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Google Page Rank When Transferring Blogs

  1. callmesmiler
    Member

    I decided to switch over to WordPress recently and I've been able to import all of my former Blogger blog posts and comments without any difficulty, but haven't yet shut down the original blog nor redirected traffic because I have no clue how to deal with my Google page ranking. I understand it's a bad idea to have the same content posted on two sites, and that I could be penalized for this, but this is only a temporary situation until I figure out if there's any way I can preserve my page ranking which took me 5 years to build up (assuming I haven't already been penalized). I should add that I now use the same blog name, but under my own domain. I'm sure others have been faced with the same issue.

    Any helpful suggestions on how I can retain that page ranking now that I'm on WP or do I have no choice but to start from scratch?

    The blog I need help with is fromsmilerwithlove.com.

  2. raincoaster
    Member

    You have no choice but to start from scratch, UNLESS you had a unique URL over at Blogspot and you've attached that unique URL to your WordPress.com blog via the Domain Mapping upgrade. I mean something like whatever.com. Because the pagerank goes with the URL.

  3. callmesmiler
    Member

    I had myblogname.blogspot.com and now used the domain mapping upgrade with sameblogname.com

    I'm really hoping there's something I can do about this. It's one of the big reasons I had been resisting to make the switch but I just don't feel safe at Blogger as a close family recently had her perfectly respectable G-rated blog removed one day with no explanation and no apologies.

  4. timethief
    Member

    PageRank is not transferable. The backlinks and PageRank earned by the root blog belong to the root blog URL. The new domain URL starts from zero just as raincoaster said.

    We purchase domain mapping to preserve a smooth transition for readers and no loss in traffic from search engines. What domain mapping is is a service to transfer your readers seamlessly between the root blog URls to the new domain URLs.

  5. raincoaster
    Member

    Don't worry: whatever your PR at Blogger, you're probably going to beat it pretty fast with a WP.com blog, especially if you follow the suggestions here:

    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/first-blogplease-dont-sigh-in-dismay?replies=5

  6. sandrapawula
    Member

    I second that notion. I've gotten more traffic on WordPress than Blogger that's for sure. Good luck!

  7. callmesmiler
    Member

    Great—I guess—at least now I know for sure. Thanks for your feedback guys (and gals)

    In another related question, I'm wondering how Google will treat my former blog if I don't actually delete it. I've seen a lot of bloggers keep their old Blogger sites going to redirect traffic. I guess I also have a hard time cutting ties with the old blog (after all this time & effort, hard not to feel attached, and never mind that I finally had the template looking the way I wanted it to!). I'm just concerned as to whether it will still be considered as a "mirror-site" (insert whatever appropriate term it's supposed to be!) i.e. I want to be sure not to have duplicate content. With over 1,000 posts, that's a lot of material to delete!

    I'll redirect traffic as of now, but your input on this is much appreciated as well. Also please let me know if I should have started a new question thread... as you know I'm new to WP and this forum so not sure how things work yet. All this feels like such a big learning curve all over again—very humbling, that's for sure! :-)

  8. timethief
    Member

    , I'm wondering how Google will treat my former blog if I don't actually delete it.

    When we purchase domain mapping we longer have a need to keep the old blog open and if we do then we are running the risk of being seen by Google as creating duplicate content. Duplicate content can result in Google penalties. After 72 hours have expired and the domain mapping is complete the best course of action is to change the root blog (original) blog visibility to "private".

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