FaceBook Popularity, And URL Changes

Not every blog owner understands the effect of a Blogger URL change, in FaceBook - and the resulting popularity of the blog.

I am planning on changing my blog name and redirecting my blogger blog to a custom domain. Why would that affect my Facebook followers?

A Blogger URL change won't affect your FaceBook Followers directly. Your existing Followers can continue to Follow your blog, under the BlogSpot URL - and under the custom domain URL - as it is Liked, and shared, in FaceBook.

The Likes count affects the possibility of a share, of a post in your blog, to attract new Followers.

URL changes, as permitted and provided by Blogger and / or FaceBook, are easy enough to make.

If you change the URL of the blog, when it's later shared in FaceBook, you will have a different blog. If you redirect your Blogger blog to a properly setup custom domain, you will have a blog that is shared under a different URL - and you'll have a new Likes counter.

A Like will be counted against the URL of the post that is Liked.

If someone Likes your blog in FaceBook, the Like will be counted against the URL used to address the blog, in the FaceBook post being shared.

You can either count your Likes under the current BlogSpot URL - or the new URL. Just choose the URL that's used, when it's shared.



If you publicise the blog, in FaceBook, using the current BlogSpot URL, the Like will be applied against that URL. This will not contribute to popularity of the custom domain URL - and the new blog identity. The custom domain will get no Likes - and the blog will continue to be seen, in Facebook, under the BlogSpot URL.

If you publicise the blog, in FaceBook, using the custom domain URL, the Like will be applied against the custom domain URL. The blog will not benefit from popularity of the BlogSpot URL - and the current blog identity. The BlogSpot URL will get no Likes - and the blog will be seen, in Facebook, under the custom domain URL.

You are allowed to change the blog URL, by both Blogger and FaceBook.

You are allowed to change the URL of the blog, in Blogger. You can change the BlogSpot URL, to a different BlogSpot name. You can change the domain URL, to a custom domain. You can change both the BlogSpot and domain URLs, if you wish.

Either way you change the URL, you will end up with a different URL, when shared in FaceBook. And with your posts shared using a different URL, you will have Likes counted using a different counter. This isn't a question of what FaceBook lets you do - it's a question of how they count the Likes, that apply to your blog.

You will need to move forward, using your new custom domain URL, and starting with 0 Likes - or stay where you are, using the current BlogSpot URL, and continuing with the current Likes counter. FaceBook will let you do either. They just won't be able to help you do both, at the same time.

This is really just one more detail, in re indexing a blog, after a URL change.

---

If you change the URL of a #Blogger blog, #FaceBook popularity will be affected. You (or any reader) can share the blog using either the current or new URL - and any Likes received for a share will apply to the URL used.

The blog will appear under two (or more) different URLs - a known effect of republishing.

Social Sharing Popularity, And URL Changes

As both custom domain publishing, and social sharing networks, become normal with many blogs, we see anguish when blog owners change the URLs of their blogs, without planning for the effects of the change.

What happened to my Likes?

This blog owner - and many others - do not realise that FaceBook counts Likes, based on the URL, not the blog.

FaceBook Likes, and Google+ +1s, are counted by URL - and are not controlled by DNS redirection, or simple name changes. If you rename your blog, you get a new URL with a new popularity counter, in FaceBook and Google+.

Some social sharing services allow for URL changes.

BlogLovin lets you transfer Followers from one URL to another.

BlogLovin, for instance, provides for transfer of Followers, to a new URL - as long as the blog owner owns both the old and new URL.

First, make sure that you've claimed both of your blogs.

Once both blogs are claimed, navigate to "My blog" and select the "Edit Blog Info" option next to your original blog.

From the "Move Followers" dropdown menu, select the blog you'd like to move your followers to and click "Move". This will remove your original blog and move your followers to your new blog of choice.

Start from any BlogLovin page.

Select "Blog analytics" from the drop down menu.

Click "Edit blog info".

Select a blog, from the drop down blog menu, in the "Edit blog info" wizard - and click on "Move Followers".



Whether you have a blog with a new URL, or a blog with multiple feeds and groups of Followers, BlogLovin lets you consolidate / move Followers so you can address your Followers, conveniently.

Blogger Followers stay with the blog, automatically.

With a Blogger blog, and Blogger Following / Google Friend Connect, your Followers Follow the blog - not the URL. You can rename the blog, and change the URL - but as long as you don't change the BlogID, your Followers remain with your blog.

FaceBook and Google+ give you a new counter, for each URL.

Neither FaceBook or Google+ provide a similar option. To both FaceBook and Google+, if you change the URL of the blog, you have a new blog. Google+ Followers - unlike Blogger Followers - Follow the URL.

With custom domain publishing, and the BlogSpot to domain redirect, the attention of your Followers may end up on your redirected blog - but the +1 counter and Followers community, that was based on the BlogSpot URL, stays with the BlogSpot URL. With the blog published to the domain, your blog gets a counter and community for the domain URL - and starts over.

With a BlogSpot to BlogSpot URL change, and a domain to BlogSpot URL change, everything starts over.

FaceBook Likes are counted, within FaceBook - and Google+ +1s are counted, within Google+. Both are based on the URL of the blog which accrues the Likes and +1s. If you change the URL of the blog, you get a new counter - and a new Followers community.

A URL change is effective for different changes, to a Blogger blog.

• BlogSpot to BlogSpot name change.
• BlogSpot to custom domain republishing.
• Custom domain to custom domain change.
• Custom domain to BlogSpot republishing.

All of these are URL changes - and are treated as a different blog, for most social sharing services.

BlogLovin supports URL changes. Neither FaceBook, Google+, or LinkedIn provides this ability. You change the URL, you start over with +1 / Like count, Followers community, and sharing reputation.

