How to Migrate from Blogger to WordPress in [TESTED OK]

How to Migrate from Blogger to WordPress in 2020 [TESTED OK]

How to Migrate from Blogger to WordPress in 2020 [TESTED OK] 1

Are you looking to migrate your blog from Blogger to WordPress?

Blogger is a good entry point for beginners to get started with blogging. Since Blogger.com is a free platform, many users choose it as their blogging platform when starting out. But it’s definitely not where you want to stay if you’re truly serious about blogging.

Now that you’ve realized the shortcomings of the Blogger platform, it’s understandable you’d want to switch over to a reliable and the best blog platform such as self-hosted WordPress, also known as WordPress.org

Unlike Blogger, WordPress.org is a fully-featured content management system. WordPress gives you full control over your blog, lets you easily customize the look and feel of it, and add more features with plugins.

Read our detailed comparison between Blogger and WordPress for more information.

In this article, we’ll walk you through how to move your blog from Blogger to WordPress, step by step.

Here’s a list of the steps we’ll cover through this guide:

  1. Sign up for a web hosting account
  2. Custom Domain in Blogger – Set Up DNS
  3. Install WordPress
  4. Export your Blogger blog
  5. Import Blogger to WordPress
  6. Upload images automatically
  7. Set up permalinks on WordPress
  8. Set up Blogger to WordPress redirection
  9. Move other content to WordPress

Blogger to WordPress: Understand the Goals

Before we begin, it’s worth taking a moment to examine the goals we need to accomplish with your Blogger to WordPress migration.

Preserve Search Rankings and Traffic:

Of course, nobody wants to move a blog if search rankings and traffic can’t be preserved after migration. In our tutorial, we’ll ensure that all your Blogger URLs are properly redirected to the right WordPress permalinks.

Search rankings

This way, you can migrate your site or blog in peace without worrying about the search rankings.

Set Up Proper Mobile Redirection:

If you browse your Blogger.com blog on mobile, then you’ll see that Blogger automatically appends ?m=1 to your blog URL.

For example, this is what your URL looks like if you access your site from a mobile device:

http://example.blogspot.com/test-article.html?m=1

You shouldn’t leave your mobile users behind, so the goal is to make sure all mobile visitors are also redirected to your WordPress site.

Move Feed Subscribers Properly

We’ll also explain how to move your feed subscribers properly.

What to Expect From This Transfer?

It’s important to understand which data will transfer automatically during the process, and what you need to set up on the new WordPress site manually.

Blogger to WordPress migration

Ideally, you expect that your Blogger site should move completely and appear the same on WordPress. However, there are a few things that you need to fix manually after the transfer.

Here is a list of things that you can transfer with our help below:

  • Pages
  • Posts
  • Categories and tags
  • Media files
  • Authors
  • Comments
  • And more…

Upon successful transfer, you’ll need to select a theme for your website to match it with the old Blogger site. WordPress is highly flexible, which means you can add colors, font, and background of your choice smoothly.

Let’s take a look at the steps below to properly move from Blogger to WordPress.

Step 1. Sign Up for a Web Hosting Account

To run any website on the internet, you need to have a domain name and web hosting.

A domain name is the web address of your blog, such as IsItWP.com or Google.com. And web hosting is where your site is hosted and your site files are stored.

Blogger.com is a free hosted platform, meaning your blog is hosted on Blogger’s hosting server for free. However, when you move to WordPress, you’ll have to purchase WordPress hosting space to host your blog.

Now you might be wondering, “how much does it cost to purchase a domain name and web hosting?”

A domain name normally costs around $14.99 per year, and web hosting costs $7.99 per month. When you’re starting with WordPress, the combined cost of domain and web hosting can seem like quite a lot.

create a blog on bluehost

That’s why we’ve worked out a deal with Bluehost to offer our users a free domain name, free SSL, and 65% off on WordPress hosting.

