Changing from Blogger Subdomain to another Subdomain

This post will explain the steps for changing your blog address/URL on Blogger from a subdomain (.blogspot.com) to a new subdomain (.blogspot.com).

This can be quite a confusing and difficult change as Blogger don’t offer a way to automatically redirect your readers.

To help you understand the instructions better I’m going to use the example that I’m changing my address from xomisse1.blogspot.com to xomisse2.blogspot.com. Please read the steps carefully!

If changing from blogspot.com to a custom domain, check out these steps instead.

1. Read the first part of this post on how to smoothly change your URL or blog name, which will explain the overall steps and things to prepare before changing your URL.

2. As mentioned in my previous post from step 1, let people know your plans in advance. Plan a date for making the switch and mention it in posts running up to that date and on social media so people know.

3. To change your blog address on Blogger go to Settings > Basic > Blog Address > Enter new address and fill in your new address. If it’s unavailable you’ll see an error.

Example: On the Settings tab for the blog xomisse1.blogspot.com, I type in my new address xomisse2.blogspot.com and save. Now xomisse1.blogspot.com is free.

4. Since you changed your address on the same blog instead of setting up a new blog, you will still have your GFC followers but they may not see new posts on their Reading List in the Blogger Dashboard. It seems the only way around this is if they refresh their subcription/follow. Unfortunately this means that you will need to tell readers who follow you via GFC to re-follow your blog. Thankfully Bloglovin make the process easier, you will need to contact Bloglovin to change your old URL to your new URL which will also merge followers on there.

5. The old address will now show a “Blog Not Found” page so set up a new blog and give it your old URL. Put up a notice that your blog has moved and add a link to your new site. This will help redirect any readers or visitors who stumble upon your old site.

Example: If I clicked on xomisse1.blogspot.com it would now show a not found page. I go back to Blogger Dashboard and create a new blog with the URL xomisse1.blogspot.com and publish a new blog post saying “Blog has moved to xomisse2.blogspot.com“.

There is a “hack” that allows you to add a script to your old blog that will automatically redirect visitors to your new site, however I’m not going to add it here as some users have reported that their blogs got deleted for malware due to this. If you want to take the risk, I’m sure the code can be easily found on Google.

6. Staying on your old blog, we will now redirect your old RSS Feed to your new RSS Feed. If you are using Bloggers RSS Feed on your new blog follow step 6a. If you want to use Feedburner on your new blog you can set up a brand new feed for your new URL which is step 6b or update your old blogs feed which is step 6c.

6a. If you are using Bloggers RSS Feed on your new blog then your new RSS Address is blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default. On your old blog, go to Settings > Other > Post Feed Redirect URL. Add the RSS Feed Address of your new URL here.

Example: I go to settings on my old blog xomisse1.blogspot.com and in the Post Feed Redirect field add xomisse2.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

6b. If you want to use Feedburner on your new blog and want to set up a brand new feed, then login to Feedburner and you will see “Burn a Feed Right This Instant”. Enter your original feed address. This is Bloggers default address blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default. You can then choose a username for your feed. Once submitted, click “Edit Feed Details” and you’ll see your Feedburner RSS Feed Address feeds.feedburner.com/username. On your old blog, go to Settings > Other > Post Feed Redirect URL. Add the Feedburner RSS Feed Address of your new URL here.

Example: On Feedburner I set up a new Feed, the original feed I enter for my new blogs RSS Feed would be xomisse2.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default. I choose the username xomisse2. I go to settings on xomisse1.blogspot.com and add feeds.feedburner.com/xomisse2.

6c. If you want to use Feedburner on your new blog and want to update your old blogs feed, then login to Feedburner and choose your feed. Click “Edit Feed Details” and update the Original Feed Address from the RSS Feed of your old URL to RSS Feed of your new URL. Beneath that, you’ll see your Feedburner RSS Feed Address feeds.feedburner.com/username that you’ll need. Go to troubleshootize section and scroll down to resync. On your old blog, go to Settings > Other > Post Feed Redirect URL. Add the Feedburner RSS Feed Address.

Example: On Feedburner, the original feed was xomisse1.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default but I change it to xomisse2.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default. My Feedburner username is xomisse1. I go to settings on xomisse1.blogspot.com and add feeds.feedburner.com/xomisse1.

7. Finally we need to forward your new RSS Feed to the RSS Feed you are using. If using Feedburner on your new blog, go to Settings > Other > Post Feed Redirect URL. Enter your Feedburner RSS Feed address. This will redirect Blogger default RSS Feed to your Feedburner Feed. If you are using Bloggers RSS Feed on your new blog, then you don’t need to do this.

Example: My Feedburner address is feeds.feedburner.com/xomisse2. On the Settings tab of my new blog, xomisse2.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default I enter feeds.feedburner.com/xomisse2.

8. Read back over the first part of this post on how to smoothly change your URL or blog name to make sure you’ve updated everything correctly. If changing from blogspot.com to a custom domain, check out these steps.