---

With most social sharing services, if you change the URL of a #Blogger blog, you start over accumulating +1s, Followers, and Likes. BlogLovin appears to be alone, in letting you transfer Followers from one blog to another - if you create a new blog, or change the URL of an existing blog.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/ZiozKZOS07Q

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/gkmBV6s03Ck

Changing Your Custom Domain - The Next Chapter

We see some blog owners deciding to change their custom domain URLs - and discovering an unexpected limitation, in re indexing the blog, under the new URL

I received email from Google, advising that my previous domain is pulling up a number of 404 errors. I've noticed that these are for individual blog posts.

When you change one custom domain to another, you may not see the domain re indexed, transparently.

Changing a Blogger blog, from one custom domain to another, is a reasonably simple project - if you're able to plan the change.

A domain change should involve simply re indexing the blog.

A simple custom domain name change involves republishing the blog, under a new domain. Retaining readers, and search engine access, requires slightly more work.

Renaming a custom domain - if it involves a BlogSpot rename - becomes significantly more complicated.

Renaming a custom domain - and having the individual post URLs in the old domain working, after the change - will require slightly more effort, than any of the above requirements.

With GoDaddy, using specific settings, you may be able to forward post URLs.

In one forum topic, a domain owner was able to forward a domain, using instructions provided by GoDaddy - so individual post URLs redirect properly.

In the GoDaddy domain settings for the old (original) custom domain, activate Domain Forwarding.

1. Set the "Forward to:" address to the new custom domain.
2. Choose the Redirect Type as "301 Permanent".
3. Choose the Forward Settings as "Forward only".

This may not be the effect seen, by all blog owners. Not all registrars will provide this ability.

This is the GoDaddy DNS wizard, as of 2016.



If your domain was not registered by GoDaddy, you will have a different wizard - and most likely, ""Forward only" will be a different option. Maybe, "Forward without masking" will be a useful description.

Blogger does not support redirection, from blog URL to blog URL.

Blogger does not support redirection, between BlogSpot or custom domain URLs - as transparent redirection would simply encourage spam activity. Any redirection, from the old custom domain, has to be provided by the domain registrar.

Most registrars provide simple DNS forwarding, from one domain to another - if you are able to pay for both domains, simultaneously. Generally, most registrars will setup forwarding, from the old domain to the new published blog URL.

Not all blog owners may get the redirection, for their domain, correct.

With a domain forwarded to the published URL - using most registrar provided instructions - readers who click on the URL to a specific post, using the old domain URL, will find themselves unexpectedly viewing the blog home page, under the new domain. This will cause some confusion.

Search engine bots won't find a specific blog post, under the new domain.

A search engine bot, indexing a specific post, using the old domain URL, will be redirected to the blog home page, under the new domain URL. This will not enhance indexing of the blog.

Some search engine bots may report this as a "404 Not Found" - and blog reputation will suffer.

Here's an example of the problem.

The specific post URL ("www.chloellio.co.uk/2016/05/ fashion-river-island-plus.html") redirects to the main page ("www.chloeincurve.com").



For most obvious benefit, "www.chloellio.co.uk/2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html" should redirect to "www.chloeincurve.com/2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html" - not to the blog main page "www.chloeincurve.com".

Let's look at an HTTP trace. This shows an individual post in the blog, with forwarding provided by GoDaddy.

http://www.rexswain.com/cgi-bin/httpview.cgi?url=http://www.chloellio.co.uk/2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html&uag=Mozilla/5.0+(X11%3B+CrOS+armv7l+7978.66.0)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Chrome/50.0.2661.91+Safari/537.36&ref=http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html&aen=&req=GET&ver=1.1&fmt=AUTO

Sending request:

GET /2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.chloellio.co.uk
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; CrOS armv7l 7978.66.0) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/50.0.2661.91 Safari/537.36
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close
• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 79.170.40.4
• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...
Receiving Header:

HTTP/1.1·302·Found
Date:·Sun,·15·May·2016·17:17:57·GMT
Server:·Apache/2.2.24·(Red·Hat)
Location:·http://chloellio.co.uk/2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html

http://www.rexswain.com/cgi-bin/httpview.cgi?url=http://chloellio.co.uk/2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html&uag=Mozilla/5.0+(X11%3B+CrOS+armv7l+7978.66.0)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Chrome/50.0.2661.91+Safari/537.36&ref=http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html&aen=&req=GET&ver=1.1&fmt=TXT

Sending request:

GET /2016/05/fashion-river-island-plus.html HTTP/1.1
Host: chloellio.co.uk
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; CrOS armv7l 7978.66.0) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/50.0.2661.91 Safari/537.36
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close
• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 79.170.40.4
• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...
Receiving Header:

HTTP/1.1·302·Found
Date:·Sun,·15·May·2016·17:17:58·GMT
Server:·Apache/2.2.24·(Red·Hat)
Location:·http://www.ChloeInCurve.com

http://www.rexswain.com/cgi-bin/httpview.cgi?url=http://www.ChloeInCurve.com&uag=Mozilla/5.0+(X11%3B+CrOS+armv7l+7978.66.0)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Chrome/50.0.2661.91+Safari/537.36&ref=http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html&aen=&req=GET&ver=1.1&fmt=TXT

Sending request:

GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: www.ChloeInCurve.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; CrOS armv7l 7978.66.0) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/50.0.2661.91 Safari/537.36
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close
• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 74.125.28.121
• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...
Receiving Header:

HTTP/1.1·200·OK(CR)

<meta·content='blogger'·name='generator'/>
<link·href='http://www.chloeincurve.com/favicon.ico'·rel='icon'·type='image/x-icon'/>
<link·href='http://www.chloeincurve.com/'·rel='canonical'/>
<link·rel="alternate"·type="application/atom+xml"·title="ChloeInCurve·-·Atom"·href="http://www.chloeincurve.com/feeds/posts/default"·/>
<link·rel="alternate"·type="application/rss+xml"·title="ChloeInCurve·-·RSS"·href="http://www.chloeincurve.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss"·/>
<link·rel="service.post"·type="application/atom+xml"·title="ChloeInCurve·-·Atom"·href="https://www.blogger.com/feeds/5573572064729110417/posts/default"·/>
<link·rel="me"·href="https://www.blogger.com/profile/03895481660022671513"·/>
<link·rel="openid.server"·href="https://www.blogger.com/openid-server.g"·/>
<link·rel="openid.delegate"·href="http://www.chloeincurve.com/"·/>

Even if the domain, redirected to the new domain home page, does not generate a "404", blog reputation will not benefit. An individual post, will not be indexed immediately, when hidden behind the home page.

