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New Custom Domains "In Transition"

DNS, which is the backbone of Google Custom Domain publishing, is a distributed directory of all Internet hosts - like the Google servers where your domain is published.

We say that DNS is a "distributed" service, because the data provided to you, by DNS, resides not in one, or two, but millions of servers - all over the Internet, and owned by many different companies and individuals.

When you setup a new domain, using a DNS Management utility provided by your domain registrar or another DNS host, you can add the DNS entry when convenient to you. Some DNS management utilities will provide advice
Please wait 12 to 24 hours before trying to use your new URL.
or a similar message, simply because the DNS information that you enter, through the utility to your DNS server, has to be distributed to the other DNS servers, all over the Internet.

If your registrar's DNS servers aren't immediately accessible to the Google servers, and you try to publish to your brand new personal domain, you may see problems.

Seconds after you setup the new domain with your registrar, the Blogger "Advanced Settings" wizard may not be able to access the DNS entries which you just created. You'll probably see an old friend
Another blog is already hosted at this address.
where the wizard is simply saying to you
We don't see that domain pointing to "ghs.google.com".


In an alternative scenario, your registrar may be immediately accessible to the Google servers, you publish your blog to your custom domain, and you're happy. But wait - there's more! One of your readers, on the other side of the world, sees your advertisement
Hey! Checkout my new non-BlogSpot URL for my blog!
and checks it out, and gets another old friend
404 Not Found
because your reader uses a DNS server that has no immediate access to your registrar.

The latter two scenarios involve you when you manually set up your custom domain - using your registrar's DNS utility, followed by the Blogger "Advanced Settings" wizard. If you use the Blogger "Buy A Domain For Your Blog" utility, you use neither of those wizards.

The latter wizard takes a mere few seconds, when you're properly prepared. That wizard, replacing both the registrar's utility and the Blogger "Advanced Settings" wizard, can't include a 12 to 24 hour delay. So instead of the wizard taking 12 to 24 hours, it does immediately the work of the registrar's setup, and queues up a separate task - the equivalent of the "Advanced Settings" wizard - to run after the (formerly) "12 to 24" hours. To make sure that the "12 to 24" hour period is not too short, Blogger gives you (the DNS system) "72 hours" to catch up.

When you finish the purchase and setup of your new custom domain, go to your dashboard, and click on the "View Blog" link. There, you will likely see an old friend in the making
Your blog is in transition


Unfortunately, as I state above, the observed transition period has been 72 hours, not "12 to 24 hours". During the 72 hours (currently, slightly longer)
  1. The blog contents will be published, using the new domain URL.
  2. The BlogSpot URL will continue to load the blog with the BlogSpot URL.
  3. The custom domain URL "mydomain.com" will load the blog with the domain URL.
  4. You will, effectively, appear to have 2 separate blog aliases.
  5. Accessories like Following will issue mysterious error messages.
    We're sorry...

    This gadget is configured incorrectly. Webmaster hint: Please ensure that "Friend Connect Settings - Home URL" matches the URL of this site.

During the transition period, consider carefully the dual personality of the BlogSpot URLs. Remember that the "www" alias of the BlogSpot URL does not simply redirect to the root of the BlogSpot URL, in the same way that the root of the custom domain URL might redirect to the "www" alias. Expect unpredicted behaviour here, when comparing the BlogSpot URLs.

If you are concerned with search engine reputation and visibility, and are diligently keeping your blog's sitemaps updated, you'll want to consider these issues carefully. You should wait until after the transition period has ended, to update the sitemap.
  • You don't want the search engines trying to index a URL that might give them a "404" from their own DNS servers not having your new domain.
  • You don't want the search engines trying to index the new URL while the old one is still active, and distinct, lest both the BlogSpot and domain URLs be perceived as "duplicate content".
  • You don't want the search engines to start indexing the domain URL, until the BlogSpot URL provides the "301 Moved Permanently" to the domain URL, and gives the new domain its starting kick.
  • You do want the search engines to start, re indexing the entire blog, as soon as possible - after migration completes.
Timing is everything, here. Wait until the Transition period ends, and the "301 Moved Permanently" is in effect. Be aware of the issues - and manage the migration, aggressively.

If you purchased the domain using "Buy a domain", the above details are not a problem, because Blogger applies the Transition time period, automatically. If you setup the domain yourself, after purchasing from a registrar - as is the case for every domain purchased after 2012 - you need to maintain a Transition period, yourself, or expect problems, during the first week or so.

Comments

Amy Lemaniak said…
Is there any real way to know when the transition will be complete? Does Google send you an email or anything when they have completed the transition to the custom domain if you purchased through them?
Nitecruzr said…
Amy,

We have not known any notice, positive or negative, other than trying the "View Blog" link from the dashboard. If the link leads to the "In Transition" advice, the blog is in transition. If not, it's not.

We've timed it, and as far as we can tell, it's approximately 72 hours from date of domain purchase.
Nitecruzr said…
Splash,

The idea of Transition is that the new URL (and the BlogSpot URL) is available immediately, and during the period the blog will have both addresses separately active. Your readers should be able to see the blog through either URL.
Nitecruzr said…
Splash,

The ability of you, your readers, or Google, to see your new custom domain is highly subjective. Each of you is subject to the updating policy of your own local DNS server.
Nitecruzr said…
Splash,

You ought to ask questions in the community forum GBH: How Do I?. Support community based help.
Mike Lebreck said…
Thanks for your help on the custom domain questions!
Slim Fadi said…
i bought a domain from blogger and still in transition stage, but i have 2 questions

1-can i log in to godaddy, and with w username and password?

