Step-by-Step Blogspot Custom Redirect URL Tutorial to Fix Broken Links

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Running a blog on Blogger (Blogspot) is a fantastic way to share content, but over time, your site inevitably undergoes changes. You might delete an outdated post, change a category structure, or update a messy URL slug to make it more SEO-friendly.

While these changes are great for your long-term blog growth, they create a major hidden enemy: broken links (404 errors).

When a reader or a Google crawler clicks an old link and lands on a "Page Not Found" error, user experience drops, bounce rates spike, and valuable SEO link juice is wasted. Fortunately, Blogspot features a built-in tool that lets you seamlessly map old URLs to new ones using custom redirects.

This step-by-step tutorial walks you through how to find broken links and set up custom redirects on Blogspot to save your SEO.

Step 1: Identify Your Broken Links

Before you can redirect a broken link, you need to know it exists. There are two primary ways to find 404 errors on Blogspot:

Method A: Use Google Search Console (Recommended)

Log into your Google Search Console account.
In the left-hand sidebar, click on Pages (under the Indexing section).
Scroll down to look for the table labeled "Why pages aren't indexed."
Look for errors marked "Not found (404)". Click on it to see the exact list of broken URLs that Google bots encountered on your site.

Method B: Manual Audit

If you recently deleted or moved a specific post, copy its old URL slug (the part after your domain name, e.g., /2024/05/old-post-title.html).

Step 2: Access the Custom Redirect Settings in Blogspot

Once you have your list of broken URLs and know where they should go instead, follow these steps to add the redirects:

Log into your Blogger Dashboard (blogger.com).
In the left-hand menu, click on Settings.
Scroll down the settings page until you find the Errors and redirections section.
Click on Custom redirects. A management window will pop open.

Step 3: Add Your Custom Redirects

The Custom Redirect tool uses a simple From / To structure.

From: The relative path of the old, broken URL (do not include your domain name like [https://yourblog.blogspot.com](https://yourblog.blogspot.com), just start with the slash /).
To: The relative path or full URL of the new, active destination page.
Permanent Checkbox: Check the box labeled Permanent if this is a permanent move. This tells search engines (like Google) to pass 100% of the old page's SEO ranking power (link juice) to the new URL.

Example Scenarios:

Scenario 1: Redirecting an old post to a new post

From: /2024/05/old-broken-post.html
To: /2026/02/updated-brand-new-post.html
Permanent: Checked ( $\checkmark$ )

Scenario 2: Sending a deleted page back to your homepage

From: /p/old-contact-page.html
To: /
Permanent: Checked ( $\checkmark$ )

Step 4: Save and Test Your Redirects

Click Add inside the custom redirect popup window.
Click Save in the bottom right corner of the main Settings page to apply the changes globally. (Note: Blogger sometimes takes a few minutes to push redirect rules live).
Test It: Open an incognito browser window, type in your old broken URL, and hit Enter. It should instantly snap to your new destination page without flashing a 404 error.

Best Practices for Blogspot Redirects

Keep Relative Paths: Always use relative paths (starting with /) rather than absolute URLs containing your full domain, as this ensures your redirects continue working seamlessly even if you switch your Blogspot blog over to a custom domain name (like .com).
Don't Redirect Everything to the Homepage: Avoid the temptation to send all broken links straight to your homepage. If an old post about "Baking Chocolate Cookies" is broken, redirect it to a similar post about baking or your recipe category page. Google rewards contextual relevance.
Audit Periodically: Make checking Google Search Console for 404 errors a quarterly habit to keep your blog's technical SEO clean and error-free.