Not all registrars will help you change domain URLs - and retain post URLs.

If you are going to change custom domain names - and transparently redirect readers and search engines, you will need the extra effort, as described above.

Alternately, simply forward the domain, to the published Blogger URL (generally, the "www" domain host) - then concentrate on getting the blog re indexed, under the new URL. Once the blog is completely indexed under the new domain URL, people won't bookmark the old domain - and the new domain URL will be the reference, for the blog. That's what you want, at the end of the day.

Your readers will see the home page of the blog, when clicking on individual posts, indexed under the old domain URL. Then add a Featured Post, mentioning the domain change - and maybe setup one or both blog searches, for reader convenience.

---

It's possible to redirect a #Blogger blog, as published under a custom domain, to a new domain. It's not always possible to transparently redirect an individual post URL, to the new domain, however.

If you change your custom domain, you may have to expect some problems from readers and search engines.

https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/ZiozKZOS07Q/discussion

https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/9rTL7U2ZMvU/discussion

https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/Yd5qUg77wUw/discussion

Blogger Magic - Supporting A BlogSpot URL Change

Blog owners are always changing the URLs of their blogs - then asking why Blogger does not provide automatic redirection, to the new URL.

We see the occasional query, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger.

How do I redirect my readers, to my new URL?

And this is a need that will likely go unfulfilled.

If Blogger provided automated redirection, spammers would abuse it, as part of a spam publishing strategy.

Blogger wants to keep the Blogger infrastructure as free from spam, as possible.

Changing the URL is simple enough.

Just use the Publishing wizard, in the Settings - Basic page, and Edit the "Blog Address". Subject to availability, your blog will have a new URL - as you watch.


The change is not difficult. Just Edit "Blog Address".


But with a new URL, unplanned, you'll lose traffic.

Blogger does not support automated blog to blog redirection.

Trying to keep the Blogger ecosystem clean from spam, Blogger actively discourages automated redirection. Neither JavaScript or meta refresh redirection is recommended.

You can use passive redirection, though - and give your readers the choice, to read the blog using the new URL.

• Setup a blog cluster.
• Setup a stub blog, at the old URL.

Setup a blog cluster.

Publish a blog at the old URL - and pair the old and new blogs, actively. There are a number of possible techniques to use, to combine two blogs as equals.

You will need informative, interesting, and unique content, for both blogs, to get the most from this approach.

Setup a stub blog, at the old URL.

Publish a blog at the old URL - and add a single post, advising your readers about the change - with a link, taking them to the new blog. You can use a custom 404 display, to collect all existing links to posts in the blog, which will take your readers to the single post.

A Featured Post is perfect, as the single post in the stub blog.

You can redirect the blog posts feed, even though you can't redirect the posts themselves. Just redirect the old blog feed, to the new blog posts feed URL.

Combine the two approaches, if you like.

There's no need to consider the two approaches as mutually exclusive. You can use techniques from each, if you like. Simply pick an approach that suits your readers.

Just don't look for automated redirection. That's not likely to happen.

---

Some #Blogger blog owners decide to change the URL of their blog - then ask how to setup automated redirection, from the old URL to the new. That is, however not likely to be an option provided, or even allowed, by Blogger.

Blogger Magic - Changing The Blog Title

Some blog owners start a blog - then discover that they gave the blog the wrong name.

Unlike changing the Blog Name (Address), changing the Blog Name (Title) is not complicated.

You can change the title of a blog, any time you wish.

The blog name (title) is an important blog component. Changing the title is not difficult.

1. Use the Blogger dashboard Settings - Basic page.
2. Click the "Edit" link, next to "Title".
3. Make the change, as necessary.
4. Click "Save changes".

Go to the dashboard Settings - Basic page.

Click on "Edit", for "Title".

Make the change, as necessary. Click "Save changes".



The next post you publish will display the right title, in any search engine lists, and shares. If the blog uses FeedBurner, to distribute by email or provide improved newsfeed subscriptions, you may want to check the feed title also.

What effect will this have, on search engine content?

When you change the title, all of the existing posts will still be indexed, under the old title. All of the SERP entries will show the old title - and the blog will be searchable using the old title.

As the blog is re indexed, the search engines will pick up the new title. This won't happen, immediately, though.

And the people who find the blog, when searching on the old title - and click on a SERP entry referencing the blog - will see the blog with the new title.

---

The #Blogger blog title is a key blog component, which can be changed any time convenient. This is a very simple change - and can be done without planning.

Change A Post To Draft, To Change The Post URL

Long ago, a renamed blog post would automatically receive a new URL, to match a change in date or title.

Blog owners would happily rename posts - and see a new URL, with no problem. Those blog owners who monitored search engine activity, however, later became concerned by the "404"s, shown in the search engine activity logs, in Webmaster Tools - or from various test searches.

Blogger later gave us dashboard and post editor options, to let us intentionally change a post URL, when necessary - and stopped allowing incidental changes to the date or URL, when editing post content.

Settings - Search preferences has the "Custom Page Not Found" and "Custom Redirects" wizards, for dealing with existing posts with changed URLs - and the Post Editor "Post settings" has the "Permalink" wizard, to change URLs of new posts.

This gives blog owners the ability to Edit and Publish posts, and to adjust URLs, independently - and makes it harder for owners to accidentally generate "404"s with existing posts.

