When we announced the migration tool last month, we pointed to the week of February 22 for its launch. That week is upon us, and we're just about ready to launch. We're doing some final QA on the tool, and will get it launched this week. Exact launch date is subject to a few variables - but we will update the blog as soon as it's available.
Once launched, you'll see an alert in your dashboard if you have any FTP blogs to migrate, and will be able to get started right away.
Aw. Was so hoping it would BE the 22nd.
ReplyDeleteAs an alternative to the Blogger-supplied migration tool, we have created a free installable script that will solve the FTP publishing problem. Download it today here:
ReplyDeleteBlogger Publish-Via-FTP Tool
If we are going to use the migration tool, should we go ahead and reserve the name X.blogspot.com or should will that be a part of the migration process?
ReplyDelete@Captain: That will be part of the migration process.
ReplyDeleteIf I don't need to have the traffic redirected from the old URL to the new URL, can I just go to Settings/Publishing/Switch to:•blogspot.com?
ReplyDeleteWill that automatically keep all my old posts and comments on the new blogspot url, or will they be deleted? Or do you recommend that I just wait for the migration tool? thanks for your help.
@maybe strawberry: Yes, your entire blog will be moved over (with comments). If you don't need to redirect traffic, that's the easiest and fastest way to go.
ReplyDeleteI have an FTP blog to publish my business press releases with links to each of the press posts published on my media page. This means I have about 30 links directly from my blog to my business website. As an FTP blog this is just considered internal site linking. But if I migrate my FTP blog to a Custom Domain blog using a subdomain located on my URL, will this be considered a "link farm"? In other words, will I then be penalized by Google for too many links going back to my website from the blog or will this still be considered internal linking if the blog uses a subdomain URL? Help - I need to know the answer to this before I migrate my blog in order not to be banded by Google. Any insight on this problem would be appreciated.
ReplyDeletewhat of the Nick Carter solution above??...is that the same thing as your migration tool?..can i still go ahead as usual with this fix or do i still need the custom domain hosted by google etc...??...
ReplyDelete@Hunter: It is not the same as the migration tool, and as it was built by a third party, we're not in a position to vouch for it. I'm excited to see others offering solutions to help users out, however, and encourage you to give it a try to see if it works for you. But we're heads-down on our own tool at this point.
ReplyDeleteI tried to migrate my blog and destroyed both my blog and my websote. If anyone is offering a paid service of migrating blogs please let me know. I am at wit's end.
ReplyDeleteHelp?
ReplyDelete@Hunter the FTP publishing solution I posted is NOT a google-endorsed nor google-created solution (sorry to add confusion). I have several blogs managed via FTP for our clients, so I had to offer them a solution pronto. So, we got to work figuring out a fix. Once it was working for us, why not put it out there for others.
ReplyDeleteHi Nick,
ReplyDeleteWould love to use your software as it seems like the easiest solution. Opened your readme file.
Not sure what to enter in the index.php file under blogger domain. My url is currently www.ark.ie/blog.
You have asked for the blogspot.com domain so how do I find where this is?
Thanks again for all your work on this.
By the way to edit my blog do I log in the same way, basically can I do everything I did before onceI install your script correctly.
Thanks
Lisa
In preparation for the moved I have been able to create sub-domains for each of the FTP-hosted blogs I have. But it seems like what my hosting service got me to do was essentially just to create pointers to the old folders, so it feels like "virtual" sub-domains. I haven't worked with sub-domains before, so perhaps that's all there is to it. Yes? No?
ReplyDelete@John - that doesn't sound like it will work. You will need the CNAMEs to point to Google's hosting environment (ghs.google.com). Did you enter that address in anywhere? If so, and the subdomains are still pointing at directories on your existing domain, it's likely you will need to chat with your webhost about changing the setup to support true CNAMEs.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your prompt reply, Rick. Before I contact my hosting service provider, I have a follow up question then. I presume sub-domains have to be registered just like a domain does; is that right? I know that Blogger takes care of the registration for you if you want to register a new domain, so will that also be possible for the registration for sub-domains to existing domains that I already own?
ReplyDelete@JohnC Subdomains are typically registered through an interface provided by the registrar who handles your domain registration. Blogger does not provide that interface, you'll want to work directly with your registrar.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThanks to those who emailed me with help and advice.
ReplyDeleteRick - can you offer any help on my problem of linking blog posts directly back to my website after the migration - please see my post above. I need to know if Google will consider this grounds for penalty once I change from an FTP blog hosted on my site to hosted on Blogger. Anyone's comments would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteQuick question.
ReplyDeleteIf I follow instructions properly. Will my readers be able to go to www.myblog.com/http://myblog.com, http://www.myblog.com and that will be the page where my blog resides?
From what I've read I'm assuming the subdomain is simply for backend blog redirection purposes.
I'm the concerned that this move won't allow me to publish on the "front page" of my domain that my readers have been seeing for years.
Any help would be much appreciated.
You are certainly allowed to have your Custom Domain be www.yourdomain.com. You will, however, have to deal with any previously uploaded files (images, PDFs, etc.) that currently live at www.yourdomain.com, since once you have that domain served by us those files will not be addressable at www.yourdomain.com. The post about the missing files host explains this in more detail.
ReplyDeleteI hope this works. I've been doing FTP to my domain blog.metrolingua.com for over five years and I've posted that address everywhere. I don't want to have to change it after the migration. Is it possible to keep that address and not screw things up?
ReplyDelete@mj: Yes, as I note in the immediately preceding comment, you'll want to understand the function of the missing files host if you want to keep the same address.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteCan i explain my scenario and if some can tell me what i will need to do please.
I have my own domain and webspace.
When i create my blog entry on blogger.com it FTP's the new pages to my domain.
