Blogger Settings Guide: Every Setting Explained, Including SEO
Kamran Liaquat Ali- posted on
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Quick answer: In Blogger, open Settings from the left menu and work through it top to bottom: set your title, description and favicon; keep the blog visible to search engines; turn on HTTPS and HTTPS redirect; enable the search description; choose who can comment and turn on moderation; and only then touch advanced options such as custom robots.txt and robots header tags. Leaving those advanced options at their defaults is safer than configuring them wrongly.
This guide covers every important section of Blogger’s settings, with recommended values for a new blog, and includes the SEO-specific settings that affect how Google crawls and indexes your posts.
Basic Settings
| Setting | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Title | Your blog’s name, short and memorable |
| Description | One or two sentences on what readers will find; it may appear in search results and feeds |
| Blog language | The language you write in, so dates and labels display correctly |
| Favicon | Upload a square icon so your blog is recognisable in browser tabs and search results |
| Google Analytics property ID | Add your GA4 measurement ID to track visitors |
Privacy
Keep Visible to search engines turned on. If it is off, Google will not index your blog, which is the most common reason a new Blogger site never appears in search. Listing on Blogger is optional.
Publishing and Custom Domain
Your default address is yourblog.blogspot.com. If you buy a domain, add it under Custom domain and create the DNS records Blogger shows you at your domain registrar. Also enable redirecting the bare domain (without www) to your blog so both versions work.
HTTPS
Turn on HTTPS availability and HTTPS redirect. This sends every visitor to the secure version of your blog. With a custom domain, Blogger may take a little time to issue the certificate before these options become available.
Permissions
Add co-authors as Authors rather than admins unless they need full control. Keep Reader access public for a normal blog; private blogs are not indexed.
Posts and Images
- Set the number of posts on the main page to keep the homepage fast; around 7–10 is typical.
- Use a post template if you repeat the same structure, such as a disclosure line.
- Turn on lazy loading of images and WebP image serving if your version of Blogger offers them; both reduce page weight.
Comments
- Choose an embedded comment form so readers stay on the page.
- Allow comments from users with Google accounts, or anyone if you have moderation turned on.
- Turn on comment moderation to stop spam links appearing on your blog.
- Add your email for comment notifications so you can reply quickly.
Formatting and Time Zone
Set your time zone so scheduled posts publish at the right time, and choose a date format your readers recognise.
SEO Settings in Blogger
These settings affect how search engines see your blog. Configure them carefully, because a mistake here can stop pages from being indexed.
Meta tags: search description
Turn on Enable search description and write a blog-level description. After enabling it, each post editor shows a Search description field in the post settings panel. Write a unique 120–155 character summary for every post. Our meta description length checker previews how it may look.
Errors and redirects
- Custom 404: add a short message with a link to your homepage or popular posts, so visitors who hit a dead link can continue browsing.
- Custom redirects: when you change a post’s URL or delete a post, add a permanent redirect from the old path to the most relevant live page.
Crawlers and indexing
Custom robots.txt and custom robots header tags are off by default, and the defaults are sensible for most blogs. If you enable them, a typical safe set-up is:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /search
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://www.yourblog.com/sitemap.xml| Robots header tag area | Common choice |
|---|---|
| Home page | all |
| Archive and search pages | noindex |
| Posts and pages (default for posts and pages) | all |
Blocking /search keeps label and search result pages from filling Google’s index with thin duplicates. Never add Disallow: /, which blocks the whole blog.
Monetization: ads.txt
If you use AdSense, enable custom ads.txt and paste the line AdSense gives you. A missing or incorrect ads.txt can reduce ad earnings.
Search Console and sitemap
Blogger generates /sitemap.xml automatically. Verify your blog in Google Search Console and submit the sitemap. Our step-by-step guide shows how to connect Blogger to Google Search Console.
Manage Blog: Back Up Regularly
Under Manage blog, use Back up content to download an XML copy of your posts and comments. Do this before changing your theme or major settings. The same file is used if you ever move your blog to WordPress.
Settings Checklist for a New Blog
| Setting | Recommended |
|---|---|
| Visible to search engines | On |
| HTTPS availability and redirect | On |
| Enable search description | On, with a description for every post |
| Comment moderation | On |
| Custom robots.txt / header tags | Leave default unless you understand them |
| Custom ads.txt | On if you use AdSense |
| Time zone | Your local zone |
| Back up | Before any big change |
Common Mistakes
- Turning off “Visible to search engines” while testing and forgetting to turn it back on.
- Copying a robots.txt from another site that blocks important pages.
- Setting posts to
noindexin custom robots header tags by accident. - Changing post URLs without adding custom redirects.
- Using a heavy third-party theme without checking speed and headings. See why we suggest thinking carefully about Blogger’s default theme.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my Blogger blog not showing on Google?
Check that “Visible to search engines” is on, that custom robots settings are not blocking posts, and that your blog is verified in Search Console with the sitemap submitted. New blogs can also simply take a few weeks to be indexed.
Should I enable custom robots.txt?
Only if you need to change the default behaviour. The default works for most blogs.
How do I add a meta description to a Blogger post?
Enable search description under Settings, then open a post and fill in the Search description field in the post settings sidebar.
New to Blogger? Start with our guide to creating a Blogger blog.
Once your settings are in place, follow our blogging and SEO guide to plan content and grow traffic.