2- how can i create a sub domain and point it to another blog?
Denny Designs said…
My blog domain name works but the background doesn't show up. And when in the dash board if I view it. It says blog in transiton. is this normal?
Nitecruzr said…
Denny,

When, exactly, did you purchase the domain? What's the URL?
simon said…
I purchased HaydenHennessy.com on April 22nd and my blog at blogspot (haydenxxx.blogspot.com) hasn't been redirected. Neither address works. It says "Blog Not Found". Please help!!
Nitecruzr said…
Hayden,

We need to work on this in GBH: Something Is Broken, or in Nitecruzr Dot Net - Blogging, where you can get peer based advice, and easier interaction than in Blogger blog commenting.
Raja said…
I have published my blog on May 13th (11 AM IST)but still now i got the below
message when i click the "view blog". Kindly let me know when Google
finish the transition


"Your blog is in transition

Your blog's new address is http://www.tamilposters.com/. Since it
takes time for this new address to be available all over the Internet,
you can still get to it at http://tamilposters.blogspot.com.

Your new address should work for everyone after at most 3 days. At
that time we will redirect your readers from your old address to the
new one."
Nitecruzr said…
Raja,

Can you please provide blog publish time in GMT, instead of IST? 5/13 11:00 IST == ??? GMT?
Andrei Bontas said…
hello Chuck, today i buy a domain using google(blogger) and godaddy. My blog is in transition. If i go Setting-Publishing i see congratulation u blog was publish and like domain i see my costume domain .com So now i wait the transition period end, but i must do other things like DNS settings? because blogger said the settings will be made automatic. Im must do or not this settings? I was on forum help but i dont know what to belive.
Andrei Bontas said…
i was on godaddy but i have something like
mydomain.com @ 216.239.38.21

and not

mydomain.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.38.21

so help what to do
Nitecruzr said…
What you do is you post a question in BHF: How Do I?.
My Blog is in transition right now. Since MAy 8,2011 10 pm. I published a post today(May 9,2011 20 am) It worked!

Should I not be posting and just let the Blog sit until the transition is over???

WIll it take longer since I did a posting?
Nitecruzr said…
Melissa,

While the blog is In Transition, the posts will be published to the domain URL - so any new posts that you publish will be published with the right content. During transition, anybody loading the blog using the BlogSpot URL will just load the BlogSpot URL - though all internal Blogger content will use the domain URL.

You can publish and make any changes to the blog, that you like, while the blog is In Transition.
Thanks for the quick response! It is appreciated!
Kelli Brewer said…
When the blog is done going through its transition, will the blogroll widget be updated as well? Right now it's not showing up on my page and I just purchased my domain.

Will I manually have to create new blogrolls?
Nitecruzr said…
Kelli,

If the blogroll gadget disappeared from the blog at the same time as the domain was purchased, then "Transition" is generally involved, and you're better off waiting until Transition expires to evaluate he problem.

I'm looking at the domain, and I don't see evidence of recent purchase or Google Apps involvement though - so I can't say for sure that "Transition" is the sole issue here.

I'll recommend, in this case, that you start a discussion in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, so we can diagnose this, more effectively.
Rose said…
Hi Chuck.
My site is in transition. I just posted an entry. I noticed that followers don't get any update. I mean they don't see the new posting on their dashboard reading list.

Does this happen during the transition only? Will the followers get updates on new postings after the transition period is over?

thanks in advance!
Nitecruzr said…
Rose, Your question, to be answered properly, needs several details explored. You really need to ask this in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, so we can diagnose the problem effectively.
Hi Chuck, firstly thanks a lot for sharing all this info, I've checked your blog many times over the weekend as I was migrating my blogspot site to a custom domain.

I think everything went well, except that there is now (as soon as the transition period was over) no feed at my site and my posts are not updating on my friends' blogs who use a feed for their blogroll. The worse is that the little orange button for RSS/Atom feeds that automatically appears each time is no longer clickable. I was wondering if you could help..I have not yet been admitted into your forums yet...thanks so much!

Btw, I have another button on the site itself which allows one to subscribe to feeds and funnily, that works, maybe that's a separate thing...
Nitecruzr said…
Hi Smoky,

As with any problem with custom domain publishing, I'll simply advise you to post in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, so we can start to diagnose your domain.
PaperVine said…
Thanks for your clear advice. I have been MAJORLY panicking about losing stuff on my blog since making the change today - but I think I will just have to wait it out through the transition.

Problem is though that the changes to the blogspot.com address (eg loss of widget functionality) are instant! Hopefully they will come back for both URLs soon
Love your site too - new follower!
Anonymous said…
Hi Chuck, Many people have complained over the connect settings error or the transition period so called but I've never had a change of URL since I started blogging.. its always the same old blogspot.in and one day I wake up and I see this huge error in my follower tab.. I heard this problem went by itself for many people but its been 5 days for me already and I still am gettng this error. My blog post is at http://metajojuana.blogspot.in/

Please help me.
Unknown said…
Hi chuck,
I got the domain 48 hour back through "Buy a domain for your blog " wizards and complited the payment successfuly. Now after 48 hour if i enter my new URl indiantvc.com in address bar it shows 404 "The requested URL / was not found on this server." When i "view blog" from dashboard it doesn't show "In transition" messege. It just show my blogger blog www.bloggworms.blogspot.in .I did nothing after purchasing domain accept login to my google apps. is there any thing left to do? or i should wait for 74 hour?
Unknown said…
After reading a lot of lot of posts in your blog i finally tried and created a subdomain of my blog. subdomain has been created and blogspot url is redirected to subdomain. Man I love your work, made my day possible, without any technical help

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