Question about Wordpress hosting and google ranking

Two weeks ago I buildmy first website with the help of Wordpress. I am enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would, but I was wondering what should be expected when switching from the free wordpress site to an own domain. Now I have read that google prefers domains like the latter, but does wordpress itself not give authority? Will I lose ranking if I leave the free version of wordpress? I have easily risen to the 2nd/3rd pages on google on some pretty good keywords within my niche.

I am hoping that the SEO plug ins, redoing my wordpress according to a guide on this forum, and my own domain name will actually make me rise instead of fall?

well, when you are doing major changes on already ranked website you will experience de-ranking for some time, but if you do the changes right your ranks will be back soon.

If the blog is of high importance to you, why just not leave it as is and simply start a new one on your own domain and simply operate both blogs?

innozemec said:

well, when you are doing major changes on already ranked website you will experience de-ranking for some time, but if you do the changes right your ranks will be back soon.

If the blog is of high importance to you, why just not leave it as is and simply start a new one on your own domain and simply operate both blogs?

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That is what I was hoping for, as long as there is improvement I do not mind losing rank now. I am enjoying the blog, which is the reason I want to expand on it with my custom themes, more plug ins, and hopefully better google rank. Thanks for responding