Quick account insurance

May you never need to recover access to your blogging account! ¶ 

But: 

This quick checklist will tell you how to avoid getting locked out of your account, by keeping your recovery options up to date.

Your blogging account is a Google account. Maybe your user ID is an email from Yahoo, Hotmail, or some other provider. The account you blog with is on Google.

Your user ID can't be changed. It remains valid for your Google account forever.

If it's an old email address on another service, it will work to sign you into Google even if the original account (or service!) no longer exists.

Ounces of prevention

Here are steps you can take, from within your Google account's security settings, to ensure that you can recover account access should you ever lose it.

Keep a recovery email on file with Google. If you get locked out of your account, the recovery email can  get you back in.

If your Google account has Gmail, do not use that for recovery. If you get locked out of that account, you won't be able to get emails there.

"Recovery email" is separate from the "account email" that is the user ID for the account. 

You can also add a third email as the "contact email" in the "Contact info" section of your Google Account settings.

This should be an active email address that you monitor regularly. It can be the Gmail address linked to the account. Change this setting if the current contact email is no longer valid or accessible.

Keep all of these up to date.

Keep a recovery phone number on file with Google, if it can receive texts.

Consider enabling two-step verification (2SV) for the account. It provides both added security and a credential for account recovery, if needed.

You can give 2SV a try; if it gets in your way, go back into settings and turn it off.

Create and save a set of one-time backup codes. Those can get you back into your account if 2SV fails.

The codes only work if 2SV is enabled.

These options are available in the security settings for your Google account (not your Blogger settings). You can change your contact email in the "Contact info" section of account settings.

Because these are account settings, they safeguard access to every blog on your account.

I've written about some of this before, but here it is all on one place. Stay safe!

Update: Google has added a "trusted contact" option that lets you designate a friend or family member to vouch for your identity if you are ever locked out of your account.

Like the contacts in account settings, this is something to do before you need it, while you still have access.

Shield image: Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay