Most Blogspot blogs stay invisible for one fixable reason: Blogger ships with key SEO settings switched off. Work through these 12 settings in order — it's a morning's work, and it covers the main technical basics.
1–3: Foundation (Settings → General)
1. Search visibility ON: Settings → Privacy → "Visible to search
engines." If this is off, nothing else matters.
2. HTTPS + redirect ON: Settings → HTTPS → enable HTTPS redirect, so
every URL resolves to one secure version.
3. Clear title + description: a niche-focused blog title and a 1–2 line
description telling Google what the blog covers.
4–6: Crawling & Indexing
4. Meta tags enabled: Settings → Meta tags → enable search
descriptions, then write a unique search description (as a rule of thumb,
under 150 characters) for every post.
5. Custom robots header tags: enable them and set archive and search
pages to noindex — Blogger auto-generates label/archive/search pages
that would otherwise bloat Google's index with duplicates. Keep posts and
pages set to index.
6. Custom robots.txt — touch carefully: the default is fine for most
blogs. Only customize if you know exactly what you're blocking; one bad rule
can deindex the whole site.
7–9: Every Post You Publish
7. Custom permalink: edit it before publishing — Blogger auto-truncates
titles into keyword-poor URLs. Blogger documents the Custom Permalink flow for
new posts; check the current post settings if you need to change it later.
Short, readable, keyword-natural.
8. Keyword-first titles, one intent per post: front-load the main
keyword and match a single search intent; don't mix two topics in one post.
9. Images done right: compress before uploading, use WebP where
possible, and fill in alt text on every image — it's both accessibility
and image-search traffic.
10–12: Structure & Maintenance
10. Lightweight theme: pick a fast, mobile-responsive template and
strip heavy sidebar gadgets — page speed is a ranking factor and Blogger
themes vary wildly.
11. Labels kept tight: use a small, consistent set of labels; dozens of
labels generate dozens of thin label pages.
12. Search Console + internal links: verify in Google Search Console,
submit /sitemap.xml, and, as a recommendation, link every new
post to 2–3 older related posts — Blogger won't suggest internal links for
you. Set up custom redirects (Settings → Errors and redirects) whenever you
rename or remove a post.
Common Mistakes That Kill Blogger Rankings
Duplicate or copied content, ignoring canonical issues (Blogger's
?m=1 mobile URLs are handled by canonical tags — don't panic),
never updating old posts, and skipping meta descriptions. Configuration is a
morning's work; rankings come from consistent useful articles in a clear
niche.
FAQs
Can a Blogspot blog rank in 2026?
Yes — Google ranks pages, not
platforms. A well-configured Blogger site with genuinely useful content
outranks sloppy WordPress sites regularly.
Do I need a custom domain?
Not for ranking, but a custom domain
builds portable authority you keep if you ever migrate. A blogspot.com address
works fine while you're growing.
Should I use a custom robots.txt?
Only if you understand it. The
default plus noindexed archives (setting 5) is a safe setup for most blogs.
Verdict
These 12 settings cover the main technical basics — after that, it's content and links that decide rankings. For the writing itself, modern AI tools can speed up drafting and optimisation — see my roundup of the best AI writing tools for bloggers. Pair this setup with our Local SEO Checklist (2026) for the traffic side. Last checked: October 2026.
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