WordPress vs Blogger: A Personal Comparison

WordPress and Blogger are two of the most popular blogging platforms on the internet. They both have their pros and cons, and choosing the best one for your needs can be a challenge. In this article, I will share my personal comparison of WordPress and Blogger based on several metrics, and as someone who has had the experience of both. I hope this will help you make an informed decision for your own blog.

Rankings in Google

One of the most important factors for any blogger is how well their blog ranks in Google and other search engines. This affects the visibility, traffic, and authority of your blog. According to a study by Ahrefs, WordPress blogs tend to rank higher than Blogger blogs on average. This is because WordPress has more SEO features and plugins that help optimize your blog for search engines. For example, you can use plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math to improve your site structure, meta tags, keywords, and more.

Blogger, on the other hand, has fewer SEO options and customization. You can edit some basic settings like title, description, and robots.txt, but you have less control over other aspects of your blog. For example, you cannot change your permalink structure, add schema markup, or use advanced SEO tools. This can limit your ranking potential and make your blog less competitive.

In my personal experience, I noticed a significant improvement in my rankings after I switched from Blogger to WordPress. My blog went from page 3 to page 1 for some of my target keywords, and I also got more organic traffic which I wouldn’t give much credit to the use of WordPress though but this is not to say that Blogger blogs cannot rank well, but it requires more effort and expertise to do so.

Traffic Sources

Another metric to compare WordPress and Blogger is the traffic sources of your blog. This refers to where your visitors come from and how they find your blog. There are different types of traffic sources, such as organic, direct, social, referral, email, and paid. Each of these sources has its own advantages and disadvantages, and you should aim for a balanced and diversified traffic mix.

Because of a vast SEO and optimization options, WordPress blogs get more traffic from organic and direct sources than Blogger blogs. This means that WordPress blogs are more likely to be found by people searching on Google. This is mostly because of the SEO plugins which give you full SEO options than in Blogger. With WordPress, search engine crawlers have more access to your site as there are multiple sitemaps for posts, pages, categories or even custom post types.

Blogger blogs, on the other hand, get more traffic from social and referral sources than WordPress blogs. This means that Blogger blogs are more likely to be shared on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, or linked from other websites. This also indicates that Blogger blogs have more viral potential and exposure than WordPress blogs. Blogger being a Google service, the chances of being featured on platforms like Google news are higher than those of WordPress blogs.

In my personal experience, I barely noticed a shift in my traffic sources after I switched from Blogger to WordPress. I currently have traffic from organic and direct sources, which is more consistent and stable than social and referral sources. However, I also have some traffic from social and referral sources, which is more unpredictable and volatile. Therefore, I still have to work hard to maintain and grow my social and referral traffic by creating engaging content, building relationships, and promoting my blog.

Speed

Speed is another important factor for any blogger, as it affects the user experience, SEO, and conversions of your blog. A fast-loading blog can improve your bounce rate, dwell time, and engagement, as well as your rankings and revenue. A slow-loading blog can have the opposite effect and drive away your visitors and potential customers.

According to a study by Pingdom, WordPress blogs are faster than Blogger blogs on average. This is because WordPress has more options and plugins to optimize your blog speed, such as caching, minifying, compressing, and lazy loading. For example, you can use plugins like WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, or Autoptimize to improve your blog performance and speed.

Blogger, on the other hand, has fewer options and plugins to optimize your blog speed. You can tweak some settings like image size, widget load, and HTTPS redirect, but you have less control over other factors that affect your blog speed. For example, you cannot use caching, minifying, compressing, or lazy loading on Blogger. This can make your blog slower and less efficient.

In my personal experience, my blog was actually faster when I was using Blogger. Of course it has a few tweaks and has no plugins but that’s it’s strong point. Blogger’s simplicity makes Blogger blogs extremely fast which means that you won’t need any of those caching plugins or optimization plugins. Another thing is that Blogger themes are lightweight, and with the theme I was using, I had an impressive Google Pagespeed Insights score but with WordPress, that score took a decline.