With our Bluehost deal, you can start your blog for as low as $2.75 per month. Read our guide on Bluehost payments to learn more about saving on web hosting.

Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer »

Bluehost is one of the largest hosting companies in the world. They are also an officially recommended hosting provider by WordPress.org.

For more references, check out this expert pick of the best blog hosting companies.

Step 2. Moving Custom Domain – Blogger to WordPress

This step is ONLY for custom domain users. You can skip this step if you’re NOT using a custom domain in Blogger.

This is a custom domain: example.com. This is NOT a custom domain: example.blogspot.com

If you’re using a custom domain name on your Blogger blog, like http://example.com instead of http://example.blogspot.com, you’ll want to update your domain name servers. Domain nameservers are usually a couple of URLs, like the ones below, that you’ll get from your new web host.

ns1.hostname.com

ns2.hostname.com

The steps to changing domain nameservers differ from one domain provider to another; however, the basic concept is the same. So, we’ll show you how to change DNS nameservers with Domain.com

First off, log into your Domain.com account. Find the domain that you want to update and click on the Manage button.

manage nameservers

Next, click on DNS & Nameservers.

change-dns-and-nameservers

To change the nameservers, click Edit next to Nameservers.

edit nameservers

Then, fill in your new nameservers provided by your new web host, and click the Save button.

Next, we’ll need to remove the custom domain set up in your Blogger.com account as well.

Log into your Blogger.com account and navigate to Settings » Basic. Under the Publishing section, click on the cross icon to cancel the redirect.

removeredirect

Note: Make sure you flush your computer’s DNS cache after this step. Otherwise, you may still find your old Blogger.com blog, when you try to access your domain name from your browser.

To clear DNS cache in Windows 10, you can search for Command Prompt in Windows, right-click it and select Run as Administrator.

Then, run the following command:

ipconfig /flushdns

In Mac, click Applications » Utilities » Terminal and then run the following command:

sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

Step 3. Install WordPress

After signing up with Bluehost, the next step is to install WordPress.

Upon choosing a hosting plan subscription, you’ll need to select a WordPress theme. You can pick just about anything during this step because you can always change your theme later (we’ll show you how to do this in a later step of this tutorial). The most important part is to start a blog so go ahead and choose any theme for now to get you rolling.

pick a theme

You’ll then be asked to choose the name and tagline for your blog.

create a new wordpress blog

After specifying the details, click Next. Bluehost will now automatically install WordPress for you. Once it’s done, it’ll show you a screen like this:

wordpress installation successful

You can log into your site by appending wp-admin to your URL. Here’s what your WordPress login URL should look like:

http://example.com/wp-admin

You can now log into your WordPress blog with the credentials sent to your email address.

wordpress login

Step 4. Export Your Blogger Blog

To export your blog from Blogger, log into your Blogger.com profile and navigate to Settings » Other. In the Import & back up section, click the Back up content button.

export-blogger-blog

It will trigger a modal popup in which you’ll be asked to make a backup of your blog. Click the Save to your computer button.

save blogger export file

Step 5. Import Blogger to WordPress

After downloading the export file from Blogger, the next step is to import the file into your new WordPress site.

Log into your WordPress dashboard, go to Tools » Import. Just below the Blogger option, click Install Now. Then, click Run Importer.

install-blogger-importer

Next, choose the file you’ve just downloaded from Blogger. Then import it into your WordPress site.

import blogger files into wordpress

In case, if the file size exceeds the upload limit, then you’ll see an error. To resolve this issue, you can use 1 of the methods below:

  1. You can increase the upload file size limit in WordPress. We have a complete step by step guide on how to increase maximum file upload size.
  2. You can split the large XML file into multiple small files and upload them to import Blogger to WordPress.

The easy way to import large XML files is by increasing the upload file size limit in WordPress.

After importing the files, you’ll be asked whether you need to create new users on your site or assign the posts to your existing users.

import blogger assign authors

You can assign authors one by one and click on the Submit button.

