How to Migrate from Blogger to WordPress Without Losing SEO

Migrating a Blogger blog to WordPress with matching permalinks, imported posts and redirects

Blogger is a great place to start a blog: it is free, simple and reliable. But as a blog grows, many owners want more control over design, plugins, SEO settings, e-commerce and their own hosting. That is when WordPress becomes the natural next step.

The biggest worry about moving is losing search traffic built up over years. The good news is that a careful migration keeps your content, images, comments and most of your rankings. This guide walks through the full process, with special attention to URLs and redirects.

Before You Start: What Moves and What Does Not

Moves easily: posts, pages, labels (which become categories or tags), comments and authors, through the official importer.
Needs extra work: images, which stay hosted on Google servers unless you import them, and your custom domain settings.
Does not move: your Blogger theme and gadgets. You rebuild the design in WordPress, which is a good chance to create a faster, more modern layout with Elementor.

Steps to migrate from Blogger to WordPress: back up, set up hosting, match URLs, import, images, redirects, design, domain, Search Console

Step 1: Back Up Your Blogger Content

In Blogger, open Settings and find the option to back up content. Download the XML file. It contains your posts, pages and comments. Keep it safe; it is your source for the import and a backup if anything goes wrong. Also save a list of your current URLs from your Blogger sitemap, which you will need for redirects.

Step 2: Set Up WordPress Hosting and Install WordPress

Choose a hosting plan, install WordPress, and use a temporary address or staging subdomain while you work, so your Blogger site stays live during the migration. Our guide on choosing WordPress hosting helps you pick a plan that fits.

Step 3: Match the URL Structure

This is the most important step for SEO. Blogger URLs look like /2025/03/post-name.html. WordPress can produce a very similar structure. In Settings, Permalinks, choose a custom structure such as:

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

When the structure matches, many old URLs keep working without redirects. Some slugs may still differ, because Blogger shortens long titles, so plan to check every URL after import.

Step 4: Import Your Content

In WordPress, go to Tools, Import, and install the Blogger importer.
Upload the XML file you exported, or connect your Blogger account if the importer offers that option.
Assign authors to existing or new WordPress users.
Run the import and review a sample of posts for formatting.

Step 5: Bring Images Into WordPress

After import, your posts still load images from Blogger's servers. Use an image import plugin to download external images into your media library and update the links in your posts. Then compress them and convert them to modern formats. Hosting images yourself gives you control over speed and alt text, as explained in optimizing images for a faster LCP.

Blogger URL patterns and their WordPress equivalents for redirects

Step 6: Redirect Everything Else

Compare your list of old Blogger URLs with the new WordPress URLs. For any that differ, add 301 redirects. Common cases include:

Label pages: /search/label/Tutorials should redirect to the matching category, for example /category/tutorials/.
Mobile parameters: Blogger adds ?m=1 for mobile visitors. Make sure these URLs resolve to the normal post.
Static pages: Blogger pages live under /p/page-name.html.
Feeds: /feeds/posts/default should point to the WordPress feed at /feed/.

A redirect plugin makes this manageable. Our guide on redirecting URLs in WordPress covers the details.

Step 7: Rebuild the Design

Install a lightweight theme and Elementor, set up your global colors and fonts, and design the header, footer, single post and archive templates. Start from the essentials in setting up Hello theme and Elementor, then build templates with the Theme Builder. A clean template system makes the new site faster and more consistent than the old one.

Step 8: Point Your Domain to WordPress

If your Blogger blog used a custom domain, update the DNS records at your registrar to point to your new host. Remove the custom domain from Blogger settings after the switch. If you used a free blogspot.com address, you cannot redirect it at the server, but Blogger themes can include a script or meta refresh to send visitors to the new domain, and you should update links wherever you can.

Step 9: Tell Google About the Move

Verify the domain in Google Search Console if you have not already.
Submit the new WordPress sitemap.
Use URL Inspection to request indexing for your most important pages.
Monitor the Pages report for 404 errors and add redirects for any you missed.

Set up Analytics on the new site before switching, as described in setting up Google Analytics and Search Console, so you can compare traffic before and after.

What to Expect After Migration

A small dip in traffic for a few weeks is normal while Google recrawls the site. With matching URLs, redirects for everything else and a faster design, most blogs recover and often grow beyond their previous traffic. Keep watching 404 reports during the first two months.

A Migration Checklist

Blogger XML backup downloaded and stored safely.
List of all old URLs exported from the Blogger sitemap.
WordPress installed on staging with matching permalink structure.
Posts, pages and comments imported and spot-checked.
Images imported into the media library, compressed, with alt text.
Redirects added for every URL that changed, including labels and static pages.
Design rebuilt with header, footer, post and archive templates.
Analytics and Search Console set up on the new site.
Domain DNS updated and HTTPS working.
Sitemap submitted and key pages inspected in Search Console.

Common Migration Mistakes

Changing every URL at once without a redirect plan, which sends visitors and search engines to error pages.
Leaving images on Blogger servers indefinitely, which keeps part of your site outside your control.
Forgetting label and page URLs, which often have backlinks of their own.
Launching without testing on mobile, where most blog readers arrive.
Switching the domain before the new site is ready, so visitors see a half-built site.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will I lose my comments?

No, if you use the official importer with the Blogger XML file. Comments are imported and attached to the right posts.

Should I keep the Blogger blog online?

Keep it until the new site is fully live and redirects are working. After that, keep the content backup, and make sure the old blog does not compete with the new site as duplicate content.

Can I migrate a blog with hundreds of posts?

Yes. The process is the same; just plan more time for checking URLs and images. A spreadsheet of old and new URLs is essential for large blogs.

Do I need Elementor after migrating?

Not strictly, but it makes rebuilding your blog design much faster. You can recreate your old layout or design a cleaner one visually, then reuse templates for every post and archive page.

Wrapping Up

Moving from Blogger to WordPress is mostly careful planning: back up your content, match the permalink structure, import posts and images, redirect every URL that changes, rebuild the design with Elementor, and tell Google about the move. Do it methodically and you gain full control of your blog while keeping the audience you have built.