Could Google delete your blog?

Spoiler: Yes, Google can delete your blog. ¶

cartoon villian with black hat and twirly moustache

But someone else could have deleted it, if it is missing. Including you, by accident (or otherwise). ¶

It's easy to tell if Google is the culprit. Google will tell you, if you've let it.

This post is the second (and final) part of the series that began with Fifty ways to lose your blog.

If Google deletes your blog

Google's automated system for enforcing its content policy makes plenty of mistakes. Errors can be reversed by a Google staff member. But you have to ask.

Bloggers also sometimes make mistakes. They link to sketchy websites. They host advertisements to things that are "regulated," and thus prohibited even though legal. (Examples include guns, liquor, and cigarettes.)

Sometimes they are victims of others' sneakiness. A link to a good website can go bad if the site is taken over by a bad actor. Remote-hosted scripts that power some third-party widgets can be rewritten to redirect your readers to scam websites.

Suddenly, you are a spammer, or worse.

Some third-party blog themes can have similar issues embedded in them: code or links that went bad, or are bad on purpose. If you upload one of these you can lose your blog.

Google can also delete accounts that have been inactive for two years. You can prevent this by signing in and watching a YouTube video or sending an email every year or two.

Remedy: Up-to-date contacts

If your contact information (in Account settings, not Blogger) is up to date, you will be notified if Google suspends your blog or is going to delete your account for inactivity.

For suspensions, the notice will instruct you on how to appeal to a human being, who can lift the ban.

If you miss this notice, you can miss your chance, and the suspension will become a permanent deletion.

What you can't do

Google currently has an unyielding no-mistakes policy. You will usually not get a chance to fix a bad link, especially if it is in a sidebar widget.

I think this goes too far and we should have a chance to cure a defect like this.

Since I have, however, zero say in Google policies, the best defense is to (1) know the content policy and (2) audit those links regularly to make sure they still go where you think they do.

Finally, have a backup

The ultimate safety policy is to keep regular backups of your blog.

It takes, literally, a minute, and you can set it to autobackup every two months for a year.

May you never need it for this purpose. But better have have and not need, than to need and not have.

Too Clever By Half

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