17 June 2022
Move From Blogger to WordPress in Easy Steps
Are you looking to move your blog from Blogger to WordPress?
While Blogger is a good place to start blogging, many new beginners soon realize its limitations, and they want to migrate to WordPress to get access to more powerful features.
In this post, we’ll show you how to move from Blogger to WordPress properly without losing Google rankings.
Why Move From Blogger to WordPress?
Blogger is a popular blogging platform developed by Google. It allows users to create a free blog using their Google account.
However, many novices soon realize that there are many flaws to what they can do with their free Blogger blog.
On the other hand, WordPress allows you complete control over your website. It also allows you to add features that will help you expand and monetize your blog. Check out our detailed side-by-side comparison of WordPress vs Blogger.
It’s important to note that when we talk about WordPress, we mean self-hosted WordPress.org, not WordPress.com, a hosted solution with limitations.
WordPress.org is the popular platform that runs 43.3% of all websites on the internet.
Blogger to WordPress: Understand the Goals
Before we start migrating Blogger to WordPress, let’s look at the goals we’ll need to meet to complete the process successfully.
Preserve Search Rankings and Traffic
Of course, no one wants to move a blog if search rankings and traffic can’t be preserved after migration. In this guide, we’ll ensure that all your Blogger URLs are correctly redirected to the correct WordPress permalinks.
This way, you can migrate Blogger to WordPress without worrying about your search rankings.
Set Up Proper Mobile Redirection
If you view your Blogger blog on a mobile device, you’ll see that Blogger adds?m=1 to the end of the URL.
You shouldn’t forget about your mobile users. Therefore, make sure that all mobile visitors are sent to your WordPress site.
What to Expect From This Transfer?
It’s important to know which data will transfer automatically while you move Blogger to WordPress and what you need to manually set up on the new WordPress site.
When you migrate content from Blogger to WordPress, you want your Blogger site to look exactly the same on WordPress as it did on Blogger. However, you will need to manually fix a few things after the transfer, such as permalinks, posts, redirection, etc.
Upon successful transfer, you’ll need to choose a theme for your website to match it with the old Blogger site. WordPress is highly flexible so that you can add colors, fonts, and the background of your choice smoothly.
Let’s look at the steps below to move from Blogger to WordPress properly.
10 Easy Steps to Migrate from Blogger to WordPress
Step 1: Sign Up for a Web Hosting Account
To get started with WordPress, you’ll need a domain name and web hosting.
A domain name is your blog’s web address, for as pickupwp.com. And web hosting refers to the location where your website and its files are stored.
Blogger is a free hosted platform, which means your blog is hosted for free on the Blogger hosting server. However, When you switch to WordPress, you’ll need to buy WordPress hosting space to host your blog.
Having said that, we recommend Bluehost. They are one of the world’s leading hosting providers and an official WordPress hosting partner.
Once you have signed up for Bluehost for WordPress hosting and set up your domain name, the next step is to install WordPress on your hosting account.
Step 2: Install WordPress on the Bluehost Account
Now that you have your domain name and hosting ready, you can start installing WordPress software. It is the most important step in making a WordPress website.
Don’t be worried if this seems like a difficult step. Using a hosting service like Bluehost or Siteground will make the process much easier.
When you buy a web hosting plan from the best WordPress hosting providers, you’ll get the WordPress Auto-Install option. If not, you can always get a One-click WordPress Install option.
Here, we’ll walk you through the Bluehost setup process. To start, go to Bluehost and select the Login option from the top menu. After that, log in to your hosting account using the email address and password you received earlier.
When you log in, the Bluehost dashboard will look like this. To create a WordPress site, go to the sidebar and select My Sites.
Now, click the Create Site button in the top-right corner. All you have to do now is enter your Site Name and Tagline before clicking Next.
After that, you’ll need to select a domain. Select the domain name you chose when you created your Bluehost account from the drop-down under the Domain field and click Next.
That’s it. Bluehost will now install WordPress for you automatically. Just wait till it’s finished, then save your login details.
Step 3: Log Into WordPress Dashboard
Fortunately, Bluehost and some other top WordPress providers provide a direct link to your site’s login page.
When you click the Log into WordPress button, you will be sent directly to your WordPress dashboard.
However, you might not want to log into your hosting account each time you want to use WordPress. So, there is another option: the WordPress login URL.
The WordPress login URL is your domain name followed by /wp-login.php. Your login URL should look like this: https://example.com/wp-login.php. Replace example.com with your domain name and enter it into your browser. Then, you’ll see the WordPress login page.
After that, enter the WordPress login credentials you received earlier.
Now, you’ll be able to access your WordPress Dashboard, where you may manage your website.
Step 4: Export Your Blogger Blog
To export the content of your blogger blog, log into your Blogger account and go to the Settings » Other page. Under the Import & back up section, click on the Back up Content button.
This will open a popup window where you must click the Save to your computer button.
Your Blogger blog’s content will be downloaded to your computer as an XML file. After the download, you can import your Blogger content into your WordPress site.
Step 5: Import Blogger to WordPress
To import your Blogger site into WordPress, go to Tools » Import from your WordPress dashboard. On the Import page, click the Install Now link below Blogger.
WordPress will now download and install the Blogger Importer plugin for you. After installing it, you must click the Run Importer link to continue.
