Blogger Review 2024: Is Google Blogspot Still Worth It to Blog?

This is a complete Blogger review. In this review on Blogger, you will find out everything from features, use-cases, pros and cons, and alternatives for Google Blogger in 2024.

When it comes to blogging, only a handful of blogging platforms out there that can really push you forward; and help you achieve your goals, ambitions, and dreams.

Blogger.com (or Google Blogspot) is one of those excellent free blogging sites.

Today, I will review the Blogger blogging platform. It is one of the best. 1.4% of the world’s blogs are built with Blogger.

What is Blogger?

Blogger.com is a free blogging platform owned by Google. Hence it is also known as Google Blogger to disregard any confusion with the ‘blogger’ noun (a person).

The history of the Blogger goes way back to the 1990s. It was started by Evan Williams and is regarded as the pioneer of online content publication service, aka weblogging, aka blogging. Evan Williams also contributed to founding Twitter and Medium – both pillars of internet publishing.

Once Pyra Labs, which was co-founded by Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan, sold the Blogger platform to Google in 2003 after four months of negotiations for an undisclosed sum, Google integrated the blogging platform with its servers and enhanced the blogging platform so that anyone could start a blog. In this review on Blogger, I will explore them and help you decide if you should invest in Blogger CMS.

Blogger vs Blogspot

Blogger vs. Blogspot – What is the difference?

You might come to know both terms. In fact, those are mostly the same. Blogger indicates the blogging platform itself, while Blogspot is the hostname for blogs. For instance, you might create a blog on Blogger and get a host domain name that includes .blogspot.com.

The best part is you can hide the Blogspot domain name from the site by mapping a custom domain name which I will further discuss in detail in this Google Blogger review.

The influence of Blogger blogging platform

Currently, Blogger web hosts might hold a low profile. But several years ago, it was one of the best and most influential blogging platforms. In fact, Matt Mullenweg started blogging on Blogger, and his dissatisfaction with Blogger.com was a reason to create the first version of WordPress in the early 2000s.

Some notable blogs and bloggers who get started on Blogger are:

Amit Agarwal – Founder of Labnol.org – Some of his Blogspot blogs can be found on https://labnol.blogspot.com/
Google.blog – The official blog of Google.com. The site itself indicates that if you have skills in coding, you can change the appearance of a Blogspot blog and make it unique.
Harsh Agarwal – Shoutmeloud.com is one of the most popular Indian blogs, and it was started on Google Blogspot first

Even our very own blog, Pitiya.com, was started on Google Blogger in the 2012s and moved to WordPress later.

So, why do people start on Google Blogger and then move to other blogging platforms?

Reasons why people move away from Blogger

Blogger is the oldest blogging platform. Hence, it has gained popularity and the hand of Google. So, people trusted Google Blogger over other platforms, for instance, Tumblr. But later found some alternatives to Blogger with reasonable features.
Many bloggers from third-world countries got started on Blogger for the low cost. Once made some money and had a sustainable income, moved to a self-hosted blogging platform like WordPress.org or Magento.
Low customization options. Blogger is one of the least free blogging platforms when it comes to customization features.
The danger of deleting a BlogSpot blog. Yes, there are many incidents in which Google removed an entire blog from its servers that broke Blogger terms and conditions.
Future of blogging. Blogging space changes rapidly. Since Blogger is the least flexible blogging site, you cannot find plugins or reasonable features for current marketing requirements, such as Rich Snippets plugins, image optimizations, and custom CDN solutions. Not to mention that Blogger offers many blogging-related features later after many Blogger competitors offered them. Ex: drag and drop website builder

But that does not mean Blogger is not a good blogging platform. In fact, it ticks many boxes if you are particularly looking for an excellent blogging platform for small projects. I will discuss some of them further in this Blogger review.

Blogger Review: How to use Blogger

The best thing about Blogger is it is free of cost. And its intuitive dashboard is clutter-free and less complicated so that anyone with or without experience in blogging can get started today and make a blog.

In a previous tutorial, I shared the details of how to create a Blogspot blog. But, for the sake of this Blogger review, I will share those steps again and reveal some key features.

First of all, you must have a Google account to have a Blogspot blog. The best part is one Google account can manage multiple Blogger blogs.

Go to the Blogger.com homepage and log in to your Blogger account.

The first step is entering the name of your blog. For example, if your blog is related to foods, you can enter a name like ‘Best Food and Cooking Tips’ or a name of the blog like ‘Pitiya.’ You can change it later.

