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Blog as a Google+ Page: real name not required


Note: Google will be shutting down Google+ for consumer accounts on April 2, 2019. All Google+ Pages will be deleted at that time. Be sure to back up your Google+ Page data before then. Brand Accounts will not be deleted and you can continue to sign in directly if you have that set up.

Note: As of September 2016, it is no longer possible to set a password for direct sign-in to a Google+ Page or its Brand Account. If you have an existing Brand Account with a password set, you will continue to be able to sign in.

The alternative is to use a Blogger Profile for your Blogger Account.

If you have a YouTube channel, gamer tag, business or brand, you may want to blog using that identity, rather than your Google+ Profile's common name. If your Blogger account is connected with your Google+ account, you can associate you blog with a Google+ Page. But even after you've connected your Page, your Google+ Profile name will still be the author of your blog posts.

So what can you do if you don't want your personal Google+ Profile name associated with your blog? How can you blog pseudonymously or anonymously?

You have a couple of options:

1. Use a "limited" Blogger Profile

2. Add your Google+ Page as a blog author and write posts as your Page.
     (Note: this is only possible if you have an old Google+ Page with a password set).

Authoring posts as your Google+ Page lets you keep your pseudonymity while using Blogger's Google+ features.

Revert to a Blogger Profile

Note: with the update of the Blogger interface in November 2016, the instructions below are out of date. You can find this setting under your Blogger Settings > User Settings.

Current instructions: How to set a Blogger Profile

If your blog is connected to Google+, your Google+ Profile is automatically the author of each post. You can make your name less prominent by removing the "Author" field from the Blog Post  gadget in your blog's Layout. However even though your author name may not be as visible on your blog, it may still appear in other places, such as your blog's post feed. And your name and Google+ Profile may be linked to any comments you make.

If you want to blog under a pseudonym, one option is to use a regular "limited" Blogger Profile that is not associated with Google+. To switch from a Google+ Profile to a Blogger Profile:

1. Sign to your Blogger Dashboard (https://www.blogger.com/home)

2. Click the gear icon. You can select the "Revert to a Blogger profile" option from the menu.


Alternatively, go directly to https://www.blogger.com/revert-profile.g

The down side of reverting to a Blogger profile is that you will no longer be able to use Google+ features such as Google+ comments, mentioning people in your circles and automatically sharing to Google+.

To retain all the Google+ features on your blog, but post using something other than your "common name" you can instead add your Google+ Page as an author of your blog.

Add your Google+ Page as a blog author

Note: as of September 2016, Google no longer offers the option to set a password for a Google+ Page. You can check to see if you older Page and its Brand Account has a password set by opening your Brand Account list  (myaccount.google.com/brandaccounts), and clicking the Brand Account name. If you see an Update Password button, there is a password set. If you don't see that button, that is not an option.

To use Google+ features on Blogger without using your Google+ Profile as your author identity, you need to add a Google+ Page for your blog as an author. Blogger lets you add an author to your blog by adding the author's Google account email address - the trick, then, is doing that for your Google+ Page's Google account.

1. If you haven't done so already, create a Google+ brand Page to represent your blog. You can do that at plus.google.com/dashboard

2. Create a password for your Google+ Page.

Instructions here: Set a password for your Google+ Page and connected YouTube channel
Make note of your Google+ Page's @pages.plusgoogle.com username 

3. Add your Google+ Page's email username as an author to your blog 
  • Go to your blog's Settings -> Basic
  • Click "Add Author"
  • Enter your Google+ Page's @pages.plusgoogle.com username
  • Click "Invite authors"



4. Copy the "Accept invitation" link

Look for the email author invitation from Blogger in the email account set to receive your Google+ Page notifications. 

The invitation will have a big orange "Accept invitation" button - don't click this button!
Instead, copy the button link. If you are using Chrome you can alt-click the button and select copy link address. 



(Note: if you've added a Gmail email to your Google+ Page and you are receiving the notification in your Google+ Page's Gmail account, go ahead and click the button.)