Earnings and Adsense Integration

Earnings and Adsense integration are another metric to compare WordPress and Blogger. This refers to how much money you can make from your blog and how easy it is to integrate Google Adsense, the most popular advertising network for bloggers. Adsense allows you to display ads on your blog and earn money when your visitors click on them.

According to a report by Blogging Basics 101, WordPress blogs can earn more money than Blogger blogs on average. This is because WordPress has more monetization options and plugins than Blogger. For example, they claimed that you can use plugins like Ad Inserter, Advanced Ads, or AdRotate to manage and optimize your ads on WordPress. You can also use other monetization methods like affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, or selling products or services on WordPress.

Blogger, on the other hand, has fewer monetization options and plugins than WordPress. You can use Google Adsense on Blogger, but you have less control and flexibility over your ads. For example, you cannot choose where to place your ads, how many ads to show, or what types of ads to display on Blogger. You can also use other monetization methods like affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, or selling products or services on Blogger just like on WordPress.

In my personal experience, I believe that it’s easier to monetize your Blogger blog rather than a WordPress blog. Blogger has a minimalistic interface which makes it easy to setup Google Adsense as compared to the clustered WordPress dashboard. I also think that Blogger blogs are more prioritized by Google as per the review period of your blog.

Ease of Use

Ease of use is another important factor for any blogger, as it affects the time, effort, and enjoyment of blogging. A user-friendly blog platform can make your blogging experience easier, faster, and more fun. A complicated blog platform can make your blogging experience harder, slower, and more frustrating.

According to a survey by WPBeginner, WordPress is easier to use than Blogger for most bloggers, which I don’t validate on a personal point of view. They say that this is because WordPress has more features and plugins that make blogging simpler and smoother. For example, you can use plugins like Elementor, Beaver Builder, or Divi to create and customize your blog design with drag and drop. You can also use plugins like Jetpack, Akismet, or Yoast SEO to enhance and secure your blog functionality.

Blogger, on the other hand, is harder to use than WordPress for most bloggers. This is because Blogger has fewer features and plugins that make blogging simpler and smoother. For example, you cannot use drag and drop to create and customize your blog design on Blogger. You have to edit HTML and CSS code to change your blog appearance. You also have fewer options and plugins to enhance and secure your blog functionality on Blogger. All this is true about the creation and management process, the blogging experience is a whole lot different.

In my personal experience, I noticed a significant improvement in my ease of use after I switched from Blogger to WordPress. My blog creation and management became easier, faster, and more fun. I could use drag and drop to design my blog, and I could use plugins to improve my blog performance and security. On the other hand, the blogging experience of Blogger is more minimalistic and easy to use as compared to the blog editor you get with WordPress. However the Blogger editor has less functionalities and sometimes you have to use HTML to get the work done and not everyone can do this. This is not to say that Blogger is impossible to use, but it requires more learning and coding to do so.

Conclusion

WordPress and Blogger are two of the most popular blogging platforms on the internet. They both have their pros and cons, and choosing the best one for your needs can be a challenge. In this article, I shared my personal comparison of WordPress and Blogger based on several metrics, such as rankings, traffic, speed, earnings, and ease of use. I hope this helped you make an informed decision for your own blog.

Based on my personal experience, I prefer WordPress over Blogger for my blog. I think WordPress offers more advantages and opportunities than Blogger, and it suits my blogging goals and style better. However, this does not mean that WordPress is the best choice for everyone. Blogger may be a better option for some bloggers, depending on their preferences and purposes and I would recommend Blogger if you’re just getting started with your blog and don’t have much blogging experience.

Ultimately, the best blogging platform for you is the one that meets your needs and expectations. You should consider your blogging goals, budget, skills, and audience before choosing a platform. You should also test and compare different platforms to see which one works best for you. You can always switch platforms later if you change your mind or want to try something new.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article and learned something new. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below. I would love to hear your feedback and opinions.