The next step is entering a subdomain name for your Blogger blog. Depending on your name of selection, the subdomain web address will look like example.blogspot.com. And you can change it later and use a custom domain name instead.

Once you click the ‘Save’ button, you will be redirected to the new Blogger blog’s posts section.

Here are the main menu options:

• Manage posts – Create blog posts, edit published ones, delete blogs
• Blog statistics – Get an overview of blog statistics
• Comments – Manage comments by users
• Earnings – Monetize Blogspot blog by using Google Adsense
• Pages – Create standalone pages to make special pages like Contact Us, Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, About Us, etc.
• Layout – Add or remove widgets or reorder existing widgets on the sidebar, header, or footer. Really depend on the Blogger theme.
• Settings – Modify blog settings — Password protect blog, prevent search engines from indexing, specify who can comment, etc.,

Manage Blog

Managing a Blogspot blog is simple. Here are several features of Blogspot blog management:

You will get a free SSL certificate from Google. So there is no need to install any script
The blog is entirely hosted on Google fast servers. No need to adjust anything at your end.
You can start changing the blog’s appearance by adding a new theme, adding widgets, changing layout order, etc.
Edit Robots.txt, header tags, SEO title & description, and redirect 404 pages to optimize Blogger for search engines.

If you click the view blog button, you will see how your site will appear in the “unedited” state.

Change Blogger theme/template

You will see that the default Blogger template does not match many niches. So, the next step is changing the Blogger theme. Depending on the Blogger theme you use, it will have different Layout structures. For example, some Blogger themes will have header and bottom widget sections, while some only have sidebar widget sections.

Blogger has some free themes. However, many of those might not apply to your niche. So, what I recommend is using a custom-built one or a premium Blogger theme. The best place to buy premium Blogger themes is Themeforest. Make sure those are responsive and professional-looking Blogspot themes and allow customization.

Once the theme is changed, you can change the Layout as you’d like.

You can add a gadget such as a translate widget, follow us widget, or Google Adsense ad section to your blog. For instance, if you want to embed a Convertful opt-in form, the recommended gadget type is ‘HTML/JavaScript.’ Learn more in the article on the Best Blogger widgets to use for free.

Custom domain name

One of the best features of Blogger compared with other free blogging sites is that you can use a custom domain name. This will improve your site’s professional look and Blogger SEO.

Head over to Settings >> Publishing >> Custom domain and set up your custom domain. I recommend buying a cheap domain name on a domain names registration service like NameCheap or Porkbun and later moving the domain management to Cloudflare.

Cloudflare provides many features to improve your site’s security and performance. Also, Cloudflare renews the domain on wholesale, not retail pricing.

Use a domain name availability checker tool to find an excellent domain. Learn why you must have a domain name from this article.

Once done, add Blogger nameservers to your DNS management to map the domain with Google Blogger servers.

Now you have set up the blog theme and domain. The next step is creating a blog post. I will explain a bit about it in this Blogger review. For more details, I recommend checking out this ultimate guide to Blogger SEO.

Create a blog post

Click on the ‘New Post‘ button at the left sidebar, and Blogger will switch to the create mode. In the Blogger post editor, you will find several features and tools.

• Use Google fonts inside the post editor (style individual blog posts with different fonts)
• Use emojis, images, and videos.
• Switch between the text editing and HTML code editing modes
• Use input tools for blogging in international languages
• Change the post permalink, add labels, and post the publish date

The Blogger post editor is compatible with writing tools like Grammarly (visit website), SEO tools like WriterZen and SurferSEO, and Textmetrics.

Another small but essential addition I want to show in this Blogger review is the mobile view of blog posts. Click the ‘Preview‘ button and select the ‘Smartphone‘ icon to see blog content.

Blogger Review: Features

In this review on Blogger blogging platform, you will find the basics of Blogger. But, some features will be notable if you want to have a blog on BlogSpot.

Blogger hosting and security

One of the main advantages of Blogger over most other blogging platforms is hosting and security.

You will get unlimited hosting storage, bandwidth, and high-level security as a Blogspot user. Have you ever heard a Blogger’s blog has been hacked?

If you take security into high-level consideration over others, Blogger might be a better option than most other blogging sites.

Google Adsense

Now you can directly monetize your blog with Google Adsense. However, there are many better ways to monetize a Blogspot blog than Google Adsense.

Theme customization

You can install new plugins like Facebook Blogger comments and Disqus, or even code your plugins such as Rich Snippets for Blogspot blogs. Blogger theme code is fully customized, and even Blogger has detailed documentation about it. (#1, #2)

For example, if you want to edit the CSS of the Blogger theme, it can be easier done by editing the Blogger template.

