blogger Magic - Custom Domain Publishing And Search Engine Reputation

There's a lot of confusion seen in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, about our blogs, and how they are treated by the search engines, after being published to a custom domain URL.

Does the Page Rank transfer to the new domain?

and

Is the blog automatically indexed after the change?

and

Will my readers be able to find my blog after the change?

Each of those questions has a simple answer - but each simple answer leads to interesting detail.

The basic facts to consider are quite simple.

• Search engines index our blogs, and calculate page rank, by domain / subdomain URL. Better search engine reputation leads to better search listing placement, and more traffic.
• When you publish the blog to a custom domain, you are giving it a new URL.
• With the blog published to a new URL, it has no page rank, and is not indexed.

So, the immediate answer is reasonably simple.

Like a new blog, and like a blog renamed within BlogSpot, a blog newly published to a custom domain has Zero page rank, and is not indexed.

Now, look at the details.

• Unlike a completely new blog, a blog newly published to a custom domain has reputation, in the minds - and links in the blogs - of the readers.
• Unlike a completely new blog, there is an existing BlogSpot blog that is indexed, has search engine reputation, and now links to the domain URL.
• Unlike a blog renamed within BlogSpot, a blog published to a custom domain has a DNS based redirect, from the BlogSpot URL, to the domain URL.
• Unlike a blog published to BlogSpot, a blog published to a custom domain may have some value simply because of the non BlogSpot URL.

And here is where the magic starts.

When you combine the assets, held by the BlogSpot URL

• Links, in our readers blogs.
• Reputation, in our readers minds.
• Reputation, in the search engines.

with the DNS based redirect - applied against a properly setup domain, and using a proper complement of sitemaps - you get a blog which acquires indexing and page rank from the existing reputation of the former BlogSpot URL, as that BlogSpot URL, and our readers blogs, are being re indexed. And, there is the magic.

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Retaining Page Rank, And Traffic, During the FTP Migration

As May 1 fast approaches, there are still a few FTP bloggers waiting to make the plunge, who ask

What happens to my page rank, when I migrate?

and

How do I retain my traffic, if I move to a new URL?

and these are not very simple questions to answer.

The best result will be achieved by migrating to the same URL structure, under the custom domain.

• If you can migrate from your external, FTP published server, to an absolutely identical URL - for all posts - in a Google custom domain, then you can retain page rank, and traffic.
• If your URL changes, even slightly, then your page rank starts over at 0, because the content has to be re indexed under the new URL. Now, you ask whether the traffic can be automatically redirected, from the old URL to the new URL.
  • If the URL changes, but the traffic can be redirected properly, then you can retain your traffic, and your page rank - though starting at 0 - will build up faster than it did when the blog was started. You'll see moderate total drop of search engine originated traffic.
  • If the URL changes, and the traffic cannot be redirected, then your page rank, and traffic, will start out very slowly. You'll have established readers, so you won't start as low as the blog was when new, but it will be pretty low.
    • Each reader will follow a series of links, from a bookmark (on their computer), to the actual post (under a new URL).
    • The search engines may, or may not, be able to find each post under the new URL.
  You'll see significant total drop of search engine originated traffic.

Remember that you'll have 3 options, if you use the Blogger FTP Migration Tool.

• To Blog*Spot.
• To a Google custom domain URL, different from the current domain.
• To a Google custom domain URL, the same domain host as the current domain.

One major question here is whether the blog contains pictures that are hosted by the domain. If pictures are involved, then you will have to retain the domain, and host the pictures, until you can re host the pictures elsewhere, and update all blog posts to point to the new picture URLs. If you migrate to the same domain host, you'll have to setup a missing files host.

A migration to BlogSpot is the simplest process overall, but will have the worst effect on both page rank and traffic. If you simply cut your losses, and re publish to a BlogSpot URL - and if you have no pictures hosted on the external server - you can drop the external server completely, and concentrate on rebuilding page rank and traffic from 0, using a new BlogSpot URL. If you have pictures hosted on the external server, you will need to retain the current server to host the domain, and the pictures. Your new blog will use pictures hosted on the external server, under the current URLs. The domain will continue to be served, the blog itself will simply have a new URL.

A migration to a custom domain, using a new domain host, will be more complex than migrating to BlogSpot, but it will produce the same results upon page rank and traffic. If you have pictures hosted on the external server, you will still have to retain the current server to host the domain, and the pictures. Your new blog, in its new custom domain published URL, will start off with a page rank of 0, again as the content has to be re indexed. If you can retain the traffic, and current readership, page rank will pick up again. For a custom domain migration using a new domain host, you will want the new domain host defined in DNS before the migration starts. This is an essential task, which you must perform. If the domain host DNS is not properly setup, any reference to the blog, under its new hosting, will produce problems. Custom domain hosting problems, caused by bogus DNS settings, are well known.