You can change a post to Draft status, to change the date or URL.

Recently, people discovered that changing a Published post, to Draft status, would reset a post. A Published post, changed to Draft, and later Published again, would act as a new post would have, when Published.

Blog owners wishing to change the URL of an existing post would change a post back to Draft status, change the Date and / or Title, then Republish - and the post would have a new URL to match the new Date / Title.

This worked great - for owners intentionally wanting a new URL for their renamed posts.

You can also publish a post to Draft, to re use the URL of that post.

If you delete a post, then publish a new post with that same title, you will get a post with a URL containing a duplication prevention suffix - because deletion of a post does not let you re use a URL. If you publish a post to Draft, that resets the URL - and lets you publish a new post to that same URL.

Saving a post as Draft, to edit, can allow URL change - and cause broken links.

Some blog owners use Draft status, for previously Published posts, differently

You can take a published post offline, as a Draft post - then change the Title, and various other settings. This will not change the URL - unless you also change the Permalink, before you Publish.

If you do change the URL, be mindful of the links that may refer to the old URL.

If you want the URL to change, you will have to change the permalink.

While the post is in Draft status, find "Permalink" in "Post settings", in the right sidebar of post editor. Select "Custom Permalink", and change the title section of the post URL. Then select "Done".

Note you will only be able to change the title section of the permalink. You can't change the year, month, or extension ("html") any more.

If I wanted to, I could rename this post, when in Draft status.

Change Posts To Draft, To Change The Post URLs

I could change the post URL, to match.

change-posts-to-draft-to-change-post-urls

The most obvious change that I could get, then would be

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2015/01/change-posts-to-draft-to-change-post-urls.html

Fix broken links, by adding a custom redirect.

We can use the same tools to correct mistakes, as we can to make changes.

If you change the URL - and cause broken links, and / or "404" entries in Search Console / Webmaster Tools, when re Publishing a Draft post, just add a Custom redirect from the old URL, to the new URL. One new redirect takes but a few seconds to add - and will keep your readers, the search engines, and you happier.

Using A Custom Domain Outside Blogger

From time to time, we see questions about using a Blogger / Google custom domain, with publishing services outside Blogger / Google.

Some Blogger blog owners want to combine their Blogger blogs, with non Blogger blogs and websites - and others want simply to move their blogging activity to non Blogger services. And a few think ahead, and wonder how adding or moving to another service will affect the ability of their existing readers to find their blog, and / or their ability to get new readers.

As with using a Blogger blog with an existing non Google domain, this is not a simple project - and to do this properly will require research - and well informed decisions. Some assistance can be provided by Blogger or in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger - and other portions of the project will require advice or instruction from the support groups for the new service.

Start by deciding how the domain is to be used, with the new website.

Consider The Options

There are several ways to add / substitute a non Blogger blog / website, in a domain purchased for use with a Blogger blog.

1. Transfer domain registration, to the registrar, as required by the new hosting service.
2. Update DNS for the domain, to use name servers, as required by the new hosting service.
3. Update DNS for the domain, to use only addresses pointing to the new hosting service.
4. Update DNS for the domain, to use additional addresses pointing to the new hosting service.

Which of these options, that you are able to use, will depend upon requirements of the new hosting service.

WordPress provides detailed instructions, in WordPress Support: Coming from Blogger?. Not all hosting services will be so helpful, however.

Retain / Transfer Existing Traffic

Options #1 - #3 will require you to start a new URL, published by the new hosting service. Blogger will not permit blogs to be used as gateways. You'll have to get your new blog / website indexed, from the bottom up - with no automatic traffic from your Blogger blog.

Any followers or readers, that are associated with your Blogger blog, will have to be redirected to your new blog / website using visual instructions - or at best a clickable link, in a stub blog. You may be able to redirect subscribers - if the new host offers a compatible newsfeed.

You probably won't be able to publish your stub Blogger blog to the domain, though - so chances are, any of these options will leave you starting over - with no instructions to your existing followers and readers, excepting what you provide before moving the domain.

Option #4 will require you to add an additional host, in the domain with your existing Blogger blog. If your new hosting service supports, you may be able to make your Blogger blog and new blog / website equal members of a domain based cluster.

For a domain cluster to be really effective, you will need to maintain both the existing Blogger blog, and the new non Blogger website as separate entities - and have unique content, regularly updated for each.

Access The Current Registrar Dashboard

Whether you transfer domain hosting, or update the domain, you will need access to the current registrar's dashboard.

• For domains purchased using Blogger / Google "Buy a domain ..." or similar services, access to the registrar's dashboard will require access to the Google Apps / Control Panel utility.
• For domains purchased directly from the registrar, access to the registrar's dashboard will require an account / password that (hopefully) was setup when the domain was purchased.

You will need access to the registrar's dashboard to obtain the EPP code, required by Option #1 - or to make changes to the domain, required by Options #2 - #4.

You May Need Google Apps Access

Most projects - but not all - which involve custom domains require Google Apps access - and establishing Google Apps access is the most common concern, when access to the registrar's dashboard is needed.

1. Get access to Google Apps.
2. That will give you access to the registrar's dashboard.
3. Retrieve the EPP code, or update the DNS addresses per instructions of the additional / new blogging host service - depending upon which Option you are taking.

In some cases, and if you are considering multiple non Google services, choice of what new service you go with may start with identifying migration / setup options provided by each different service.

Regain Followers, Readers, Subcribers, Search Engine Reputation - And Traffic

A domain moved to use outside Blogger will be similar to a new blog / website - with some characteristics of a renamed Blogger blog, and / or a newly published custom domain blog. Just as all Blogger blogs are unique, so will be any domain migration.

You may consider moving existing blog content, to the new service. This will require planning, and testing.

Both the actual movement of the content - and preventing Blogger spam classification, if you move the content - will be important.