Step 6. Upload Images Automatically

WordPress importer doesn’t import your Blogger images. You can fix this by installing and activating the Auto Upload Images plugin in WordPress.

Auto upload images

This plugin automatically find images in your posts and pages. Then, it saves them to your media library and also updates the new image URLs.

It also lets you choose a new custom URL for images, custom image file names, max width and height, and more.

A permalink, or permanent link, is the full URL to the individual pages of your WordPress blog.

When migrating your blog from Blogger to WordPress, it’s essential to keep your permalink structure identical for proper redirection.

WordPress allows you to choose your preferred permalink structure for your blog. To choose your permalinks’ structure, go to Settings » Permalinks. In the Custom Structure field, specify your structure as follows:

permalinks structure

/%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%.html

The above configuration makes your permalinks look similar to that of Blogger.com. But for proper redirection, we need to make our permalinks identical.

For example, here’s what your post URL looked like on Blogger:

http://example.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-unconventional-guide-to-home-tech.html

If you don’t make the permalinks identical, here’s what the same post URL will look like after moving to WordPress.

http://example.com/2018/06/the-unconventional-guide-to-home-tech-gadgets-for-beginners.html

To make your Blogger post URL identical in WordPress, all you have to do is open a simple text editor application such as Notepad or TextEdit. Copy the below code into your text editor and save it as a PHP file. Give a name to your file like fix.php. Then upload the file to your WordPress folder, which also known as the root directory.


<?php
require_once('wp-load.php');
$res = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT post_id, meta_value FROM $wpdb->postmeta WHERE meta_key = 'blogger_permalink'");
$wpdb->print_error();
foreach ($res as $row){
$slug = explode("/",$row->meta_value);
$slug = explode(".",$slug[3]);
$wpdb->query("UPDATE $wpdb->posts SET post_name ='" . $slug[0] . "' WHERE ID = $row->post_id");
$wpdb->print_error();
}
echo "DONE";
?>

You can upload the PHP file from your cPanel account.

Log into your cPanel account. In the File Manager section, you need to visit the public_html folder.

If your site is on the main domain, then this will be your root directory. Click on the Upload button from the top navigation menu and browse the fix.php file to upload it.

Upload PHP file

After uploading the file in the right directory, you can execute the script by opening its URL from the browser: http://example.com/fix.php

When executing the script, the only output you can see is Done.

Step 8. Set Up Blogger to WordPress Redirection

Now that you’ve set up permalinks for your WordPress blog let’s redirect your blogger posts to WordPress. For redirecting your Blogger blog to WordPress, we’ll be using a free plugin, Blogger to WordPress Redirection.

Install and activate the plugin on your newly-installed WordPress site. Then go to Tools » Blogger to WordPress Redirection.

You’ll be directed to the plugin configuration page. Click the Start Configuration button to generate the code for Blogger.com.

blogger to wordpress redirection

You can now find a list of blogs from where you’ve imported content. Click Get Code next to the correct blog and copy the code.

blogger to wordpress get code

Now go back to your Blogger.com profile and click the Edit HTML button.

edit html blogger

Paste the copied code and click Save Theme.

By default, Blogger.com redirects your mobile visitors to the mobile-friendly version of your blog by appending ?m=1 to the URL. For proper mobile redirection, we need to disable this feature.

To disable the feature, click the Back button in your Edit HTML page. You can now find a gear button below the mobile preview of your Blogger theme.

blogger mobile redirection

It will show you a modal popup where you’ll be asked whether you want to show a mobile version of your theme. Select No and click Save.

choose mobile theme

The Blogger to WordPress plugin helps in traffic redirection, which means you should keep this plugin on your site for as long as your Blogger site vanishes from search engines entirely.

Step 9. Move Other Content to WordPress

After moving your blog posts, you can go ahead and move your pages and other content to WordPress.

