Our SEO Agency rarely has requests to optimize sites made with Google Blogger. However, it has happened that some clients have made a personal blog and asked for some suggestions for SEO optimization. It is our pleasure to share the advice that we usually give in these cases.
In this article, you’ll learn how to do SEO on Blogger, Google’s free blogging platform. Whether you’re using a blogspot.com domain or a custom domain, there are several strategies you can apply to improve your blog’s search engine ranking. Although it has more limitations compared to WordPress, Blogger still offers a good degree of SEO optimization, if you know where to focus your efforts.
We’ll explore how to set up the blog correctly, optimize content, structure your pages, and use available tools to achieve real results — even on a basic platform like Blogger.
Table of Contents
- Blogger: blogspot or custom domain?
- How to set up SEO on Blogger
- Optimizing content for search engines
- The importance of the robots.txt file and the sitemap on Blogger
- How to enable and customize robots.txt and sitemap in Blogger
- Mobile-first and loading speed
- Link building and domain authority
- Blogger SEO: limitations and alternatives
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Blogger: blogspot or custom domain?
When creating a blog on Blogger, Google assigns a free subdomain like yourblog.blogspot.com. Alternatively, you can purchase a second-level domain (e.g. yourblog.com) and connect it to your blog.
From an SEO perspective, there’s no penalty for using the blogspot domain. However, a custom domain offers several advantages: it enhances authority, supports branding, and gives you greater flexibility for future projects. Also, a dedicated domain tends to perform better in search results over time.
How to set up SEO on Blogger
Even though Blogger offers fewer features than other CMS platforms, it still allows you to implement solid on-page SEO strategies. With the right configuration, you can significantly improve your blog’s visibility on search engines.
Let’s break it down with practical examples and some HTML where needed.
Enable search descriptions (meta description)
To add a custom meta description for each post (which is crucial for SEO), you first need to enable the feature in the settings.
Steps:
- Go to Settings > Meta tags.
- Enable the option “Enable search description”.
- Save the settings.
Now, when you create or edit a post, you’ll see a field on the right side of the editor called Search Description — this is where you enter a custom SEO-friendly snippet for that specific post.
Example of an effective meta description:
Learn how to optimize your Blogger site for SEO, boost your Google rankings, and grow your organic traffic with easy, actionable tips.
Set a clean, SEO-friendly permalink structure
When publishing a post, Blogger lets you choose between an automatic permalink and a custom permalink. Always go with the custom one to control your blog post URL.
How to do it:
- In the post editor, click on Permalink (right side).
- Select Custom permalink.
- Write a short, keyword-rich, clean URL.
Example:
For a post titled “How to Do SEO on Blogger”, avoid:
/2025/03/how-to-do-seo-on-blogger-step-by-step-guide.html
Better:
/seo-on-blogger.html
Tips:
- Use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Remove unnecessary stop words like “the”, “and”, “on”.
- Include your main keywords.
Customize homepage title and description with HTML
Blogger doesn’t give you direct control over the homepage meta title and description. However, by editing your theme’s HTML, you can manually define them using conditional logic.
Example: Add this in the
<head>
section of your theme:
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "index"'>
<title>SEO Blogger Guide | Boost Your Rankings</title>
<meta name="description" content="Learn how to do SEO on Blogger with this complete guide. Optimize your content, structure, and performance easily."/>
</b:if>
This code ensures your homepage has a unique title and meta description, while Blogger auto-generates tags for individual posts and pages (if search descriptions are enabled).
Use H2 and H3 headings to structure content
Clear content hierarchy helps readers and search engines understand your content. Blogger assigns
H1
to your post title automatically, so you should use
H2
and
H3
inside the post to organize content.
Example structure:
<h2>Setting up Meta Tags in Blogger</h2>
<p>To improve SEO, it’s essential to set up custom meta tags for your blog...</p>
<h3>How to enable search descriptions</h3>
<p>Go to your blog settings and toggle the meta tag option...</p>
<h2>Creating SEO-friendly URLs</h2>
<p>URLs should be short, descriptive, and contain your focus keywords...</p>
Best practices:
- Only one
H1per page (Blogger handles this). - Don’t skip heading levels (use
H2beforeH3). - Include keywords naturally in headings for better SEO relevance.
Bonus: Add structured data with Schema.org (JSON-LD)
While Blogger doesn’t support plugins for rich snippets, you can manually add structured data in JSON-LD format to your blog posts via the HTML theme editor.
Example: Basic JSON-LD for a blog post
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "BlogPosting",
"headline": "How to Do SEO on Blogger",
"description": "Complete SEO guide for Blogger: meta tags, permalinks, headings, and content optimization.",
"author": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Your Name"
},
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Your Blog",
"logo": {
"@type": "ImageObject",
"url": "https://www.yoursite.com/logo.png"
}
},
"datePublished": "2025-03-24"
}
</script>
You can add this to the
<head>
section of your blog template or inside a specific post using the HTML view.
Optimizing content for search engines
Great SEO on Blogger still revolves around quality content. Write well-structured, original, and informative posts. Include keywords naturally in titles, subheadings, and throughout the text. Keep your writing style clear, engaging, and user-focused.
Also remember to:
- Optimize images with descriptive file names and alt text.
- Link to other posts on your blog to build a strong internal linking structure.