Unlike WordPress themes, Blogger templates do not have separate files (e.g.: functions.php, indexp.php, etc.), so you can backup a Blogger theme and share it with others.

Money making abilities

Another subtle feature I want to emphasize in this Blogger review is the ability to make money with Blogger sites. You can monetize a BlogSpot blog through:

Displaying Google Adsense
Displaying banner ads (e.g.: BuySellAds)
Using PPC ad publishing networks like Taboola, Propellerads, and Media.net
Writing sponsored posts, reviews, and product showcases
Partnering with companies and becoming an affiliate. Using affiliate links on Blogspot blogs is allowed, unlike some other Blogger competitors such as WordPress.com.
Utilizing affiliate marketing strategies such as Launch Jacking to make money promoting IM product launches from places like MunchEye.

Google Search Console integration

Google automatically detects your sites and adds them to your Google Search Console account. No need to verify site ownership.

Add moderators and writers

You can add to your site and ease your blog management workflow if you have a team of writers or assistants.

Google Analytics integration

Although Google Blogger provides basic stats, it is not enough to make important decisions and analyze your blog visitors. The best part is Blogger has integrated Google Analytics, so you just need to enter the Google Analytics Property ID to view site statistics on Google Analytics.

Additionally, I recommend using a third-party tool like Keyword Hero to unlock keywords ‘not provided’ in GA.

Blogger Review: Use-cases

So, who should use Blogger?

Blogging is a business model; you should regard a blog as a business. So, can Blogger be used for professional blogging?

• Blogger is safe for blogging. Your site won’t be hacked.
• You will get enough space and fast-loading servers to do your work
• Blogger does not have significant features for professional work.
• Blogger does not provide access to .htaccess file and FTP

All in all, Blogger is an excellent platform to showcase your work by creating a portfolio website or creating a mini-site that does not require plugins or high customization.

But, you should also consider the below aspect when you review the Blogger blogging site.

The Google SEO Advantage / Disadvantage

In my complete guide to Blogger SEO, I talked a lot about the advantages and disadvantages of the Blogger platform for search engine optimization. In short, you can definitely rank for keywords in Google. I have done it before. Blogspot provides some basic SEO functionalities such as Robots.txt editor, Header Tags settings, etc.,

But, the issue is the SEO landscape has changed drastically last several years but not Google Blogger!

Here are some key Blogger reviews in terms of SEO perspective:

You cannot optimize images in bulk – In WordPress, you can install a plugin like Shortpixel (visit website) and do it automatically
Lack of plugins kills Blogger performance – The sad reality is even though Blogger performs better in terms of UI and server-side, the emptiness of important plugins such as SEO and content optimization makes the Blogger useless for serious bloggers.
You cannot use schema templates in Blogger – Yes, it is possible to use Schema Markups such as videos, reviews, FAQs, and HowTos only if the blog template supports them. But, usually, many are not.
You will stay behind others – Another reason why not many people use Blogger is the lack of support from online tools and software vendors. For instance, WordPress is supported by SurferSEO (even though they have a WordPress plugin) but not Google Blogger. If you want to stay ahead of competitors, you must use the best tools that provide options. Unfortunately, Blogger is not one of those currently. Check out Blogger vs. WordPress comparison for more details.

Blogger Pricing

So, how much does Blogger cost?

One of the best things about Blogger is that it is completely free to use. One Google user account can create up to 100 blogs, and each blog will receive unlimited visitors, space, a free SSL certificate, and a custom Blogspot domain name.

Additional Costs

Blogger is free of use. But you can spend money and customize it. For example, you can spend about $10 per year and buy a .com domain name. Also, you can purchase a premium theme and make the blog unique in readers’ eyes.

Furthermore, you can maintain the blog as a real business by using external third-party services such as an email list builder like GetResponse and a tool like Convertful or ConvertBox to build your email lists.

So, you can fully adjust your budget and use Blogger to run your business.

Blogger Alternatives

Blogger is an old-school blogging platform where you can create a basic blog and showcase your works to the world for free. But technology has moved rapidly, and new blogging platforms have been born in the last couple of years. Therefore I will explore a bit on sites like Blogspot in this Blogger review.

Here are some best alternatives to the Blogger blogging platform.

Brizy Cloud

Brizy Cloud is a fantastic blogging platform. Its drag-and-drop page builder and advanced assets builder break the boundaries in Blogger.com and let you have highly responsive sites for any kind of situation. In fact, I have revealed some of the hot topics of the Brizy Cloud blogging platform in this article about Brizy Cloud.

