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.
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.
- Transfer domain registration, to the registrar, as required by the new hosting service.
- Update DNS for the domain, to use name servers, as required by the new hosting service.
- Update DNS for the domain, to use only addresses pointing to the new hosting service.
- 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.
- Get access to Google Apps.
- That will give you access to the registrar's dashboard.
- 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.
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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.
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.
- Publish a stub blog, to the old URL.
- Determine the URL of the blog post feed, under the new URL.
- 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.
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.
- BlogSpot to BlogSpot URL change.
- BlogSpot to custom domain re publishing.
- 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.
- The "robots.txt" file for the blog, as renamed, may contain the old URL.
- 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.
- 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.
- Is this blog published to a Google custom domain? If so, read about specific issues related to custom domain URL changes.
- Re publish the blog, under the new URL.
- Enable the feeds, and verify feed URLs.
- 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.
- Setup a stub blog, under the old URL.
- Set the Post Feed Redirect URL, to point to the feed for the new URL.
- 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.
- Are you using a FeedBurner (or another custom feed)? If so, update FeedBurner, then check the Post Feed Redirect URL setting.
- 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.
- 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.
Occasionally, we have people expressing confusion about loss of Followers.I updated my template, and I lost my Followers!
If you only update your template and nothing else, your blog should still have its Followers. You may lose various gadgets from the template, when you make changes - but even if the Followers gadget is lost, the existing Followers continue. Just look at the Followers community, from your dashboard, and you'll see the Followers.
If you look at the code behind the "Follow Blog" link in the navbar, you'll see an odd code snippet. Here's an example of what you might see.
<script type="text/javascript">function follow(blogID) {window.open("/follow-blog.g?blogID=" + blogID, "followblog", "height=600, width=600, toolbar=no, menubar=no, scrollbars=no, resizable=no, location=no, directories=no, status=no" );} </script>
The key there is "blogID" (blog number), not "URL" (blog address). When you Follow a blog, you Follow the blog by number, not by address. This gives two very interesting results.
- If you setup a new blog, to maybe test a major template change, use that blog only for testing, and copy the tested template into the existing blog. If you swap URLs, and make the test blog your operational blog, your Followers will remain with the old blog.
- If you change the URL of your blog, setup a stub blog at the old URL, with a redirected feed. Your Followers will Follow the feed from your new URL, just as they Followed the the feed from the old URL.
That does mean, though, that renaming your blog will not affect your Followers - though it will affect their ability to Follow you using the blog newsfeeds. If you care about this detail, immediately after renaming your blog, setup a stub blog, at the old URL - then use the Post Feed Redirect to point to the new URL.
