If there’s anyone who can advise you against Blogspot, it’s me. That’s because I started my first blog using Google’s free Blogger platform.
Why did I do it?
Well, because I was a newbie and I was dead broke. So, it made sense at the time to take advantage of a free blogging platform.
My first blog was in the baseball pitching niche and had the traditional ugly “website.blogspot.com” subdomain. I eventually saw the light and moved to a custom domain, which ended up being a nightmare. More on this in a second.
With that said, here’s why you should avoid Blogspot at all costs:
11 Undeniable Reasons to Avoid Blogspot
- You’ll Hurt Your Brand/Credibility
- They Don’t Perform Well on Google
- It Will Be Challenging to Acquire Backlinks
- You Won’t Build Website Authority
- You Don’t “Own” Your Blog
- You Must Follow Blogspot’s Terms and Conditions
- You Can’t Monetize
- Customization is Limited
- Many .Blogspot Blogs Are Brutalized with Spam
- Moving to a Custom Domain is a Nightmare
- You Aren’t Fully Committed
1. You’ll Hurt Your Brand/Credibility
If you’re trying to build a company or trying to make a living as a blogger, then you need to avoid Blogspot. All you need to do is examine whatever industry you want to enter. Do any of the successful companies or bloggers have Blogspot blogs? I can predict that the answer is no.
You need to host your blog on your own custom domain. I recommend WordPress because I believe it’s the best, but there are other options, such as Wix, Medium, or even Shopify.
You need to think long-term about your decision.
- Are you serious about building a company?
- Are you serious about making money as a blogger?
If the answer is yes, then you need to act accordingly.
I’ll admit that I was scared back in 2011 when I started my first blog. I didn’t know if what I was doing would actually work out. So that’s why I took a cowardly approach and built my blog on a free platform like Blogspot.
Don’t emulate what I did.
Trust me… If I could go back, I would have never wasted my time with Blogspot.
Instead, I would have just bitten the bullet and purchased my own custom domain and web hosting. With that said, avoid Blogspot blogs if you’re serious about building a brand (or personal brand).
As an SEO, I feel it’s borderline criminal to use Blogspot because…
2. They Don’t Perform Well in Google
This isn’t a hypothesis. Just go to Google and search for ANYTHING and let me know when you find a .blogspot.com ranking.
I’ll wait…
Okay, just kidding.
I won’t wait because I know you won’t find any! At least not for any worthwhile, non-branded keywords.
It’s ironic that blogs created on Google’s blogging platform don’t perform well in Google.
SEO is already challenging enough. Don’t make it harder on yourself/impossible by using Blogspot.
One of the biggest factors for performing well in Google is backlinks (see how to get backlinks).
Blogspot will fail you on this front as well.
3. It Will Be Challenging to Acquire Backlinks
I can tell you now that most bloggers are NOT willing to link to Blogspot blogs. Bloggers are skeptical about linking out in general. So, their already engrained skepticism plus your .blogspot.com subdomain is a recipe for low conversion rates on your outreach.
And sadly, if you can’t acquire backlinks, you’re really going to struggle in organic search.
Here are some link building techniques you can use to turn that around:
But wait… there’s more:
4. You Won’t Build Website Authority
One of the most important objectives of link building and SEO, in general, is to build website authority. That’s because building your website’s authority makes ranking much easier.
This is why websites like Forbes can rank on the second and even first page within hours of publishing. Since most bloggers won’t link out to Blogspot blogs, you’ll struggle to build website authority.
Naturally, I’ve decided to focus on the SEO reasons why you should avoid this free blogging platform.
However, there are some non-SEO reasons to avoid it as well.
5. You Don’t “Own” Your Blog
That’s right. Blogger.com owns your content. That means you can spend months or even years creating SEO content, and it can be erased in a second.
This alone should be enough to make you avoid this platform.
The beauty of a custom domain and self-hosted blog is that you actually own your content.