You need to understand all of these issues, to regain traffic sources. Blog / website traffic is a complex subject.

Respect Your Existing Audience

If the question of existing / new followers, subscribers, and readers, and search engine reputation, resulting from the move, is a serious issue with you, you may want to plan your move from Blogger with great care.

You won't be able to blatantly redirect your existing readers to your new website - you will need a carefully planned dual website publishing strategy.

Start With The Support Group For The Chosen Service

If you are going to host a blog or website outside Blogger / Google, you must start with instructions from the support group for the new blog / website. DNS is a key issue, in any domain migration - whether BlogSpot to non BlogSpot, or non BlogSpot to non Google.

---

Occasionally, a #Blogger blog owner decides to move their blog to a non Google website. Starting with advice in Blogger Help Forum, the owner learns that many necessary decisions, related to a hosting change, require support from the new website host.

Not every blog owner realises why setting up and publishing a Blogger blog is so simple, until they have to make decisions about hosting outside Google.

Renaming Your Blog, And Historical Stats Pageview Counts

Occasionally, we see odd questions about Stats, and the history of someone's blog (or maybe, the URL of someone's blog), in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

If I started my blog last year, why does my Stats display show pageviews from 2, or even 3, years ago?

and

If I rename my blog to a better URL, how do I carry the Stats numbers to the new URL?

Neither blog owner shows an accurate understanding of the historical nature of Stats pageview counts.

The Blogger servers record access activity by URL - not by blog.

Stats extracts pageview counts as needed, by URL, from the Blogger server logs. If the URL of your blog is "myfineblog.blogspot.com", and you request pageview counts for your blog, for "All time", you will see pageview counts against "myfineblog.blogspot.com", for Stats since May 2006 (as currently the case).

If the URL of your blog was "myexcellentblog.blogspot.com" until you renamed the blog to "myfineblog.blogspot.com" 6 months ago, you will see historical pageview counts for "myfineblog.blogspot.com" - which will include your blog, starting 6 months ago. You won't see pageview counts for "myexcellentblog.blogspot.com", from a year ago, because you'll be seeing historical pageview counts for "myfineblog.blogspot.com".

If someone else had a blog, published to "myfineblog.blogspot.com", before you renamed your blog to its current URL, your Stats displays could include pageview counts reflecting access to that blog. If "myfineblog.blogspot.com" was never used before you renamed your blog to that URL, it's possible that your pageview counts include attempted access to a non existent URL.

If you're using Google Webmaster Tools with your blog (and you should be doing that), you can check the access logs for "404 Not Found" events in the WMT logs. Just as a tree, falling in the forest, makes a sound even when nobody is around, so can access attempts exist against URLs where no blog is published.

Some referer spam appears to be sent to all likely URLs, ignoring whether or not a blog actually exists, at that URL. Referer spam is not unique to Blogger, and has been a problem since before Blogger became a major player in the Internet world.

If you just started a blog, or just renamed your blog to its current URL, your pageview counts can reflect historical referer spam, against your current URL, from before your blog was published to the current URL. As Blogger identifies specific referer spam campaigns, and eliminates some referer spam from Stats logs, this is one more possible cause of fluctuations in pageview counts.

If the possibility of seeing bogus pageview counts, for your blog as published to the current URL, does not please you, I will again point out that you'll get more out of your blog if you spend less time worrying about the details of the Stats displays, and more time working on your blog.

Look at activity before the blog was published as "noise", and look at current activity as "signal" - and work on improving the "signal to noise" ratio. Be aware of the value of your blog, and work on improving the value.

>> Top

Custom Domain Migration, And Google+ Comments

With both custom domain publishing, and Google+ hosted comments, becoming more popular, it is inevitable that the two subjects would interact.

One key difference between Blogger hosted comments, and Google+ hosted comments, is how they associate with the host blog. Blogger hosted comments link to the blog - but Google+ hosted comments (aka Google+ stream posts) link to the URL.

Any time you change the URL of your blog, you will lose Google+ hosted comments - from your blog. The Google+ stream posts, however, are still out there - and they still link back to your blog.

Any existing Google+ stream posts, mentioning your blog, will link to the BlogSpot URL of your blog, after you migrate to a custom domain.

A properly executed custom domain migration will produce a BlogSpot URL redirected to the Domain URL. Any existing Google+ Stream posts will continue to link to the blog, because of the redirect.

Any existing Google+ comments, that are associated with your blog, are out there, in your readers Google+ streams.

All that you lose, with custom domain migration, is the ability to associate all of the different conversations about your blog, between the people conversing about your blog. Like URL changes in general, you lose a tiny bit of control - but you gain visibility.

Blogger Does Not Support ".htaccess" Based Redirection

If you rename a non Blogger hosted website - and you retain ownership of the previous domain (or re publish a website within the same domain), you can redirect traffic from the old URL to the new URL, for some websites, using the ".htaccess" control file.

Some Blogger blog owners, used to setting up ".htaccess" based redirection for non Blogger websites, have renamed their blog - either from one BlogSpot URL to another, or maybe from a custom domain URL to another URL. Finding the links in the blog now broken, they wonder.

How do I setup .htaccess for the old URL?

This is an option that Blogger does not provide.

Blogger, in general, does not encourage redirection of traffic.

Traffic redirection is an option which many spammers would appreciate. Blogger hosts too many spammers and other miscreants, and they want less spammers - not more.

Redirect within a blog, using custom redirects.

You can use custom redirects, for redirecting specific URLs within a blog. Custom redirects work on a single URL basis, they do not support any type of masking or URL patterns. And custom redirects can't be used for redirecting from one blog to another - or for redirecting outside Blogger.

Blogger does not provide file / folder access.

".htaccess" is a file that is installed in the domain root - and blog owners do not have access to the "blogspot.com" root folder.

If you have just re published a blog from a custom domain back to BlogSpot, you are retaining the domain, and you do not plan to re use the domain for a non Blogger hosted website, you may be able to setup .htaccess on the domain - if the domain host supports it.