A migration to a custom domain, using the same domain host, and using the exact same blog URL structure, will be more complex than either of the two above options. It will have the best results upon page rank and traffic - if you can do it. With the content hosted in the custom domain - but under the exact same URL, the content will not be re indexed by the search engines as new content. The search engines will simply continue indexing it, as before, with no change.

The migration to a same domain host will involve some work by you, since the migration tool won't do everything for you. It will involve 4 steps.

1. You start out with the domain host DNS pointing to the external server.
2. You execute the first half of the migration.
3. You update the domain host DNS to point to the Google server. This is an essential task, which you must perform. If the domain host DNS is not properly setup, any reference to the blog, under its new hosting, will produce problems. Custom domain hosting problems, caused by bogus DNS settings, are well known.
4. You execute the second half of the migration.

When the migration to the same host, with identical URL, is complete, you'll have the same blog, hosted on a Google custom domain, and at the same URL. If the blog, currently published to the distant server, contains photos, or posts linked internally, you can retain the currently published contents on the distant server, and use a Missing Files Host.

Finally, with the blog re hosted, you can explore the possibility of upgrading the template to Layout, or even to a Designer Template.

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Blogger Magic - Custom Domain Redirects

Money is a popular artifact used in magic tricks - everybody loves looking at it, and playing with it.

The disappearing quarter - which starts out in your hand, and is found behind your ear - is intriguing. Equally as intriguing is the magician who can take two 50 cent pieces, and turn them into a dollar bill.

The two into one conversion is a neat trick - and that's part of a properly designed and properly setup custom domain.

1. The BlogSpot URL is redirected by URL forwarding, to the domain URL. This picks up the traffic from the BlogSpot blog, and transfers it to the domain. And, it picks up the identity of the domain.
2. The domain is redirected by "A" / "CNAME" referral, to Google (and within Google to the Blogger blog). This picks up the traffic from the domain (including the traffic forwarded from the BlogSpot URL), and transfers it to the Blogger blog.
3. "CNAME" referral retains the identity of the domain, with the traffic.

"CNAME" Referral merges traffic to the blog, using the domain identity.

What we have here is traffic (BlogSpot + domain) merged together, to the domain. Blog content gets indexed by the search engines under the domain URL - and contributes to page rank, and search engine reputation, for the blog, as published to the custom domain URL.

Identity * Traffic == Search Engine Reputation, for the domain.

Remember that the value of a custom domain is based on the increased reputation - to the blog, when seen under the domain URL.

Frame / URL Forwarding merges traffic to the blog, using the blog identity.

An alternative to "A" / "CNAME" referral, provided and recommended by some registrars, is Frame / URL Forwarding.

1. When re published to the domain, the BlogSpot URL is redirected by URL forwarding, to the domain URL. This picks up the traffic from the BlogSpot blog, and transfers it to the domain. And, it picks up the identity of the domain.
2. The domain is redirected by Frame or URL Forwarding to the BlogSpot URL. This picks up the traffic from the domain (including the original traffic, forwarded from the BlogSpot URL), and transfers it to the blog - and back to the BlogSpot URL.
   
3. Forwarding picks up the identity of the BlogSpot URL, with the traffic.

No Identity * Traffic == No Search Engine Reputation, for the domain.

All that work - and the identity (and search engine reputation) goes back to the BlogSpot URL.

If you pay extra to just merge traffic to the blog, what's the benefit?

In terms of magic, the latter trick is a dud. Nobody sees your domain. There goes your dollar bill, in a puff of smoke.

There's no benefit to the blog, if it's just seen under the BlogSpot URL.

Don't let your registrar sell you a puff of smoke!

If your registrar tries to tell you to use Frame or URL Forwarding, because they don't provide "CNAME" referral, or because they won't allow 4 x "A" referrals, your best choice is to find another registrar - or possibly, use a (free) third party DNS hosting service.

If you're here because you got technical advice to use URL Forwarding anyway, because it will work just as well as "4 x A" / "CNAME" referral, get better advice.

It's your domain - you want the benefits of publishing your blog to a domain URL? Publish it properly, using "A" / "CNAME" referral.

Custom Domain Migration - Managing The Traffic

Your blog depends upon traffic for its success.

Anything that affects the traffic to your blog, such as any change in the URL, affects the success of your blog. Publishing the blog to a custom domain, like renaming the blog, will affect traffic to your blog. The effects of the change will vary from blog to blog, because of the different traffic to every different blog.

• Followers. People who find your blog because of recommendations by other people.
• Search engines. Robotic processes which methodically surf your blog, and provide dynamic indexing to people who search for information.
• Subscribers. People who read your content from their newsfeed reader, such as the dashboard Reading List.
• Viewers. People who read your content from their browser.