Here are some key features of Brizy Cloud CMS

Drag and drop intuitive page builder
Visual theme builder – Customize the entire site as you need with an advanced yet simple WYSIWYG editor
Advanced custom fields builder – Unlike Blogspot, you can generate custom-made websites and blog sites
Unlimited blog pages, free .brizy.site subdomain name
Host blog on custom servers – Brizy Cloud has got five different hosting solutions. One of those is custom hosting services.
Team management
Templates

Blogger vs. Brizy Cloud

Feature	Blogger	Brizy Cloud
Unlimited web hosting	Yes	Yes
Free subdomain name	Yes	Yes
Media Management	Yes	No
Theme customization	Yes	Yes
Drag and drop editor	No	Yes
Site backup	Yes	No
Team members	Yes	Yes
Price	Free	Free*

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is another popular hosted blogging platform, and it is one of the best candidates to replace Blogger. WordPress is used by many bloggers outside Blogspot purely because of the customization options and flexibility.

Here are some key features of WordPress:

Edit posts with Gutenberg visual editor
Use plugins and third-party HTML widgets for WordPress to empower your WordPress blog site
Back up site and access to files via SFTP
Media Manager
Free .wordpress.com subdomain name
Integrations with popular social networks and business services to publicize your content automatically
Add team members

Blogger vs. WordPress

Feature	Blogger	WordPress
Unlimited web hosting	Yes	3GB
Free subdomain name	Yes	Yes
Media Management	Yes	No
Theme customization	Yes	Yes
Ads	No	Yes
Site backup	Yes	Yes*
Team members	Yes	Yes
Price	Free	Free**

Although Wordpress.com is equipped with numerous features and tools, most of them come in paid plans. The free plan is enough for an ordinary user. But the biggest caveat is the ads on free WordPress-hosted sites. However, the Blogger service is free, and you can even edit the theme code to remove the Blogger attribution link and customize the site appearance, unlike WordPress.com.

If you are serious about using Wordpress.com instead of Blogger.com, I recommend going for a self-hosted WordPress site. BlueHost (for newbies) or WPX (for professionals) are recommended WordPress hosting sites. Also, you can use one of these free WordPress hosting services to test it out!

Tumblr

Another awesome free blogging platform I want to share with you in this Blogger review is Tumblr.com. Tumblr is a mixed social networking and blogging platform. Currently, It is owned by WordPress. Here are some key features:

Network with other bloggers – Follow blogs and reblog favorite posts with your networks
Tumblr blog followers are notified of new articles, so your articles get traffic, and some articles could go viral
Receive a free .tumblr.com domain name, and you can also use a custom domain name.
Host custom CSS and Javascript files
Have multiple blogs (Primary and Secondary) and the ability to switch between Primary and Secondary blogs
Multiple post types – Unlike Blogger, Tumblr equips multiple post types (Photo, Video, Quotes, Audio, Text)
Installing custom Tumblr themes, third-party widgets on Tumblr, and the customization features

Blogger vs. Tumblr

Feature	Blogger	Tumblr
Unlimited web hosting	Yes	Yes
Free subdomain name	Yes	Yes
Media Management	Yes	No
Edit HTML	Yes	Yes
Theme customization	Yes	Yes
Social networking	No	Yes
Site backup	Yes	Yes
Team members	Yes	Yes
Price	Free	Free

In my opinion, Tumblr is one of the most underrated blogging sites. I see most users are from English-speaking countries, particularly the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia. But, if you want to make a blog with enjoyable or shareable content, give Tumblr a try.

Medium

Another Blogger alternative I want to emphasize in this Blogspot review is Medium.com. It has become famous during the last five or six years due to its features and how Medium works.

Content publication platform
Follow other publications and blogs
Get a free .medium.com subdomain name
Add your team members

Blogger vs. Medium

Feature	Blogger	Medium
Unlimited web hosting	Yes	Yes
Free subdomain name	Yes	Yes
Media Management	Yes	No
Theme customization	Yes	No
Use plugins/gadgets/widgets	Yes	No
Site backup	Yes	No
Edit HTML	Yes	No
Price	Free	Free*

If you own a SaaS business and want to build a blog, Medium would be a good choice because many professionals use Medium as a daily reading list management tool and give feedback to posts. The users can follow favorite blogs like Tumblr and even contribute to blogs with insightful comments.

More Blogger Alternatives

Here are more sites like Blogger.com to start your own blog. If you know of any other platform like Blogspot, let us know in the comments below. I will add it to this list.