Short of that, you are going to have to focus on getting the blog re indexed, under the new URL - and get on with publishing the blog.

Before Publishing Back To BlogSpot, Get The DNS Addresses Right

One problem, occasionally seen in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, involves blog owners preparing to re use their custom domain for publishing their website - and who now need to publish their Blogger blog back to BlogSpot.

I need to reuse my domain for my website - but when I try to re publish my blog, I keep seeing

Another blog is already hosted at this address.

How can I get my blog back online?

When we look at the domain, and the DNS addresses, we see the domain pointing to the website, already. And this is where many custom domain publishing problems start.

Any time you make any change to a blog, that involves custom domain publishing, the changes will go much more smoothly with the domain properly pointing to the blog.

Whether you are setting up a new custom domain publishing, changing a custom domain publishing, or maybe removing a custom domain publishing, the publishing process works much better with the domain properly redirected to the Google database.

One of the causes of the mysterious message

Another blog is already hosted at this address

comes from the domain not being properly redirected to the Google servers. When the Blogger re publishing process can't continue because the domain DNS addresses are not correct, the process terminates with an error. Whenever any database change terminates with an error, it's always possible that the process may not clean up after itself before ending - and artifacts (aka broken pointers) will be left behind in the database.

The next time that you try to re publish the blog - or when you (or your readers) try to view the blog - you (or they) will see, yet again

Another blog is already hosted at this address.

or an alternate

Server Not Found Error 404

When that happens, you have only one choice - recycle the domain settings - and pray to the deity of your choice.

The latter processes are not known to be 100% effective. The best way to deal with them is to never deal with them - to not start by causing a problem. That means to always keep the domain DNS addresses righteous, whenever maintaining a custom domain published blog.

If you are going to use your domain for a non Blogger website, always publish your Blogger blog back to BlogSpot, first. Then, verify the status of the blog. Finally, and with no problems discovered, change the DNS addresses.

Cloning Your Blog

Occasionally, we see evidence of wistful thinking in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?.

How do I make an exact copy of my blog, to another URL?

This should be a simple enough task - but it's not.

Before planning to clone a blog, using exact content, design, and layout, one should always bear in mind the search engines, and the possibility that both a clone may be subject to search engine duplicated content penalty - which may affect both blogs. Search engines want to index one copy of everything. When there are multiple copies of a given post on the Internet, all copies must be treated with suspicion.

When planning any cloning operation, we must consider the essential elements of a blog.

• Accessories and Gadgets. There is currently no easy way to copy XML based accessories from one blog to another.
• Blog Address. This is unique for each blog, and cannot be cloned. All blog content, which refers to the blog address (URL) must be updated. Internal links must be edited, to point to other articles within the target blog. External references to the blog may or may not need to be updated, to point to the new address.
• Comments and Posts. Blog "articles" written by blog members and visitors can be copied from the source blog to the target blog, using the Export / Import wizards. Note one known caution, which should be observed when Importing content.
• Layout and Template. The blog template can be copied from the source blog to the target blog, using the Template backup and restore wizards.
• Blog Reputation. As with any new blog, this will start from scratch. All external links and references - whether the search engines, or the user community in general - must start from zero. This will be vaguely similar to the process of renaming a blog - with the exception of the reputation of both the source and target blogs, as noted above.

Some people, mindful of the inability to copy an XML based accessory / gadget, will suggest extracting the HTML rendered equivalent, from a blog source listing - then creating an HTML gadget in the target blog, using the extracted HTML from the source blog. This is a possible workaround, with several downsides.

• This will be a manual and repetitive process, one gadget at a time.
• Any gadgets, copied this way, will be based on HTML, and can't be maintained using an XML wizard.
• The content of any gadgets, copied this way, will be static.

One specific accessory, Followers, is a part of both the source blog, and the Followers community - the collective profiles owned by all of the Followers. The Followers gadget simply cannot be copied, from one blog to another.

Other than the exceptions of the Accessories, and of the Followers community and gadget, almost any Blogger blog can be cloned - with the proper planning and understanding.

>> Top

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.

>> Top

Custom Domain Publishing - Moving Back To BlogSpot, Using The New GUI, Isn't Obvious

The New Blogger GUI (2011) has been available for just over 6 months - and we see new confusion about using it, daily, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?.

How do I cancel my custom domain redirect, in the New GUI?

This is one specific question, that's been asked, recently.

The answer to that specific question is actually right there, in front of us - we just don't see it.

Blogger, like Google, likes to use overlay panels for some displays, such as how you see the picture below - when you click on it.

In the new GUI, if I look at the Blog Address settings for this blog, in Settings - Basic - Publishing, I see

See the "X"?
(Click on the picture, to better see the details.)



"Edit" is a link, that lets me "Edit" my custom domain settings. The "Edit" wizard (which simply pops up in the same display, when I click on "Edit") does not let me change the URL of the blog back to BlogSpot - and this is the start of some confusion.

To remove the custom domain redirect, and re publish the blog to the domain - or publish back to BlogSpot - one must click on the "X" in the top right. With the publishing shown as

blogging.nitecruzr.net                Edit               X
bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com     redirects

clicking on the "X" lets me remove the custom domain redirect. Clicking on "Edit" only lets me change specific custom domain settings, such as selecting the "naked domain" redirect option.

When you click on the "X", you will get a verification popup.

Are you sure? This will remove the current custom domain.

And you'll want to hit "Yes".

So, click on the "X" (it's actually in black - I show it in red, above, to make it more obvious), to clear the custom domain redirect and publish back to the original BlogSpot URL. If you don't see the "X", click in the upper right corner of that window - to the right of "Edit" and just left of the window border. Apparently, not all browsers display the "X" properly.

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.