WordPress will now ask you to upload the XML file on the Import Blogger screen.
Simply click the Choose File button and select the XML file you downloaded earlier. Next, you must click the Upload file and import button to continue.
WordPress will now upload the import file. If your import file is too large, you may receive an error message stating that the file is too large. In this situation, you must increase your maximum file upload limit. If your file is small, you will not receive any errors.
After that, you’ll be asked to assign authors to posts. If you have many authors on your Blogger blog, you can create a new user account for each author. You can also assign these posts to exist authors on your WordPress site.
After you’ve made your choice, click the Submit button to continue.
WordPress will now import the contents of the Blogger export file into your WordPress site. You can view the content by visiting the Posts » All Posts page.
Step 6. Upload Images Automatically
The WordPress importer does not import your Blogger images. You may resolve this by installing and activating the Auto Upload Images plugin in WordPress.
This plugin will automatically find images in your posts and pages. It then saves them to your media library and updates the image URLs.
It also allows you to create a new custom URL for images and custom image file names, max-width and height, and other options.
Step 7: Setting up Permalinks
A permalink is a full URL to each page of your WordPress blog.
When you move from Blogger to WordPress, you must keep your permalink structure similar for proper redirection.
To set permalinks, navigate to your WordPress dashboard’s Settings » Permalinks page and choose the Custom Structure option. After that, type the following text in the box next to the custom structure field.
/%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%.html
This permalink structure creates URLs for your blog posts similar to those on your old Blogger blog.
Step 8: Setup Redirects from Blogger to WordPress
The most important step in migrating any website is to set up correct redirection so that existing traffic and SEO rankings are not lost.
An essential part of the redirection is ensuring that your users land on the same page on the new site as they did on the old site. At the same time, we need to ensure that search engines know that your website has been moved.
For this, you’ll need to install and activate the Blogger to WordPress Redirection plugin. For more in detail, see our guide on how to install a plugin in WordPress.
After you’ve activated the plugin, go to Tools » Blogger to WordPress Redirection and click the Start Configuration button.
The plugin will now scan the URL of your Blogger blog and display the Get Redirection Code option. Simply click the Get Code button next to your Blogger URL.
It will now generate a code snippet that you will use to redirect users from your Blogger blog to your new WordPress site properly.
Then, log in to your Blogger dashboard and navigate to the Theme page. Under your blog preview image, you need to click on the Edit HTML button.
Blogger will now show you your theme’s custom HTML code. If you customize your Blogger theme, you should copy and save the code on your computer as a backup.
Otherwise, you may simply delete everything. Then, copy the code from the plugin’s display on your WordPress site and paste it into your Blogger theme editor.
Don’t forget to save your changes by clicking the Save theme button.
After that, we’ll need to set up mobile redirects.
Go to the Theme page on your Blogger blog’s dashboard. This time, you’ll need to click the gear icon below your blog’s mobile preview.
This will show a popup where you must select No. Show desktop theme on mobile devices and then click the Save button.
That’s all. Your Blogger blog will now redirect all your blog visitors to your new WordPress blog.
Step 9: Move Other Content From Blogger to WordPress
After you’ve moved your Blogger posts to WordPress, you can move your pages and other content.
Moving pages from Blogger to WordPress
WordPress’ Blogger importer tool only imports posts from Blogger and excludes pages. To migrate your pages to WordPress, you must edit each page in your Blogger blog, copy the contents, and then manually create a page in WordPress.
You’ll now face a new problem. The URLs for the blogger pages look like this:
http://example.blogspot.com/p/contact-us.html
Your WordPress page URL will be something like this:
http://example.com/contact-us
To fix this issue, you will need to use the Redirection plugin.
Widgets
If you want to keep your Blogger widgets in WordPress, copy the HTML code and paste it into the sidebar widgets of your WordPress site by going to Appearance » Widgets.
RSS Feeds
Search engines and anyone who subscribed to your blog posts via RSS feeds will still be able to find your blog. They will, however, not see any new content.
To fix this, go to your Blogger account’s Settings » Other page. Next, click the Add link next to Post Feed Redirect URL and add your WordPress feed.
Your WordPress feed URL will be something like this:
http://example.com/feed
Step 10: Things to do After Moving from Blogger to WordPress
Following the migration, there are a few things you must perform immediately on your WordPress blog:
1) Work on Your Website Appearance
After you’ve switched from Blogger to WordPress, it’s time to customize your site’s look. You can easily do this by choosing a suitable WordPress theme. WordPress themes allow you to create a website without knowing how to code. Most of these themes even include pre-built templates that you can import with a single click.
2) Install Google Analytics
By installing Google Analytics to your website, you can track and analyze website performance directly from your WordPress dashboard. This allows you to plan your next step and achieve effective results while increasing conversions.
3) Add Contact Form to Your Website
By including a contact form on your website, you can give your users a simple way to reach you.
4) Protect Your Website
The next step is to protect your WordPress website from hackers and malware. You may handle this by installing some of the top WordPress security plugins.
5) Optimized Your Website
If you want your website to appear higher in Google search results, you must optimize it for SEO. A good WordPress SEO plugin can help you optimize all of your posts and pages.
That’s it!
We hope this post helped you move from Blogger to WordPress without affecting your Google search rankings.
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