Google is presenting brand-new functions for Search Console’s modification of address tool to even more help users with altering domains.

The change of address tool within Search Console permits website owners to notify Google when a site has moved from one domain to another. It can also be used when moving a website from one subdomain to another.

When Google is notified about a domain change it will start to prioritize crawling and indexing the brand-new domain over the old domain. Sending a modification of address request will also tell Google to forward signals from the old domain to the new domain.

To make this tool much more useful for website owners, Google is adding the following brand-new features.

Redirect Recognition

A significant part of any domain change is establishing 301 reroutes from the old URLs to the brand-new URLs.

See: A Technical SEO Guide to Redirects

Now, the change of address tool will validate the redirects in place for the site’s leading 5 URLs.

As displayed in the image above, Browse Console will clearly show whether a redirect from an old URL to a new URL is valid. If the redirect is found to be valid, you can verify the move with Google ideal then and there.

On-Screen Reminders

After a modification of address request has actually been sent, Google Search Console will now remind you of such whenever you log into the control panel of either the moving domain or the destination domain.

Google recommends that it may take up to 180 days to complete a modification of address request. Most likely, the new tip will be shown throughout the whole procedure.

It deserves keeping in mind that the change of address tool in Search Console is just part of the domain modification process. As mentioned, before using the tool, site owners should execute 301 redirects for the homepage in addition to all canonical pages.

See: Handling Successful SEO Migrations

Source: Google