No two blogs are the same - and no two blogs will have the same combinations of traffic sources.

The differing combinations, of traffic sources, will make every custom domain migration unique.

Migration results are not predictable - but they can be improved.

You cannot predict what will happen to your blog, during the migration - but you can plan, and improve the experience.

Planning and executing the migration properly will help your blog recover faster, from traffic loss caused by the URL change.

1. You'll start with a new URL, which will be unknown by the search engines. Your blog won't get as much new reader traffic, until it's indexed, under the new, non BlogSpot URL.
2. You'll end up with a better known blog, with a non BlogSpot URL - and more new reader traffic because of the new, non BlogSpot URL.

The better you plan this simple process, the faster the traffic to your blog will pick up, after the URL change. And, that's all that you should want - to get from point 1 to point 2, faster.

A blog with a new URL is again unknown, by URL, to the search engines.

When your blog has a new URL, that URL is initially unknown to the search engines, and other web services. The search engines, and other external web services, index by URL.

• With a new blog, you have no content, no readers, no search engine reputation, and no statistics.
• With a new URL, there is no indexed content, and no statistics.
• With a blog recently republished under a new URL, you have content and readers - but no search engine reputation, or statistics, under the new URL.

You use the content and readers, and regain your search engine reputation. And you watch your statistics.

If your blog has its own search engine reputation, it gets indexed by the search engines, directly. As the BlogSpot URL of your blog is indexed, the "301 Moved Permanently" redirect, from the BlogSpot to custom domain URL, will contribute to reputation for the domain URL.

A blog with established readers has reputation - and a start to re indexing.

If your blog has readers who link their blog to yours, your blog gets indexed by the search engines, indirectly. As a readers blogs is indexed, and a link to your blog is found, the link to your blog is followed. Readers blogs that point to the BlogSpot URL, again using the "301 Moved Permanently" redirect, will similarly contribute to reputation for the domain URL.

Each of the various traffic sources - people (Followers / readers / subscribers), and robots (search engines and other automated services) - will contribute, in different ways, to the indexing of the domain URL.

First, learn how to prepare and support a custom domain.

Before you start, understand the right way to purchase and setup a custom domain. And understand the nature of, and need for, the 3 to 5 day Transition Period, which follows the purchase of a new domain, using "Buy a domain" - and should be observed with any new domain.

During the migration, you'll find:

• You'll get better results from a properly setup domain. Always start, with a properly setup domain.
• You'll find the diagnostic utilities in Google Webmaster Tools to be essential, in helping you objectively observe and correct any problems.
• As search engines index your blog, they adjust their indexing to follow the rate that you publish. If you publish weekly, they will, at most, re index your blog weekly. The less often you publish, the less often the blog gets re indexed.
• The entire blog won't be re indexed at one time. You'll always have new posts, that have not been individually indexed.
• While re indexing of the blog is in progress, you'll have some posts indexed under the BlogSpot URL, and other posts indexed under the domain URL.
• As additional posts are indexed under the domain URL, those same posts will drop from indexing under the BlogSpot URL. If this were not so, you'd end up with "duplicate content" penalties. The purpose of the "301 Moved Permanently" redirect is to avoid this duplication, and penalties.
• With the indexing of the blog split between the two base URLs, the reputation overall will be lower. You get better reputation with all content indexed under one base URL - and this won't be the case until the migration is complete.
• With lower reputation, your posts will have poorer SERP position - some posts indexed under the old BlogSpot URL, others under the new domain URL - though all SERP entries will get your readers to the new domain.
• With poorer SERP position overall, you'll have a period of significantly less search originated traffic.
• The more often that you publish, during the migration, the more you'll compensate for the drop in reader traffic.
• As the blog is re indexed under the new URL, reputation - and Page Rank - will pick up again.
• You'll observe activity, in Webmaster Tools, for both the old and new URLs, for a while after the domain becomes active.
• Some tools, used under simple blog renames, are not used with custom domains. Specifically, custom domain publishing does not use the post feed redirect.

Beware gratuitous scripts, which interfere with BlogSpot to domain redirection!

If your blog has gratuitous scripted redirection, installed to block country local domain redirection, you'll want to remove this code. Country local domain redirection blocking, followed by BlogSpot to domain redirection, will leave some readers (only some, not all) seeing

Too many redirections!

or similar advice, in their browser. Other readers may simply see the blog as offline, because of its new URL.

The transition period, and loss of reputation and traffic, can't be avoided.

You cannot avoid the new domain transition period, and reduced traffic level - you will have to endure it. In the end, if you manage the migration properly, you'll find that it was worth it.

With a new, properly setup non BlogSpot URL, more blog content, and the same reader population (forwarded from the BlogSpot URL), search engine reputation (and Page Rank) will pick up and should continue rising, beyond where it was before you started the migration.