Pages:

Go to your WordPress dashboard and create a new page. Copy the HTML code of your Blogger page, and paste it into the newly created page on WordPress.

On Blogger, the URL of your page looked like this: example.com/p/page.html

On WordPress, here’s how the same page will look after migration: example.com/page

To redirect your pages properly, you can use the Redirection plugin in WordPress.

Widgets:

If you want to retain your Blogger.com widgets in WordPress, then you’ll need to copy the HTML code and paste it into the sidebar widgets of your WordPress site by navigating to Appearance » Widgets.

Feeds:

To redirect your feeds, navigate to Settings » Other in your Blogger.com profile. Click on the Add option next to Post Feed Redirect URL. Then specify your WordPress feed as follows: http://example.com/feed

post feed redirect url

What’s Next After Migration?

Below are a few essential things you need to do immediately on your WordPress blog after migration:

Here’s a list of popular WordPress plugins that you may find useful.

That’s it!

If you ever plan to switch your domain, then check out this guide on how to properly move WordPress to a new domain name.

We hope this guide helped you move your blog from Blogger to WordPress. If you enjoyed this article, then check out our guides on how to transfer WordPress from local server to a live site and must have WordPress plugins for business websites.

Blogger to WordPress – FAQs

Here are a few questions that you may have in mind while migrating your blog from Blogger to WordPress. Let’s have a look.

1. Do I get the same look for my website or blog after migrating from Blogger to WordPress?

If you want to get the exact look, then you might want to hire a hire a professional WordPress developer to design it for you.

If you don’t want to spend some bucks on hiring a developer, you better off choosing a WordPress theme that best suits your needs.

2. Can I use a new WordPress theme or do I need to create a custom theme to match with my Blogger website?

While WordPress lets you have a theme the way you want, in our opinion, you don’t have to create a custom theme matching your old Blogger blog, especially if you haven’t designed the older one professionally.

For example, most Blogger.com bloggers pick a free Blogger template and customize it on their own, which ultimately end up looking amateurish, especially if they’re not designers. If this sounds like you, then in our opinion, you shouldn’t bother building a custom theme matching your Blogger blog.

In fact, With WordPress, you can find thousands of free blog themes that are way better than that of Blogger.com.

For even better professional look, you can also choose a premium WordPress theme like Divi that lets you design your site on your own with drag and drop without having to hire a developer.
3. My images aren’t migrated properly. What can I do?

If you followed our exact steps, the media files should transfer automatically from Blogger to WordPress. However, if you find some images are missing, then you can use the Media File Renamer plugin. This plugin works magically to rename all your images, so they’ll show up properly.

You can also lock the name for images so that they don’t change further, and the images continue to appear on your WordPress site.

4. Should I change the URLs in WordPress after the migration?

Unlike Blogger.com, WordPress lets you choose different types of URL structures. However, that doesn’t mean you should experiment with different structures.

If you’re starting a new WordPress blog, you can choose any structure you want. But since you’re migrating an existing blog from Blogger to WordPress, it’s in your best interest to keep the URL structure as same as what we’ve recommended in this tutorial even after migration for preserving search rankings and traffic.

5. How to move my subscribers from Blogger to WordPress?

You can add your WordPress feed to your Blogger account’s setting, which will move the feed subscribers to the new site. Follow Step 9 for more details.

6. Does the blog migration affect my Adsense account?

Nope. In fact, migrating to WordPress will help you easily manage your AdSense ads with the help of a plugin, like AdSanity. Check out our Adsanity review.

Keep in mind that you need to add the new website URL to your AdSense account if you were using the subdomain with Blogger (like example.blogspot.com).

Keep reading the article at IsItWP – Free WordPress Theme Detector. The article was originally written by Editorial Team on 2020-02-10 03:08:19.

The article was hand-picked and curated for you by the Editorial Team of WP Archives.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the product, We may receive an affiliate commission.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Show Your ❤️ Love! Like Us
Scroll to Top