Republishing A Custom Domain Blog

Sometimes, when you are publishing a blog to a custom domain, you'll have a problem with the settings. Some settings problems can only be solved by repeating the publishing process. But you can't repeat the process - once a blog is published to a URL, you can't just publish again, to the domain URL.

In some cases, you have to publish the blog back to BlogSpot, then re publish to the domain. In other cases, you have to return the blog to a BlogSpot publishing, so you can solve some problems now - and return to the domain publishing, at some unknown time in the future.

This is all done from the Settings - Publishing wizard, which you access from the Blogger dashboard - and it's as easy as 1 - 2 - 3 - 4.

1. Always start by getting a new ownership verification token, and adding it to the domain DNS address list. Pay careful attention to DNS address entry conventions! If you are instructed to add a "CNAME", you do have to add a "CNAME" - regardless of older instructions!
2. If the blog is currently published to the non BlogSpot domain, you'll simply have to click on the "X", to re publish to the previous BlogSpot URL.
3. Click on

   Add a custom domain

4. Now, you have several possibilities.
   1. In many cases, you will be republishing to an otherwise properly purchased domain. Click on

      Switch to advanced settings

      The previously used custom domain should be already displayed, in the Advanced settings window. Click on the Save button, and your domain should be online.
   2. Occasionally, the domain was not successfully purchased, even though the BlogSpot URL redirects. Alternately, you may have let the domain expire - and you now have to buy a new domain. In either case, you have to purchase a domain, again.
5. OK, it couldn't be quite that simple, could it? Don't forget to select

   Redirect mydomain.com to www.mydomain.com

   if desired - and if you are not publishing to the domain root.

Solve the CAPTCHAs handily enough, and you can be done in 5 minutes. It's 5 minutes well spent, too.

---

For more details on the re publishing process, see Roberto's Report: Re-Publishing to blogspot.com, and back to a Custom Domain.

---

>> Top

Use The Post Feed Redirect URL, When You Rename Your Blog

When we rename a blog, we use the Post Feed Redirect URL to redirect all feed references, from the old URL to the new feed URL.

When we setup a custom feed for a blog, maybe using FeedBurner, we use the Post Feed Redirect URL to redirect all feed references, from the blog, to the FeedBurner feed. That lets us use a FeedBurner feed without having to change all of the feed links in the blog.

Besides using the Post Feed Redirect URL to setup a FeedBurner feed, you can use the Post Feed Redirect URL when you re publish the blog to a new BlogSpot URL.

Please! Be sure to setup the Post Feed Redirect in the proper direction.

Using the post feed redirect is a simple, 1 - 2 - 3 exercise.

1. Publish a stub blog, to the old URL.
2. Determine the URL of the blog post feed, under the new URL.
3. Set the post feed redirect, for the stub blog.

Publish a stub blog, to the old URL.

Immediately after you re publish the blog to its new URL, you should be setting up a stub blog, to visually point your readers to the new URL. Besides visually pointing your readers, you can re point your subscribers - again using the stub blog.

Determine the URL of the blog post feed, under the new URL.

Copy the updated feed URL from the blog header. Precision is essential when redirecting the feed, so let Blogger do the work for you here - determine the new post feed URL, properly.

Set the post feed redirect, for the stub blog.

Go to Settings - Other, for the stub blog, published to the old URL. Edit the "Post Feed Redirect URL", and paste the new feed URL, as just copied.

When you do this, all subscribers to your blog, under the old URL, should see the blog feed in its new home, with linked content. The search engines, indexing the blog using a sitemap based upon the old URL, should start indexing it using the new URL.

Properly done, this should give your blog, under the new URL, a good start towards regaining the search engine reputation that it had, under the old URL.

Renaming Your Blog - Planning The Change Properly

Your blog depends upon traffic for its success.

Anything that affects the traffic to your blog, such as a change in the URL, affects the success of your blog. If you republish your blog to a different BlogSpot URL, as with migration to a custom domain, you will not lose any content. Both comments, posts, the template, and all custom settings, will stay with the blog. And if you plan the republishing effort, you can minimise the loss of traffic.

Properly planning the migration, to a different BlogSpot URL, will require different techniques than a simple custom domain republishing.

All 3 URL changes produce similar effects, though - and it's in your best interest to do what you can, to minimise the effects.

1. BlogSpot to BlogSpot URL change.
2. BlogSpot to custom domain re publishing.
3. Custom domain to BlogSpot re publishing.

All 3 changes require your blog to be re indexed by the search engines - and leave the blog with less search engines generated traffic, while being re indexed.

A BlogSpot to BlogSpot URL change is different from a custom domain publishing.

Custom domain re publishing has a feature that BlogSpot to BlogSpot URL changes lack. This will reduce negative effects of the URL change - with the domain properly setup.

With a custom domain republishing, the old (BlogSpot) URL is redirected to the new (domain) URL, using a "301 Moved Permanently" instruction. A "301 Moved Permanently" redirect simply repoints each individual URL in the blog to the new URL.

Unlike a custom domain renaming, you cannot choose an available URL, before you begin.

This post (using the domain URL) is "blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/03/renaming-your-blog-planning-change.html". I can, alternately, advertise it as "bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com/2010/03/renaming-your-blog-planning-change.html". That's the "301 Moved Permanently" redirection, in action. All traffic is forwarded, automatically.

There is no way to add "301 Moved Permanently" redirect to a BlogSpot rename.

Blogger won't provide a "301 Moved Permanently" for a BlogSpot rename, as this would encourage spammers to move their splogs around, endlessly. The best that you can do is to use a stub blog, with proper planning.

If you want the blog offline permanently - or if you don't want other people recreating the blog under its current name, you will want to plan the renaming - just as you would (or should) plan a deletion. If the URL becomes available, the same content / impersonation / privacy issues will exist.

Consider the categories of traffic sources, and the effects.

As with a custom domain migration, you'll want to consider the traffic to the blog, in categories.