- Improve readability with short paragraphs and clear formatting.
The importance of the
robots.txt
file and the sitemap on Blogger
Why are they important?
- The
robots.txtfile tells search engine crawlers which parts of your site they are allowed to access or should avoid. It helps prevent indexing of duplicate or irrelevant content. - The sitemap is a file that lists the URLs of your blog posts and pages, helping Google and other search engines discover and index your content more efficiently.
Blogger allows you to customize both of these elements directly from your dashboard — a key feature for improving your technical SEO.
How to enable and customize
robots.txt
and sitemap in Blogger
Enable advanced SEO settings
Go to:
Settings > Crawlers and indexing > Enable custom robots.txt
Here, you can:
- Enable the custom
robots.txtfile - Enable custom robot header tags
Once enabled, you’ll be able to add your custom rules in a text box.
Sample
robots.txt
for Blogger
User-agent: *
Disallow: /search
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://yourblog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated
Explanation:
-
User-agent: *– Targets all crawlers. -
Disallow: /search– Blocks internal search result pages (which often create duplicate content). -
Allow: /– Allows access to all other content. -
Sitemap:– Specifies where the sitemap is located.
If you’re using a custom domain, replace the URL accordingly:
Sitemap: https://www.yourdomain.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated
You can test your file using the Google robots.txt tester.
How the Blogger sitemap works
Unlike WordPress, Blogger does not create a traditional
sitemap.xml
file. Instead, it uses the RSS feed as the sitemap.
The standard sitemap is:
https://yourblog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated
However, this version only shows the latest 25 posts. To include more posts, use:
https://yourblog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?max-results=500
⚠️ Replace
yourblog.blogspot.comwith your actual custom domain, if applicable.
Submitting your sitemap to Google
- Go to Google Search Console
- Select your property (site).
- Navigate to Sitemaps.
- In the “Add a new sitemap” field, enter:csharpCopiaModifica
feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated - Click Submit.
Excluding unwanted pages from Google indexing
Using the
robots.txt
file, you can block certain pages from being indexed, such as:
- Label/tag pages (
/search/label/...) - Internal search pages (
/search?q=...) - Archive pages (
/2025_03_01_archive.html)
Example of a more advanced
robots.txt
:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /search
Disallow: /*archive.html
Disallow: /*?updated-max=
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://www.yourdomain.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated
This setup blocks tag pages, archive pages, and some duplicate feed URLs that aren’t useful for SEO.
Custom robot header tags
You can also apply custom meta robots tags to specific sections of your blog:
- Homepage:
all - Posts and pages:
all - Archive and tag pages:
noindex, noarchive
To set this up, go to:
Settings > Crawlers and indexing > Enable custom robot header tags
Once enabled, check the appropriate boxes depending on the page type.
Connect your blog to Google Search Console
One of the most important steps is linking your blog to Google Search Console, the official tool for monitoring your site’s presence in search results. It allows you to:
- Check if your posts are indexed.
- Identify SEO errors.
- Submit your sitemap.
- Monitor organic traffic and popular queries.
This step is crucial for both blogspot and custom domains.
Mobile-first and loading speed
Blogger provides mobile-ready templates, but you should still verify if your blog is truly mobile-friendly. Google prioritizes responsive and fast-loading sites, so choose lightweight, clean templates.
Compress large images and limit the use of external scripts. Use tools like PageSpeed Insights to test and improve your site’s performance.
Link building and domain authority
Even on Blogger, you can work on link building, meaning getting other sites to link back to your blog. Some strategies include:
- Guest posting on related blogs.
- Sharing content on social media.
- Leaving valuable comments on relevant websites.
The more quality backlinks you get, the higher your domain authority, and the better your SEO ranking can become.
Blogger SEO: limitations and alternatives
Although Blogger is great for beginners or simple blogs, it has some limitations: fewer customization options, limited control over hosting, and no access to SEO plugins.
If your blog grows or your needs become more advanced, consider switching to WordPress.org, which gives you much more flexibility and SEO control.
Conclusion
Doing SEO on Blogger is totally possible, despite some limitations. With proper setup, strong content, technical optimization, and a consistent link-building strategy, even a blogspot domain can perform well on search engines.
The key is to treat your Blogger blog with the same care you’d give to a more advanced site. Every detail matters — even on a simple platform.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. Is Blogger good for SEO?
Yes, with the right strategies you can rank well even on Blogger.
2. Should I use blogspot or a custom domain?
A custom domain gives more SEO and branding benefits over time.
3. How do I add meta descriptions in Blogger?
Enable “search description” and write one for each post in the post editor.
4. Can I use Google Analytics on Blogger?
Yes, just paste your tracking ID into the theme HTML.
5. Do I need to create a sitemap manually?
No, Blogger generates it automatically, but you can customize it.
6. Can I edit the robots.txt file?
Yes, Blogger allows you to write a custom robots.txt.
7. What tools should I use to analyze SEO?
Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and PageSpeed Insights.
8. Is Blogger suitable for a professional blog?
For small to medium projects, yes. For advanced needs, prefer WordPress.
9. Do images affect SEO?
Yes, optimize them with descriptive filenames and alt attributes.
10. Are Blogger templates SEO-friendly?
Some are, but always test for speed and mobile compatibility.
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