You’re not restricted by another company’s terms and conditions. Bringing me to my next point…
6. You Must Follow Blogspot’s Terms and Conditions
Because Blogger owns your blog and all your content, you must follow their rules. Meaning that by even signing up, you agree to their terms.
If you do something they deem “out of line,” they can delete your blog in an instant.
But let’s say you follow the terms and you start seeing some traffic growth from your Blogspot blog. Well, unfortunately, there’s more bad news…
7. You Can’t Monetize
Blogger.com is extremely restrictive about how you can monetize your blog. You can use AdSense on your blog, but there are restrictions against services and product sales.
Once again… why get into a situation where your brand is tied down? This can be avoided at the onset.
So, you know that Blogspot sucks for your SEO and your freedom, but it also sucks because:
8. Customization is Limited
There are endless design and UX possibilities with a WordPress blog. The same isn’t true for Blogspot. They have a limited selection of themes, and customization is a struggle if you aren’t a web developer.
Trust me. I tried custom-designing my first blog, and it was an embarrassment.
Not only that, but I also wasted SO MUCH of time trying to tweak the design and aesthetics.
Just ask my wife. She thought I was insane in college when I tweaked the design 5-10 times a day, trying to get it “just right.”
I cringe thinking about how much time I wasted messing with Blogspot blogs.
Apart from all the reasons I’ve listed, there’s something else that no one talks about:
9. Many .Blogspot Blogs Are Brutalized with Spam
Creating web 2.0s for link building purposes is a popular grey hat method.
That means grey hat link builders will create a free Blogspot blog, throw some content on there, and link to their actual website. This is an easy way to score a backlink (although it’s artificial). I would say that building out web 2.0s is one of the most overused grey hat link building tactics there is.
Do you really want to host your blog on a platform that SEO uses for spam?
I know I wouldn’t.
And if I’ve given any ideas about using web 2.0s for link building, please listen carefully… You CAN get penalized for using web 2.0s if the sole objective is to host a backlink.
How do I know?
Because I’ve gotten several manual actions removed for clients that abused this tactic, as soon as we got the Blogspot links removed, the manual actions were revoked. Don’t mess around. Seriously. Now I mentioned earlier that moving from Blogspot to a custom domain is a nightmare. Here’s why.
10. Moving to a Custom Domain is a Nightmare
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that most people starting Blogspot blogs do not have experience with site migrations or web development.
I’m making this assumption because it was true for me back in the day.
When I realized I was headed down a dead end, I had the daunting task of migrating my Blogspot blog to a custom domain.
So, what did I do?
I copied and pasted one page at a time. Not my proudest moment.
The good news is that I’ve done enough stupid stuff, so you don’t have to.
Not only is migrating a huge headache, but it will also negatively impact your SEO performance (if you have any).
301 redirects are supposed to pass 100% of the authority and backlink equity. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to happen in practice. That means that even if you perform your migration correctly, your site’s SEO performance will likely suffer for a while.
This can all be avoided if you just start your blog on a custom domain.
But I have one last reason why you should avoid Blogspot, and it has nothing to do with marketing, branding, or anything technical. At the end of the day, if you choose to create a free blog, it shows that…
11. You Aren’t Fully Committed
You need to have skin in the game. Nothing puts more fear into people than losing money. How do I know? Because that was me. I was so scared when I transitioned into buying a domain and paying for hosting every month.
I’m not trying to give you financial advice here. I just know from personal experience that when you commit money, it changes your entire mindset.
Especially when you’re paying for hosting every month. It lights a fire under you because you don’t want to continue being in the red every month.
That means you’ll figure out a way to grow your traffic and income. It’s the push that most people need in my opinion. It worked for me.
Last Words About Blogspot
Sorry for being a negative Nancy, but I hate seeing people waste their time.
Building a Blogspot blog is a waste of time and resources.
Bite the bullet and commit to buying a custom domain. You can thank me later when you don’t have to go through all the garbage I did.