• Blog Feeds - Automated processes, that help your readers track changes to your blog, using a newsfeed reader.
• Following - The two way community process, that lets you see who your readers are.
• Google Webmaster Tools - Key diagnostic and management utilities, that - among other things - enable indexing of the blog by the search engines.
• Search engines - Robotic processes which methodically surf your blog, and provide dynamic indexing to people who search for information.
• Viewers - People who read your content from their browser.

Blog Feeds are the easiest and cleanest category to redirect. Even though Blogger won't provide a "301 Moved Permenantly" for the blog URL, they will provide this for the feed URL, using a blog post feed redirect URL.

With the post feed enabled for both the live blog (under the new URL), and the stub blog (under the old URL), set the Post Feed Redirect URL for the stub blog to the exact value of the feed URL for the live blog. Your Followers and subscribers, using the old URL, will continue to see newsfeeds for your live blog, while using the old URL.

Following, with the renaming done correctly, is easy to redirect. Your Followers, as mentioned above, can view the blog feed using the old URL, with no problem. With the blog renamed simply using Settings - Publishing, your Followers will continue to be associated with the blog, with no further action by you.

Google Webmaster Tools are a vital part of the migration, and should be handled immediately after you re publish the blog, and then immediately after you setup the stub blog. You'll have several challenges here.

1. The "robots.txt" file for the blog, as renamed, may contain the old URL.
2. The new URL for the blog won't exist in Google Webmaster Tools, so you have to add that. When you verify blog ownership, you'll have to remove the GWT verification tags for the blog, that were used under the old URL.
3. You'll have to setup sitemaps for all posts in the blog, under the new URL, to complement / replace those under the old URL before the blog was re published.

The search engines will be the most frustrating part of any blog rename. Without any possibility of a "301 Moved Permanently" redirect, or anything remotely similar, any SERP hits will land the prospective viewer on a 404 display. Your best strategy is to manage the other categories aggressively, and hope that the search engines re index your blog promptly under the new URL.

Your viewers will have to be redirected using the stub post in the stub blog, published under the old URL. Your viewers looking for the main page of the blog will see the stub post, with no problem. Your viewers clicking on a direct link to a single post, an archive or label search, or possibly a SERP hit, will get a 404 display.

Page not found
Sorry, the page you were looking for in the blog The Real Blogger Status does not exist.

Go to blog homepage

The "Go to blog homepage" link will, hopefully, display the stub post - and they can follow the link to the new URL. That's a start, and it's all thanks to the Blogger custom 404 display.

OK, lets summarise the tasks involved.

1. Is this blog published to a Google custom domain? If so, read about specific issues related to custom domain URL changes.
2. Re publish the blog, under the new URL.
3. Enable the feeds, and verify feed URLs.
4. Setup Google Webmaster Tools for the blog, under the new URL. Look in the Sitemap list for the blog. Any sitemaps in there right now will likely point to the old URL, so these need to be removed. Then, add sitemaps for all posts.
5. Setup a stub blog, under the old URL.
6. Set the Post Feed Redirect URL, to point to the feed for the new URL.
7. Check Google Webmaster Tools for the blog, under the old URL. Look in the Sitemap list for the blog. You'll probably have to re add all sitemaps for the blog, to enable the search engines to index the blog, starting from the old URL, through the redirected feed.
8. Are you using a FeedBurner (or another custom feed)? If so, update FeedBurner, then check the Post Feed Redirect URL setting.
9. Check and update all Google Webmaster Tools settings, between the old and new URLs. Think carefully about each setting, and decide whether it should apply to the blog under the old URL, under the new URL, or both.
10. Are you using Mail-to-Blogger to publish to the blog? If so, check your Mail-to-Blogger addresses.

And if possible, read about the details involved in the rename process before you rename the existing blog. This last caution especially applies to changing one non BlogSpot URL to another non BlogSpot URL.

Static Pages In A Renamed Blog

It's possible that Blogger takes the term "static", as in "Static Pages", very seriously.

I've been hearing rumours of odd URLs in blogs that are renamed - ie, published under a new URL - where static pages are present. Today, I setup a brief experiment.

You may see the result of my experiment, in my test blog "Nitecruzr Test Pages In Renamed Blog". The blog started out as "nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-rename.blogspot.com". You are welcome to click on that link, if you wish. It won't get you anywhere, though.

After I setup the blog, I published a couple Static Pages - "About Me" and "About This Blog", with a tab bar below the header, as the Pages gadget.

After publishing the pages, I renamed the blog to its current URL "nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-renamed.blogspot.com". Do you see the name change?

nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-rename.blogspot.com
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-renamed.blogspot.com

A very small change, but it's significant.

And now, please examine the blog itself. Observe the URL of the first post, "Lorem Ipsum".

nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-renamed.blogspot.com/2010/03/lorem-ipsum.html

And look at the Pages gadget

Home    About Me    About This Blog

The 3 static links:
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-rename.blogspot.com
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-rename.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-rename.blogspot.com/p/about-this-blog.html

That's a problem. What we should have is

Home    About Me    About This Blog

The 3 static links:
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-renamed.blogspot.com
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-renamed.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-renamed.blogspot.com/p/about-this-blog.html

So, try it. Click on an link in the first example, above.

The blog you were looking for was not found.

What have we observed?

• Static Pages get a new URL, when the blog is renamed.
• The links in the Pages gadget are not changed.

I think somebody has some work to do, yet.

Fortunately, if you know that this oddity exists, it's not hard to correct it. Just delete the Pages gadget. Then go to "Layout", and add a Pages gadget again. The re added Pages gadget will now have links with the correct URLs.

But please, only delete the Pages gadget - please, do not delete the individual pages. It appears that pages are given the same duplication prevention treatment, as are posts. If you delete the pages, you'll end up with suffixed URLs, when you re create the pages.

There is more to consider, when we examine a blog published to a custom domain, and the blog In Transition. We will examine that, later.

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.