So my webspace is full of all my blogs and users need only goto my website www.thinworld.net/blog to see all the stuff.
how will this now change ?
@Latest News at the Ark ... the documentation is admitedly lacking right now. To answer your question, you would enter your blogspot domain, which of course requres that you create one (settings>publishing>blogspot.com domain). This script then looks to that domain as a data source for the content to be displayed on your server.
ReplyDeleteMore FAQ and detailed instruction to come. Also, a 2nd edition will be released that includes redirect scripts to ensure all old links remain fully functional.
Find more here.
Are the FOUR separate ANAME records which the help page asks us to create absolutely necessary to forward from the naked domain to the new blog domain address?
ReplyDeleteThe interface at my hosting provider does not allow me to create new ANAME records for the naked domain, only modify the one existing record. And they have been less than helpful or useful to me regarding this.
Right now, I have the one naked domain pointing at 216.239.32.21 and it is working. Will there be issues without the other 3 ANAME records in place?
Thanks!
If we send out links to specific blog posts on our blog, will these links become bad/dead after the migration or will they continue to be live and be redirected to the new CNAME or blogsport URL (whichever we choose) destination?
ReplyDelete@gomonkeygo If you're using a naked domain, I think you can take a shortcut and just change your @ record.
ReplyDeleteI published an updated version of our migration tool... much easier to use:
PostTwo's blogger FTP solution.
Also, we are looking at either switching to a CNAMe or blogspot URL but in 5 months we are rebranding and will be changing our name/domain name. Will this effect which option we choose?
ReplyDeleteIf we use a CNAME, would we simply redirect myblog.newdomain.org to myblog.olddomain.org and be ok? Will we lose any posts this way? Thanks.
@Lisa Maly No matter which solution you use, Blogger's or PostTwo's your old links will stay alive. Now, about the affect of changing domains... that could hurt your search rank no matter where you host or what blog service you use. Is there a really good reason to change?
ReplyDelete@Nick, I think that's not really true (re: changing domains hurting search rank no matter what). Using .htaccess (and 301 redirects) or rel=canonical, either way, Google will understand the intent of those commands, and transfer whatever rank the original URL has to the designated new URL.
ReplyDeleteNick -- will your solution allow me to have my multiple blogs per site as I do now (i.e. ClientSite.com/blog.php and ClientSite.com/news.php as two separate blogs under the same blogger login?)
ReplyDelete@John - Yes, multiple blogs are no problem, just follow the procedure for each blog individually. Additionally, if you hold each blog in a sub-directory, add that directory (/blog/) to the "custom domain" field so it gets to the right destination.
ReplyDelete@RickKlau - You may be right. If executed correctly, the bots are probably tuned to see certain cues. My fear for the average blogger is that they don't know what htaccess is or what 301 means. So, if done wrong, could have disasterous affects. (Probably the same reason people are so squeamish about this change. A-Records and CNAME editing? Scares a lot of people)
@Nick - which is why we're building the migration tool so that they don't have to worry about htaccess and 301.
ReplyDelete@RickKlau Touche ;-)
ReplyDeleteHaving not seen it yet, I was not clear on how it would work precisely.
Has this tool fixed the problem that was keeping all but 200 of my client's comments from exporting from Blogger when I tried using the built-in export tool? We were both understandably concerned when that method only yielded 200/5000+ comments.
ReplyDelete@Mrs. Michah - we have fixed the export bug, and are awaiting a code push to verify that the export function is fully functional in production. Should be within a few hours.
ReplyDeleteI just want my blog to stay as it is. I don't really care if Google want to host the thing or not.
ReplyDeleteI most certainly don't want .blogspot addresses showing up in the future on my posts.
Is that what i'm going to see if I transfer to the custom domain thingy?
Completely baffled by the whole thing quite frankly.
@Sandracer: A custom domain is *your* domain. No blogspot.com address will be evident anywhere.
ReplyDelete@Rick Klau,
ReplyDeleteI am not sure that you answered directly the question from CleanAIR Systems, which is a situation similar to our own. Our blog is a part of our shore.com domain, residing at shore.com/commentary/weblogs. Our initial plan is to migrate to your custom domains by creating a subdomain contentblogger.shore.com. Assuming that we can do this properly through our DNS administration service, would this new subdomain hosted on your infrastructure be recognized by Google's search engine as part of the shore.com domain and not a separate "link farm" domain? I repeat the original CleanAIR Systems comment below for convenience:
I have an FTP blog to publish my business press releases with links to each of the press posts published on my media page. This means I have about 30 links directly from my blog to my business website. As an FTP blog this is just considered internal site linking. But if I migrate my FTP blog to a Custom Domain blog using a subdomain located on my URL, will this be considered a "link farm"? In other words, will I then be penalized by Google for too many links going back to my website from the blog or will this still be considered internal linking if the blog uses a subdomain URL? Help - I need to know the answer to this before I migrate my blog in order not to be banded by Google. Any insight on this problem would be appreciated.
ok well we got our subdomain last week.. i am still not exactly sure how it will all migrate so was hoping to have a tool to kick around this week..
ReplyDeletehttp://discount.binaofficefurniture.com/
Just updated the blog, we have had to postpone the tool by a couple days due to some last-minute bugs we're in the process of fixing. Post is here.
ReplyDeleteTurns out, I can just use "switch to", since all my current blog is part of my site, and is not addressed separately. But since I already reserved the name, "switch to" won't work... it complains that the name's taken (it is, but by me). What can I do?
ReplyDeleteNote: Comments are closed on this post. Please direct general questions to the FAQ page, and specific problems with the migration tool to the issue tracker. More details about support for the FTP migration are here.
ReplyDelete