5.  Now open a new browser and sign into Google or Blogger (www.blogger.com) with your Google+ Page's username and password. Once you are signed in as your Google+ Page, paste the "Accept invitation" URL into the browser's address bar.

You should see your Google+ Page's profile photo and name in the upper right corner and a big orange "Accept Invitation" button. Now you can click the orange button.


6. Now you can sign into Blogger as your Google+ Page and post using your Page identity.

7. Optional: Sign in to Blogger using your original Google account, go to your Settings and promote your Google+ Page from "Author" to "Admin". As an Admin you will be able to change your blog's Layout, see your Stats and more.

Once you've got it set up it's easy. I'm posting as a Google+ Page right now!

Also see Adam Auster's post: Your secret blogging identity

Related: Manage your Google+ Settings for your Blogger Blog

Comments

  1. This is BRILLIANT! Thank you so much.

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  2. Perfect! This is exactly what I was looking for.

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  3. Very good post and I'm looking for this trick. thank you!

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  4. it doesnt work..I tryed to ad my google page as author and it simply doesnt do anything. The invitation doesnt even come. My G+ Profile is owner of G+ Page. Nothing happens when I do this

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    Replies
    1. Name Surname: did you set a password for your Google+ Page? And are you sure you entered the correct username? If so, did you use the default @pages.plusgoogle.com username, or did you add a gmail email?

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    2. the same thing is happening for me as well @name surname but i fixed it by trying to log into gmail online with the @pages.plusgoogle.com provided and then it gave me a page to make my own email and use @pages.plusgoogle.com as an alternative. When i finished and made an email that my way and not gibberish. I went back to blogger and sent an invite to the new email and again went to the direct gmail account i newly created and bam the email was there and i accepted with the page info and not the profile.

      PS- it helps to use 2 browsers . chrome and safari or whatever they may be so you can keep both accounts open not having to log in and out a billion times.

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  5. Also thanks so much Peggy K your the only site who explains this well. I was searching for ages. Sometimes google just makes you go in circles.

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  6. Is switching to Google+ comments worth it? I have read some posts about people getting fewer comments after switching to Google+ comments.

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    Replies
    1. I think it depends on whether your audience is mostly on Google+ or not. You don't want to prevent people from commenting just because they don't have a Google+ Profile - that's why I'm using Blogger comments here.

      I'm actually using both Blogger comments and Google+ comments - you can switch between the two by clicking the G+ icon above the comment section. I'm using this code to do that:
      http://www.blogxpertise.com/2013/04/bringing-g-comments-to-your-blogger.html

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  7. Great article,thanks for sharing.

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  8. Please I have s problem with my blogger profile. It was changed, so I lost all my followers. Then I wanted to revert back to former one but I got reply that am already using a limited blogger profile. What does this mean please? And how can I gain all my followers back please. Thsnks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Friday Obeya: it sounds like you are using a Blogger profile for your blog, rather than your Google+ Profile. If this is your blog: http://www.frayokit.blogspot.com
      then it appears to currently be using a Google+ Profile, so maybe you fixed it?

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  9. thanks very much
    that was really really helpful and easy
    thanks again
    i wish you all the good in the world

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  10. I am sorry. I must be a dummy. I don't get it. All I want to do is to be able to share my blog posts to a separate second Google+ page, not my original page. It seems like they should have a drop down or something that gives you the option of which Google+ page you are sharing to. I just can't figure out how to do it. Maybe the information you are providing here isn't meant for what I am trying to do.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Nancy, no you're not a dummy - it's not intuitive at all. There isn't any way to select which Google+ identity to share to when you click the +1 button. And when you set up your blog, you are only able to associate one Page or Profile for automatic sharing.

      I find that sometimes the easiest thing to do is just share the link to Google+ manually, by pasting the link into a new post.

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  11. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I have been having serious privacy concerns about switching to google+ since my google account IS my name - and my blog talks about something completely different than my 'common' or 'personal' google plus page! I love this work around to separate them.

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Spam and personal attacks are not allowed. Any comment may be removed at my own discretion ~ Peggy