• Duda
• Weebly
• Typepad

Using Blogger as a Website builder

One popular question I want to emphasize and discuss a bit in this review of Blogger is whether you can use Blogger as a website builder.

You can definitely use Brizy Cloud for both blogging and site-building. It is equipped with amazing site-building features such as a drag-and-drop editor and Web Story designer. But, even though you can customize Blogger to host static web pages, it is not ideal to use Blogger to create web pages. Here are why:

You have to have coding skills
You cannot A/B test pages
Not worth your time nor money

Making Money with Blogger

You might wonder if it is possible to make money with Blogger.

The answer is yes, it is!

In fact, I have made a complete guide to making money on Blogspot. Check it out!

In short, you can monetize a site through:

Google Adsense
Affiliate marketing
Display advertising
Direct sponsored posts, banner ads, and other arrangements
Providing services to clients
Using Blogspot as a bridge page
Selling own services like solo advertisements, consultation services
Selling products by using tools like ThriveCart or just using PayPal or Stripe Checkout

Tools for Blogger

Although Blogger.com provides many things for free, you have to use different tools and services to stay ahead of competitors and make money in today’s world. For example, you will have to audit your website from time to time by using a tool like WebSite Auditor (download for free from here) to fix critical Blogspot technical issues.

Here are tools I used when I was using Google Blogspot and what I recommend for the present.

WriterZen – An alternative to Semrush and Keyword Cupid. It equips many tools such as Keyword Explorer, Topic Discovery, and Plagiarism Checker. Read this review about WriterZen to learn more.
Grammarly – Do not make grammatical mistakes on blog posts. Grammarly helps you fix grammar errors with its AI writing assistant. Learn more about Grammarly.
Convertful – Display attractive notification bars, high-converting popups, banners, and gamification widgets. Learn more about Convertful.
ConvertBox – A competitor to Convertful. It is equally as powerful as Convertful. But, with its lifetime deal, you can buy ConvertBox for a one-off fee. Learn more about ConvertBox.
GetResponse – Build your email list. Send emails about new blog posts, special content, and promotional offers. GetResponse offers a free 30-day trial. Learn more about GetResponse.
Integrately – Connect all your apps and automate tasks. With Integrately cheap pricing, it is an affordable task automation tool for many. Learn more about Integrately.
A graphic designing tool – Good graphics will improve your blog as a whole. My recommended tools are Stencil, Pixteller, Canva, Vista Create, PromoRepublic, and RelayThat.
A URL shortener – Blogger does not provide any tool or plugin to shorten links. Use one of these best link tracker tools. I personally use Replug (visit website) for all my projects.
A social media marketing tool – There are many social media management tools. Some of them are Buffer, Hootsuite, and AgoraPulse. But, I use and recommend ContentStudio to any marketer. It is an all-in-one SMM and content marketing toolkit. Learn more about ContentStudio.

Blogger Review: Pros and Cons

Pros

Unlimited web hosting
Free custom domain name
Theme customization and many templates are available
Low-cost maintenance fee compared with other blogging platforms
Security and server uptime reliability
Basic SEO functionalities
Integrate third-party widgets
Huge Blogger community. You can find articles on many aspects or issues easily.

Cons

No third-party widgets due to Google not providing API
Lack of features compared with other blogging systems
You cannot remove the date from the blog post URL permalinks

Is Blogger worth it?

So, now the question is, is Blogger worth your time?

Here is how I look at it.

If you are just getting started and/or do not have enough funds, Blogger is worth it.
If you want to compete with others and grow your business online, Blogger is not worth it, considering the limits and lack of features I discussed in the Blogger review.

Final Words on Blogger Review

Blogger blogging platform has been known for three decades. After being bought up by Google, Blogger blogging platform has become the go-to site for beginners to start a new blog. It was secure, provided basic features, and was free of cost.

Rest assured, if you were worried that Google might sunset Blogger as they did for numerous other services before! Recently, the Blogger team has made changes to their blogging platform and community development.

However, during the last decade, new blogging platforms popped up. Particularly due to the popularity of self-hosted blog sites specially made with WordPress open-source blog software, people could start a blog for as little as $5 a month on a fast web server and get more features, tools, support, and flexibility as a whole rather than Blogger.

But that does not mean Blogger is useless in 2024. Some bloggers use Blogspot to host their sites and make a significant income from blogging.

In this Blogger review, you learned every aspect of Google’s main blogging platform. Even though Google has a separate site-building platform called Google Sites, it is not popular and does not come with features as Blogger does.

So, what are your Blogger reviews? Share them below.