The months go by and the Google products that disappear or are sold add up. After the sale of Google Domains to SquareSpace and the shutdown of Keen, many are seriously asking questions about the future of the famous and free Blogger website platform.
This month of March 2024 will notably have seen the cessation of websites which were embedded free of charge with Google Business Profile (which is still mistakenly called Google My Business). So fearing the potential closure, even gradual, of Blogger Blogspot is not madness, but rather pragmatism. For what ?
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When it’s free, you’re the product
Blogger Blogspot’s main strength is that it is free. Plenty of space to add images and photos. The possibility of publishing articles without paying a single euro or dollar… This is what has attracted many people to Blogger for years.
Bloggers who have been publishing content via Blogger for 10, 12 years or more are far from rare. On the contrary. This freeness is a strength that many other platforms cannot compete with. To the point that many of these turnkey systems offer a very limited free plan, which will inevitably push users towards paying. Let us cite here French products like OverBlog, Canalblog… To mention just a few. However, WordPress.com is the perfect example of very limited free.
A poorly maintained and poorly scalable product
Even if we can praise the technical capabilities offered to users such as being able to activate image files to webp format in 1 click or activate lazyload images in 2 seconds , that is not everything. Because it must be admitted that the product is poorly maintained.
Blogger’s web log attests to this . Since 2020, nothing new in the tropics of this ultra popular platform. Total desert.
The default templates look sad. And if, however, the cookie banner included from the outset can reassure visitors, it is clear that in terms of investment, from the outside, Blogger seems a little abandoned.
However, this does not dissuade millions of users from continuing to blog there or even creating several blogs or sites there. And to stay there. But the future of blogger can still be perplexing when we see the rest of the panorama of Google products. To be buried one after the other.
Killed by Google is still the best way to get an idea of the state of affairs…
While Google Podcasts will stop in April 2024, we can already hear a simmer of fear regarding the upcoming announcement of the shutdown of Blogger.
What to do if Blogger Blosgpot stops?
Consider the future elsewhere. The grass won’t necessarily be greener there. Especially when you like the free and simplicity offered today by Blogger. And we got used to it for years. If the platform is little or not scalable, we cannot however blame it for offering the comfort of its very simplified use. Accessible for many people who are sometimes not very experienced in webmastering and who, moreover, do not aspire to become web professionals.
In this case, Blogger Blogspot offers everything you need to “leave” quite easily towards other horizons. You can export your textual content via an XML file to which you have free and immediate access (except in rare cases of bugs for very large blogs).
The XML File is also compatible with WordPress which remains the leader in blog migrations. Whether we go for the WordPress.com formula or a site hosted by OVHCloud, o2switch , Hostinger and others with its domain.
The difficulty will undoubtedly be having to choose your future space from the vast current offering. Whether it’s free blogging or paid blogging (wix, squarespace and other premium offers from Overblog, Canalblog etc.).
If, however, Blogger were to close, the challenge would therefore be to export its content . And back up your media files without closing your Google user account. Since in various cases, media files are attached to the user account. The procedures are quick and easy to carry out. Another advantage of Blogger that we would like to find at Overblog in particular. Whose future can also be perplexing.
Towards a transfer/sale of Blogger?
This would obviously be ideal so that perhaps most users do not lose their blog or website and can continue to benefit from it in a flexible and transparent way. The sale of Google domains in 2023 to SquareSpace demonstrates that a product created and offered by Google in 2014 can continue under other brands and hands.
However, what company would take on such a massive piece without any notion of monetization to make a completely free product profitable? What about Google Ads integration? It is impossible to say today what would happen without falling into pure speculation.
The certainty is that the number of users represents a big challenge. The risk of key dissatisfaction is enormous.
Is it desirable to create a blog on blogger in 2024?
Everyone sees noon at their door. However, I will not encourage loved ones to open a blog tomorrow at Blogger if these loved ones are looking for stability and sustainability. If they are open to the idea of changing creameries along the way, no problem then. But let’s be honest, when we get used to such products, it’s rarely to change overnight. Except in the event of a very big disappointment or changing objectives. Like for example the pressing need to professionalize your blog or website .
The future of Blogger may still be in the care of Google for several years. But recent facts about Google products leave doubts about what will happen in the near future.
Should we leave Blogger now?
Should you leave Blogger quickly? No, no urgency to move from Google’s historic platform for Blogging. But preparing for the idea would not a priori be “crazy”.
As long as it remains easy, as it has always been, to export your blog or website content, there is no point in rushing. This is still the best way to change platforms without taking the time to compare what is available from the competition.
The ideal is still to observe Google’s potential communications regarding this popular platform. And to think about what we want and expect from our Blogger space for the future. In particular on the fact of perhaps opting for more sustainable and/or paying solutions. While Google Blogger remains one of the rare products that offers very wide free access to this day.
