Bloggers who want more control and customization over their blogs should switch from Blogger to WordPress. However one of the biggest worries during this process is what might happen to the SEO score. To ensure that your website gets free traffic from search engines you must maintain or improve your SEO score after the move.
This piece is about what you need to do to move from Blogger to WordPress without losing your SEO ranking. If you follow these steps, moving to WordPress will go smoothly and your website will still appear in search results.
Preparing For Migration
Before switching from Blogger to WordPress you must ensure you’re ready for the move. To ensure you don’t lose any data during the transfer process you should back up your Blogger content. To do this go to your Blogger homepage pick out the blog you want to back up click Settings then Other and finally Back up Content. This will get XML file with your posts, comments and settings.
The next step is to set up WordPress. Pick a trustworthy web service and install WordPress on your site. You can install WordPress by hand or use a one click launcher that your hosting company gives you. Once WordPress is set up, pick a style that fits your brand and add specific plugins to improve SEO security and speed.
Content Migration Process
Blogger Importer is built-in tool in WordPress that can help you move your content from Blogger to WordPress. Go to your WordPress homepage, click on “Tools,” and then click on “Import.” Select “Blogger” from the list of importers, then follow the on-screen prompts to let WordPress access your Blogger account and import your content.
It’s essential to check the layout after adding your content to ensure everything looks right. WordPress might not precisely copy the Blogger style, so you might have to make some changes by hand. Also, ensure that all your pictures are correctly uploaded and in the right places in your posts.
Preserving Seo Ranking
Keeping your SEO score is one of the most important things to consider when moving from Blogger to WordPress. For this to work, you must ensure old Blogger URLs point to your new WordPress URLs. A tool like Redirection can help you set up 301 links from old URLs to new ones.
Changing your content’s internal links to the new WordPress URLs is also essential. This ensures that people who read your new site and search engines can find the correct pages. Also, make sure that your sitemap is up-to-date with the new layout of your website and send it to search engines so that they can help index new WordPress website.
Testing And Optimization
After moving from Blogger to WordPress, you need to test and optimize your site to ensure everything is working right and get the most out of it. Here’s how to test and improve your page effectively:
Check for Broken Links: Run your site through a broken link checker or similar tool. Fix broken links to keep your SEO honest and ensure users have a good experience.
Image optimization: Compress photos to make files smaller without losing quality. The speed of your site can go up, which is suitable for both users and SEO.
Verify Mobile Responsiveness: Make sure your site works on all mobile devices by testing it on various of them. Google gives mobile-friendly sites more weight in its search results.
Check the Page Load Speed: Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to check how fast your site is. Follow their advice on optimizing it to improve its performance.
Check for Duplicate Content: Use a tool like Siteliner to find duplicate content on your site. Duplicate information can hurt your SEO results.
Optimize Permalinks: Remember to give your posts and pages permalinks that are good for SEO. Use buzzwords that describe the page to make your URLs more search engine friendly.
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Send XML Sitemap: To help search engines like Google and Bing crawl and analyze your site better, send them your XML sitemap.
Check Site Performance: After the transfer, use Google Analytics to check how well your site is doing. Monitor measures like traffic, bounce rates, and other important ones to find where to improve.
Finalizing The Migration
You must take a few steps to ensure your move from Blogger to WordPress is complete and your new WordPress site is ready for users. Here is an in-depth guide on how to finish the migration:
Announce the Migration: Tell your readers you are switching from Blogger to WordPress. Add a new page to old Blogger blog and share the news on your social media accounts. Provide them with the new URL and any other important information.
Update Your Sitemap: Create a new XML sitemap for your WordPress site and send it to Google, Bing, and other search engines. This will help them find your new site and ensure that your information shows up in search results.
Set up 301 redirects: Use 301 redirects to move old Blogger URLs to their matching URLs on your new WordPress site. This will ensure that people who visit your old URLs are automatically sent to your new ones, which will maintain your SEO score and improve the user experience.
Use Google Search Console to Confirm Ownership: If you haven’t already, use Google Search Console to confirm that you own your new WordPress site. This will allow you to monitor its performance in Google’s search results and determine what needs fixing.
Check For Errors: Carefully review your new WordPress site to ensure it is free of mistakes. Test all links, forms, and other clickable parts to ensure they work. Take care of any problems you find right away.
Fix Your Permalinks: Make sure that the permalinks for your WordPress posts and pages are set up properly for SEO. Use buzzwords that describe the page to make your URLs more search engine-friendly.
Change Your Contact Information: If you changed your contact information during the move, you should make the change on your website. Check to see if your email addresses and contact forms are working.
Backup Your WordPress Site: After everything is set up and running correctly, create a backup of your WordPress site. This is a backup plan in case something goes wrong in the future.
Watch Your Site: After the transfer, monitor your site’s performance, SEO results, traffic, and user engagement to ensure everything is going as planned.
Conclusion
If writers want to take their site to the next level, moving from Blogger to WordPress is a big step. If you follow the steps in this guide, you can move from Blogger to WordPress without losing your hard-earned SEO score. Because WordPress lets you change things more efficiently and add more features, you can make your website look more professional and interesting for people to visit.